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The rise of dumbphones in a smartphone world

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The rise of dumbphones in a smartphone world

Most of us know how much smartphones can become a distraction. Even if we make our very best effort not to grab our phone when we are bored immediately, the average American spends 4.1 hours a day staring at their smartphone screen. Not only does this affect our eyes, posture and attentiveness, it also impacts our mental health and feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Some people’s dependency on smartphones has led them to ditch them altogether and replace them with what’s now known as a “dumbphone.”

But what exactly is a “dumbphone,” and is this the answer to our smartphone and social media woes?

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Nokia cellphone (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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What are dumbphones?

Dumbphones are basic ’90s-inspired cellphones that lack the vast array of apps found on smartphones. Remember that old Nokia that you could play “Snake” on or that snazzy flip phone that was once all the rage but took a long time to send one text message?

Dumbphones focus on providing core functionalities like texting and calling, avoiding the high screen time associated with smartphones we use every day. These phones are part of a growing market providing offline alternatives for those seeking to reduce their digital footprint and be more present in their physical environments.

Old Nokia phone (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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Why are people switching to dumbphones?

The shift towards dumbphones is driven by a growing awareness of the adverse effects associated with prolonged screen time, such as loneliness, addiction and mental health issues like anxiety or depression.

Desire for simplicity: Many advocate for a return to simpler devices that focus on basic functionalities like texts and calls, reducing the constant bombardment of information and notifications.

Reduction in digital footprint: Using a dumbphone helps decrease online presence and data sharing, appealing to privacy-conscious users.

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What will the future of dumbphones look like?

The popularity of dumbphones is on the rise. These trends suggest a robust future for dumbphones, especially among younger generations embracing other retro technologies. The market is evolving, with new models and options becoming available that cater to a desire for simplicity and a break from constant connectivity.

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Get Kurt’s picks for the best dumbphones

Young woman looking at phone (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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How do you know if you should get a dumbphone?

Consider a dumbphone if you feel overwhelmed by your smartphone usage or are concerned about its impact on your mental health. Many users of dumbphones still keep a smartphone but switch between the two depending on their needs, which could be a practical approach for those unsure about fully transitioning. Trying out a dumbphone could be a beneficial experiment if you frequently find yourself distracted by your phone or looking for ways to enhance real-life interactions.

Get Kurt’s picks for the best dumbphones

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Retro phones (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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Kurt’s key takeaways

If you’re part of the older generation and have only ever used your smartphone for calling, texting and maybe email, then perhaps you don’t have all the other concerns that heavy smartphone users have. Therefore, getting a dumbphone may only be advantageous if you’re looking to save money on your phone bill and don’t need all the bells and whistles. But, if you find yourself a little distracted by your smartphone, then resorting back to a dumbphone might be the way to go.

Do you know anyone who has gotten themselves a dumbphone? What was the straw that broke the camel’s back that made them do so? Would you consider trading in your smartphone for a dumbphone? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.

For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter.

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Amazon.com says things are fixed after some issues with logging in and checking out

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Amazon.com says things are fixed after some issues with logging in and checking out

If you were having issues shopping on Amazon or loading your playlists on Amazon Music on Thursday, you weren’t alone. For over three hours today, Downdetector showed a sizable spike in people reporting issues with checkout, search, and logging in. The problem seemed to be affecting both the site and the mobile apps. But an Amazon spokesperson tells The Verge that the issues are now fixed.

“We’re sorry that some customers may have temporarily experienced issues while shopping,” Amazon spokesperson Jennie Bryant says in a statement. “We have resolved the issue, which was related to a software code deployment, and website and app are now running smoothly.”

Several Verge staffers experienced issues themselves when there were problems. Clicking through to many products produced a “sorry, something went wrong” error, and even pages that did load were not showing pricing. Users reported being repeatedly logged out of their accounts when trying to check out or load their cart. Even the parts of Amazon.com that were working seem to be loading slowly.

The company has been dealing with AWS outages in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates due to drone strikes by the Iranian military, but there has not been any word of more widespread outages in the US or elsewhere.

Update March 5th: Added comment from Amazon saying that things are fixed.

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$163K in fake medical bill charges; AI uncovers it for you

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3K in fake medical bill charges; AI uncovers it for you

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Last summer, a man’s brother-in-law suffered a fatal heart attack. The hospital bill for four hours of emergency care: $195,628.

The man’s sister-in-law was ready to pay it. He asked her to wait. He requested an itemized bill with CPT codes, the universal billing codes hospitals use, and fed the whole thing into Claude, an AI chatbot.

Within minutes, Claude found duplicate charges, services billed as “inpatient” even though the patient was never admitted, supply costs inflated by 500% to 2,300% above Medicare rates and charges for procedures that never happened. He cross-checked with ChatGPT. Both AIs agreed. He wrote a six-page letter citing every violation by name.

The hospital dropped the bill to $33,000. An 83% reduction. Zero medical training. A $20 app.

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A man cross-checked a hospital bill with AI and got it reduced by some 83%. (Neil Godwin/Getty Images)

Your bill is probably wrong, too

That story sounds extreme. It’s not.

The Medical Billing Advocates of America estimates 3 out of 4 medical bills contain errors. The average hospital bill over $10,000 has roughly $1,300 in mistakes. And less than 1% of denied insurance claims are ever appealed. Hospitals and insurers are banking on the fact that you won’t check.

AI flips that equation. You don’t need to understand CPT codes or have a medical billing degree. You just need to paste.

You can use AI platforms, like ChatGPT, to spot errors or suspicious charges on medical bills. (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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The 5-minute audit

Step 1: Call your provider and request an itemized bill with CPT codes. Not the summary. The full line-by-line breakdown. You’re legally entitled to this.

Step 2: Open ChatGPT, Claude, Grok or Gemini (free versions work) and paste this:

“I’m pasting my itemized medical bill below. Please: (1) Explain every charge in plain English, (2) Flag any duplicate or suspicious charges, (3) Compare each charge to average costs, (4) Identify billing code errors or bundling violations, and (5) Draft a dispute letter I can send to the billing department. Here’s my bill:”

Step 3: Paste your bill. The AI will translate every line and tell you what looks wrong.

WOMAN SAYS CHATGPT SAVED HER LIFE BY HELPING DETECT CANCER, WHICH DOCTORS MISSED

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If the AI finds errors, call the billing department and ask for a supervisor. (iStock)

Step 4: If the AI finds errors (it probably will), call the billing department and ask for a supervisor. Reference the specific codes. Hospitals resolve disputes all the time when patients show up prepared.

Pro tip: Counterforce Health (counterforcehealth.org) is a free AI tool built specifically for insurance denial appeals. Worth bookmarking.

It’s time to give your medical bills a thorough examination. The AI will see you now.

Real talk. Everybody’s talking about AI. Nobody’s showing you what to actually DO with it. My new free newsletter, Splash of AI (SplashofAI.com), gives you one trick, one tool and one “wait, I can do THAT?” moment every single week. Five minutes. Plain English. The kind of stuff that saves you time, money or both. You’ll wonder how you got by without it.

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Send this to someone who is staring at a medical bill they can’t make sense of. Forward this right now. Seriously. This could save them hundreds or even thousands of dollars, and it takes less time than making coffee.

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Catch the national radio show on 500-plus stations, get the free daily newsletter, watch on YouTube or listen to the podcast wherever you get your shows. It’s all waiting at Komando.com.

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Meta’s AI glasses reportedly send sensitive footage to human reviewers in Kenya

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Meta’s AI glasses reportedly send sensitive footage to human reviewers in Kenya

Meta’s AI-powered smart glasses could be sending sensitive footage to human reviewers in Nairobi, Kenya, according to an investigation by the Swedish outlets Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten. The report, which was published last week, claims Meta contractors in Kenya have seen videos captured with the smart glasses that show “bathroom visits, sex and other intimate moments.”

So far, at least one proposed class action lawsuit accusing Meta of violating false advertising and privacy laws has emerged in response to Svenska Dagbladet’s reporting, citing the company’s claim that its smart glasses are designed for privacy:

By affirmatively claiming that the Glasses were designed to protect privacy, Meta assumed a duty to disclose material facts that would inform a reasonable consumer’s decision to purchase the product. Instead, Meta hid the alarming reality: that use of the AI features results in a stranger halfway around the world watching the most private moments of a person’s life.

The Nairobi-based contractors interviewed by Svenska Dagbladet are AI annotators, meaning they label images, text, or audio, with the goal of helping AI systems make sense of the data they’re training on. “We see everything — from living rooms to naked bodies,” one worker says, according to Svenska Dagbladet. “Meta has that type of content in its databases.”

A former Meta employee reportedly tells Svenska Dagbladet that faces in annotation data are blurred automatically, though workers in Kenya say this “does not always work as intended,” and some faces are still visible. Another person reportedly tells the outlet that a wearer’s bank cards are sometimes seen in the footage they review as well.

Meta’s Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses come with a built-in AI assistant capable of answering questions about what a user can see. The glasses have soared in popularity in recent years, despite growing concerns over privacy and surveillance.

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EssilorLuxottica, the eyewear giant that Meta works with to develop the camera-equipped glasses, sold over 7 million of the AI-powered glasses in 2025 — more than tripling its sales in 2023 and 2024 combined. Last year, Meta made some changes to its privacy policy that keep Meta AI with camera use enabled on your glasses “unless you turn off ‘Hey Meta.’” It also stopped allowing wearers to opt out of storing their voice recordings in the cloud.

As reported by Svenska Dagbladet, the Kenya-based AI reviewers work with transcriptions as well, ensuring Meta AI provides the correct answer to the questions users ask aloud. In a statement to The Verge, Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton says media captured by its smart glasses “stays on the user’s device” unless they choose to share it with other people or Meta.

“When people share content with Meta AI, we sometimes use contractors to review this data for the purpose of improving people’s experience, as many other companies do,” Clayton says. “We take steps to filter this data to protect people’s privacy and to help prevent identifying information from being reviewed.”

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