Summary

Neil's had enough of his smartphone so he's chosen a less 'intelligent' alternative. But Feifei thinks he's stuck in the past. Find out about a new word for an old piece of technology: 'dumbphone'.

Transcript 

Feifei
Hello and welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei.

Neil
And I’m Neil. So how was your holiday, Feifei? Got any photos?

Feifei
Yeah! Aren't they cool?

Neil
Well, I haven't seen them.

Feifei
Haven't seen them? Well check out my social media feeds.

Neil
Erm… well, I'll have to wait till I get to my computer. I can't see anything on this dumbphone.

Feifei
Dumbphone?!

Neil
Yeah, I was getting addicted to my smartphone – I couldn't stop checking it every five seconds - so I got rid of it and now I have this dumbphone! It's brilliant – it does absolutely nothing apart from phone and text!

Feifei
Oh I see. The opposite of 'smart' is 'dumb', so the opposite of a smartphone is a 'dumbphone'.

Neil
You've got it! It's very fashionable, you know. Eddie Redmayne uses one!

Feifei
Hmm, not sure about that… But let's hear some examples.

Examples

Man 1
Argh my arm is killing me from playing around with my phone so much.

Woman 1
Get yourself a dumbphone, like me. There's nothing to check!

My sleep has improved so much since I got rid of my smartphone. There's no temptation to stare at this dumbphone in bed!

I'm sick of being bullied by my smartphone. I'm going to join the dumbphone revolution!

Feifei
This is The English we Speak from BBC Learning English. We're learning the word 'dumbphone'. A dumbphone is a simple, old-fashioned style mobile phone which can only make calls and send text messages. 'Dumb' is the opposite of 'smart'. Some people are choosing to use them because they think smartphones distract them too much.

Neil
It's a word that's only appeared over the last couple of years, so you probably won't find it in a dictionary – but it's been used a lot in the media. So Feifei, how am I going to see these holiday snaps of yours?

Feifei
Neil, just get a new smartphone.

Neil
No way. The past is the future!

Feifei
What next? Are you going to start coming to work on a horse?

Neil
Now that is a great idea! And maybe I could swap my computer for a typewriter. And who really needs electricity when you can have a nice gas lamp…

Feifei
Good bye!

Neil
Bye.