Shunning your phone, then using it to connect with the world

SAN FRANCISCO: Shunning his phone for a dumb one changed the way Jose Briones engages with the world - and he likes it that way.

The 27-year-old Colorado resident turns to CDs when he wants music, instead of streaming it.

When he has to get someplace, he prints out directions before setting out or falls back on the sometimes-forgotten practice of asking a stranger which way to go.

Briones is far from alone in connecting with the analog world by relying less on the internet's help in finding life's solutions on his phone.

Briones is a person who believes that this message is resonating with, and he hasn't forsaken the internet entirely: Briones moderates a Reddit forum devoted to so-called dumbphones, which had 17,000 users as members as of Monday, and wants to have a deeper purposeful life.

Dumbphones, also referred to as feature phones, are essentially throwback phones without big screens and a mountain of apps.

They are reminiscent of the pre-iPhone era when mobile phones allowed users to call another line, an amazing breakthrough when the first mobile phone call was dialed on April 3, years ago.