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This teen ditched her iPhone for a flip phone — and she's 'never been happier'

Remember the good old days before smartphones? One teenager is looking to bring those days back.
/ Source: TODAY

Remember the good old days before smartphones? No, we don't mean the days of BlackBerrys. We're talking old school. We're talking the era of flip phones.

One teenager is looking to bring those days back.

In a post on Seventeen.com titled "I Traded My iPhone for a Flip Phone and I've Never Been Happier," teen Janey Litvin talks about the reasons she ditched her iPhone in favor of a simple, almost extinct flip phone.

Frances Dovell

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It started when Litvin dropped her iPhone and heard "crrrrrrrrack,"the ominous sound every iPhone owner knows and fears. At first, Litvin was horrified to see her iPhone in pieces on the floor, but she eventually felt a wave of relief.

"Although I wouldn't have admitted it, I was totally addicted to my iPhone," Litvin wrote, describing it as a full-time job. If she didn't check it at all moments of the day, something, whether it be a Facebook notification or a message from a friend, would fall through the cracks.

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"A broken iPhone changed everything. Suddenly, there was no pressure to respond or stay updated on everyone's latest move, and it was...nice," she said.

Whereas others have broken their phones, enjoyed a day or two of freedom from cyberspace while it gets fixed, and then jumped right back into the world of likes and retweets, Litvin chose not to replace her smartphone.

The teen instead ordered a purple Motorola flip phone that "gets the job done" and even has a "'fun frame' option for taking photos." It's a far cry from a phone with beatboxing Siri, but it's all Litvin wanted.

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At first, Litvin experienced uneasiness, even missing out on important conversations and plans, as her friends struggled to keep their disconnected friend in the loop. Eventually, they readjusted and she settled into smartphone-less life, which turned out to be a good thing for her friendships. As Litvin learned at summer camp where cellphones are banned, being disconnected can help "foster incredibly strong friendships."

She still has social media accounts and stays connected, just on a much less frequent basis. She also knows that swapping out the smartphone isn't for everyone.

"You might like it! And if you don't, no bigs... We can still text, after all," she wrote. "It'll just take me a minute longer to text you back."

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And for those of us who have not yet tried to brave the world without an iPhone, Litvin offers some advice.

"Try it sometime," she wrote. "Turn off your phone for an hour or two when you're hanging out with your friends. Or next time you're at lunch and you hear that ever-so tempting tri-tone, ignore the text and focus on having one conversation at a time."

"Take a minute and see how refreshing it can be to unplug."