经济学人 | 傻瓜手机正卷土重来！

Dumb phones are making a comeback

傻瓜手机正卷土重来

They even have Snake

它们甚至能玩贪吃蛇

It is hard to imagine life without a smartphone these days. Leave yours at home and you may find yourself lost, moneyless and severed from social contact. 

如今，很难想象没有智能手机的生活。如果你把手机忘在家里，你可能会发现自己迷失了方向，身无分文，并且与社会隔绝。

Nine in ten American adults own one, according to Pew Research Centre. They spend 3 hours and 45 minutes on them a day, on average, reckons GWI, a firm of analysts. New versions souped up with artificial intelligence may be even harder to put down.

据皮尤研究中心的数据，90%的美国成年人都拥有一部智能手机。而分析公司 GWI 则估计，他们平均每天在这些设备上花费的时间高达3小时45分钟。配备人工智能的新版本智能手机，更是让人难以割舍。

Yet a market is also emerging for phones that are deliberately pea-brained. These dumb phones—confusingly called “feature phones”—account for just 2% of phone sales in America. But demand is growing. 

然而，一个专门销售“低能”手机的市场也正在悄然兴起。这些功能手机（尽管令人困惑地被称为“特色手机”）目前仅占美国手机销量的2%，但需求却呈现出稳步增长的态势。

In 2016 HMD, a Finnish firm, bought the rights to relaunch the devices of Nokia, whose basic phones once reigned supreme. It says it is now selling “tens of thousands” of flip-phones a month in America. In May it re-released the Nokia 3210, a mainstay of many millennials’ teenage years, in Europe. It even has Snake, a classic mobile game.

2016年，芬兰公司 HMD 收购了诺基亚，重新推出了其曾一度占据主导地位的基础手机。该公司透露，其翻盖手机目前在美国的月销售已达“数万台”。同年5月，其在欧洲重新发布了诺基亚3210，这款经典手机曾是许多千禧一代青少年时期的标志性产品，它甚至还能玩经典的贪吃蛇游戏。

Dumb phones today do not merely replicate those of the past, though. Startups offer minimalist devices of their own. One example is the Light Phone, which is shaped like an iPod and has an e-ink screen like a Kindle. It also allows users to add optional “tools” including a podcast-player and a directions app.

然而，如今的功能手机并不仅仅是复制过去的款式。一些初创公司也推出了自己的极简设备。其中，Light Phone 便是一个典型的例子。它的形状酷似 iPod，配备了一个类似 Kindle 的电子墨水屏幕，还允许用户添加可选的“工具”，如播客播放器和方向应用程序。

What explains the return of the dumb phone? One factor is anxiety over the impact of smartphones—and social-media apps in particular—on young people’s mental health. That is why Eton, a posh British school, announced in July that it would bar its future prime ministers from bringing smartphones to school, and would provide them with Nokia phones instead.

那么，是什么推动了功能手机的回归呢？一个关键因素在于，人们日益担忧智能手机——尤其是社交媒体应用程序——对年轻人心理健康的潜在影响。正因如此，英国著名的贵族学校伊顿公学在7月宣布，将禁止未来的首相候选人携带智能手机上学，并计划为他们提供诺基亚手机。

But plenty of grownups are also choosing dumb phones of their own accord. Jose Briones, who moderates a forum dedicated to dumb phones on Reddit, a social-media site, switched to the Light Phone after growing alarmed at his soaring screen-time tally. 

但也有很多成年人在主动选择功能手机。何塞·布里奥内斯在社交媒体网站 Reddit 上主持了一个专门讨论功能手机的论坛。他在对自己的屏幕使用时间激增感到震惊后，转而使用了 Light Phone。

Like many neophytes, he still keeps a smartphone for situations such as travelling abroad. Other smartphone addicts are instead opting to dumb down their devices, either by deleting apps or downloading ones that control screen time, of which there are a growing number.

和许多新用户一样，他仍然保留了一部智能手机，以备出国旅行等特殊情况之需。而其他智能手机成瘾者则选择让自己的设备变得“笨拙”，要么删除应用程序，要么下载控制屏幕时间的应用程序，这类应用程序的数量正在不断增加。

Forswearing the supercharged connectivity of a smartphone can lead to jitters at first. Christina Dinur, another dumb-phone convert, remembers wondering what to do with herself when waiting in a queue without her smartphone. But, she says, she “settled into it really quickly”. For some, it seems, a dumb phone can be a smart choice.

一开始，放弃智能手机的超强连接功能可能会让人感到紧张不安。另一位功能手机用户克里斯蒂娜·迪努尔就记得，当她没有智能手机在排队等候时，她不知道自己该做些什么。但她也表示，自己“很快就适应了”。对一些人来说，功能手机无疑是一个明智的选择。

苏格拉底有一句名言：我知我无知。说的是，当你认识到的东西越多就越发现自己无知。苏格拉底认为，人对于客观世界的认识是有限的，且不可能完全认识客观世界，并且不应对客观世界刨根究底。神对于世界的规划自有安排，若人一意孤行地探索世界和自然的奥秘，则最终将亵渎甚至触怒神明。正因为人对神所构建的世界不可能实现完全认知，因此那些宣称自己能够认识和改造世界的人，本身便是无知的代言。尽管苏格拉底的关于“ 我知我无知”的观念的解读，在现在看来有失客观科学。但至少苏格拉底告诫人们，人的认知是有限的，现有的知识甚至可能存在错误和疏漏。同样地，我们在求学之路上也要报以我知我不知的心态，才能走得更远。最后，祝愿莘莘学子都能终有所成！