Old technology returns as cell phones are banned in schools

Many students are turning to technology that predates the rise of smartphones. It is a direct —and creative — reaction to the cellphone bans instituted by schools and institutions across the country.

The future is retro

Schools with so-called “bell-to-bell” phone bans have turned into looking glasses, peering into the recent past. Around the hallways and in the classrooms, old technology has been making a comeback. Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s “appreciation for flip phones, digital cameras and other gadgets of the recent past is well-documented,” said The New York Times . That fondness “seems to have taken on new urgency in response to a wave of smartphone restrictions in schools that has reached more than a dozen states.” As a result, you can find old iPods, Walkmans and Polaroid camer