My phone is a LG Octane. Haven’t heard of it? I’m not surprised. It’s no longer in circulation. Wikipedia put it nicely, “The LG Octane has since been retired.” It’s a discontinued product, a predecessor of Verizon’s enV3, a relic from the glory days of 2010. In short, it’s not a smartphone. But it is a super–phone.
The LG Octane has a pretty efficient structure with a side flip, a full QWERTY keyboard and a camera with built–in flash. It makes calls and sends texts. It sets alarms and calendar dates. It even has a calculator specifically for tipping at restaurants.
The LG Octane doesn’t have a touch screen or video call capabilities. It can’t use applications, create group texts, or display emojis. And yet, it has withstood bathroom sinks, countless sidewalks, a toilet at Barbuzzo and a dropkick across College Green. What makes my LG Octane super, though, is its simplicity. I can call or text someone. Isn’t that all a phone really needs to do in the 21st century?
In the most basic technological sense, the LG Octane has enough features to not be considered “simple.” But in 2015, it’s simple to the point of being archaic. People—friends and strangers alike—are always in awe of my LG Octane. “What is that thing?” “I haven’t seen a flip phone since middle school!” “How do survive with that phone?” I get a variation of these questions at least every other day. Apparently, the fact that my phone can contact people in only two ways, neither of which grants me the opportunity to add a Chrome filter or a Poop emoji, is shocking.
But I’ve been able to meet friends for lunch just fine with my LG Octane. I’ve even spent an entire semester around France without instant access to Google Maps. Sure, I may have to ask someone for directions or glance at a street map sometimes. I may have to use Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter solely from my laptop. I may have to take good–quality pictures with an actual camera. That’s fine by me.
And I’m not the only one. According to Pearson’s 2014 Student Mobile Device Survey, 84% of U.S. college students own a smartphone. That means there is about 16% of the nation’s estimated 21 million college students—3,360,000, if you were wondering—that are going about their academic, extracurricular and personal lives sans smartphone.
That being said, I’d be lying if I claimed that not having a smartphone doesn’t affect my day–to–day sociality. In this digital day and age, of course it does.
I’ve been left out of group conversations because my LG Octane can only message phone numbers individually. I’ve walked to DRL in a blizzard, only to learn upon arrival that my class had been cancelled due to weather, which my professor had communicated over email just minutes after my departure. I had no chance of getting floor passes for Spring Fling because I couldn’t constantly check Twitter and Facebook for SPEC’s flash sales.
But I call people more frequently, even for little things, and it’s much more efficient. I get a direct response, and I always enjoy the sound of a friend’s voice. My LG Octane also makes me more perceptive of my interactions with others. Despite the many times people decide to take a break from our conversation to check another person’s Snap Story, it is rare for me to glance at my phone when I am with someone. Sure, there are times when I may be expecting a call or text, or I need to see what time it is. But beyond those reasons, I don’t feel the need to constantly check my phone. Why should I, when there is a live person in front of me with whom I can connect? I understand the integration of smartphones into social media, but sometimes I feel like they desensitize us to the very idea of what it means to be “social.”
That is why I’m hesitant to switch to a smartphone once I have the financial capability. I can’t say I haven’t considered it. I see the advantages: Venmo, Uber and automatic Internet access in general. But then again, for the past four years I’ve been doing fine with cash, taxis or SEPTA, and having to whip out my laptop for wifi. My older siblings made the switch a couple years ago once they started working, so maybe I will have to do the same for my job’s sake. Until then, however, I think I’m going to stick with my LG Octane. Life’s Good with it.
