Paris Hilton: Generation Z loves flip phones “because they love things that have cult status”

The socialite who ruled the 2000s with an iron fist – or rather, a little Chihuahua – is seemingly embracing the Y2K revival with open arms. Jeans are low-slung and phones are low-tech, and Hilton believes it’s a fad born out of an attempt to break out of the mold.

“Flip phones are making a comeback because people want to flip the script and do something different,” said the famous former wearer of an iconic pink Razr Assets at a Motorola event. Hilton’s farewell speech took place, of course, at Motorola’s event, when the phone company unveiled a new flip phone model.

Trend cycles come in a flash these days, fueled by fast fashion and an extremely online-based age. But the year 2000 has been a fascinating point for a few years now (what now feels like a decade), and has found a captive audience, particularly among Gen Z. Both our lows and our highs have come back to bite us, including leg warmers, trucker hats, and even dresses over pants. And now phones have caught the new millennium virus, too.

In recent years, a cohort of young adults seems to have increasingly switched to flip phones in response to a sense of nostalgia for the past and a need to perform a digital detox – notes lecturer Omah H. Fares for The conversation. Switching off may provide some relief, as early studies show that internet addiction is linked to depression and anxiety.

Even Gen Z pop star Dove Cameron announced last year that she was switching to a flip phone for a while after saying that being online was “joyless for me at this point.” Of course, this is still a niche group and the ubiquity of logging off may be overblown, but interest isn’t waning yet. Gen Z grew up with the internet and has started looking for guardrails, as evidenced by anecdotes of many young adults using the Do Not Disturb feature to detach themselves from their phones.

“This is no small trend,” said Lars Silberbauer, Chief Marketing Officer of Nokia Mobile & HMD Global, to the Wall Street Journal in 2023. In November of the same year, Arite Beaty wrote for ZDNet that internet searches for flip phones have increased by “15,369%” in the past year among Gen Z and younger Millennials. And adults of all ages are using flip phones when they feel like they’re online too much, citing feelings of boredom or fatigue. Perhaps people are reacting to the ubiquity of the tech world as the new wave of AI rolls in, creating their own back-to-the-future phenomenon while searching for something familiar.

“It’s nostalgic,” Hilton says over the phone, evoking a feeling that is especially prevalent in times of socioeconomic turmoil, as people crave something comfortable and familiar. Younger generations are particularly vulnerable to the current downturn, and especially online, and so tend to feel nostalgia – writes Stephanie Harlow in a blog post for consumer research firm GWI. Companies have taken note, as customers are more willing to pay more when nostalgia is triggered – according to a 2014 study conducted by the Journal of Consumer Research.

Some of these young adults find comfort in a time before they were born – a time before the World Wide Web. And Harlow adds that even people born after the 1990s yearn for that era: 37% are nostalgic for that time. The appeal, in Hilton’s eyes, is simple. “Gen Z loves flip phones because they love things that have cult status,” she quips.