The year was 2006. We were all wearing useless pleather belts that served no purpose. Our pants were cropped and our kitten heels were low. But our spirits were high because we had Snake, baby.
Anyone lucky enough to score a mobile phone had an indestructible brick with a black and white screen. No apps, no worries.
And then one short year later, after a brief foray into flip phones, everything was ruined by the invention of a little thing called the iPhone.
Our phones went from an practical lump of plastic and wires that we used to call mum to pick us up (and maybe make a few prank calls), to an entire computer, camera and mp3 player in our pockets.
And you know what? I kind of miss the dumb phones.
LISTEN: On This Glorious Mess, Holly Wainwright and Ben Fordham discuss the dumb phone revival.
For parents, especially, the new technology heralded a new age of worries.
Cyber bullying. Sexting. Strangers on the internet.
And worst of all: a battery life approximately one million times crappier than a dumb phone.
“Sorry I missed curfew and didn’t tell you mum, I was busy studying and my phone died.”