Nokia & HMD: Balancing Mobile Connectivity & User Well-Being

You never leave the house without your keys, some cash and your phone, three items as pivotal for humanity as fire, the pen and the sword. While the phone connects the user to their friends and family, the smartphone connects the user to the entire planet (or even our solar system, if you enjoy NASA live streams). 

The smartphone keeps people connected with their personal and professional emails, birthday party WhatsApp groups, the weekend weather, high-profile figures, up-to-the minute news on global subjects and so much more.

Healthcare patients can also benefit from smartphones, with remote monitoring and telemedicine options for those with mobility issues and location trackers for those with memory problems. Medication reminders and health apps keep everyone going, while emergency alerts keep those in certain geographical areas safe. 

Outside of health concerns, smartphones can still protect users. Ordinary citizens are able to capture crimes or acts of injustice and broadcast them to the world, sometimes drawing global media attention and support. Throughout the Arab Spring in 2010, protesters used smartphones to coordinate protests, avoid the police and share safety tips, often anonymously through social media. One Egyptian baby girl was even named ‘Facebook’ in honour of the site. 

Yet moderation in all things is key. Mental health is often discussed in relation to mobile phone use, from being unable to switch off to doom scrolling to causing anxiety and body-image issues. According to a study by the National Library of Medicine, there are many musculoskeletal problems associated with excessive mobile phone use. Back pain and eye strain caused by postural instability, overuse of specific hand movements and ‘text neck’ are some modern discomforts, which may grow into serious long-term problems. This is especially risky for children, as developing unhealthy habits at a young age will become even harder to break. This, in conjunction with rising levels of childhood obesity, could spell a health crisis for today’s children, once they reach adulthood. 

Research from the CDC shows that 72% of high school students do not get eight hours of sleep each night, with smartphone use before bedtime cited as a contributing factor.

Meanwhile, the American Academy of Pediatrics has warned that children who spend over two hours a day on screens are more likely to be overweight, as the sedentary nature of screentime leads to a reduction in physical activity.

But some are fighting back. The WhatsApp group ‘Parents United for a Smartphone-Free Childhood’ aims to support parents who feel pressured by their children to buy them a smartphone. 

“If lots of parents make an agreement not to buy their child a smartphone, it removes the pressure to do it,” says founder Daisy Greenwell. “WhatsApp groups have a limit of 2,000 people and it reached that limit in just a couple of days. It shows how desperate so many parents are and how many are looking for help on this.”

For Gen Z, the ‘digital natives’, many had their existence announced via a post on social media. The Office of the Children’s Commissioner released data showing that children have an average of 1,300 pictures and videos of themselves posted online by the age of 13.

Yet teenage members of Brooklyn’s Luddite Club have shunned smartphones and revived the flip phone. They meet weekly in the park, where they talk, sketch and read books together - no scrolling in sight. While the group does not claim to have perfect mental or physical health, the teens are sure that they have a healthier relationship with technology, by not constantly being attached to it. 

The mental, physical and social impact of the smartphone on its users has been registered by Human Mobile Devices (HMD), who decided it was time to offer another option - the ‘dumbphone’ - a way for users to take a break from social media, the internet and the myriad apps, without losing contact. The largest European manufacturer of smartphones and makers of Nokia phones, HMD has brought back the iconic Nokia 3210 – 25 years after its first release. 

For Lars Silberbauer, CMO of Human Mobile Devices, the Nokia 3210 will help users to balance their screen time usage with a digital detox.

Lars Silberbauer's journey in humanising technology

Lars has been CMO at HMD since 2022. Prior to that, he came from a varied background, working in the music industry at MTV in New York, to spending almost a decade at Lego. At the Olympics, Lars went about humanising an old organisation. He’s certainly had a lot of experience with consumers, but that’s not a word he’s keen on.

“I wouldn't say I’m ‘consumer focused’ because I hate the term ‘consumer’, as it’s just numbers and stats and people who give us money,” says Lars. “Instead, we talk about humans, we talk about people, we talk about how we solve human needs. That's why we also rebranded HMD as Human Mobile Devices, which is a very important point in the whole journey.”

 25 years on from the release of the Nokia 3210, a lot has changed at HMD and Nokia. 

Lars is proud of the way that they have been able to radically change marketing. 

“Together, HMD and Nokia are bringing back products that are iconic. Not just to tap into nostalgia. It's because we’ve seen this trend. We saw it start in the US, where there was a surge in the need for this digital detox,” he says. “We saw that we were perfectly set up to solve this issue - or to give another option. We're working with a lot of the influencers, a lot of the experts in this area and that is why we are both bringing a lot of new things to our smartphones that will help those considering a digital detox.”

Nokia and HMD worked together with Heineken on a collaboration to target Gen Zs, working with the design company Bodega. The phone has no maps, no HQ camera and no social media – arguing that these features distract from our friends. 

Meanwhile, the Barbie flip phone has made Lars the biggest hero to his two daughters, aged four and seven, and to others who want to pursue the digital detox.

“I had it in my hand yesterday,” he says. “I can't wait. Just from the feedback we’ve received, it is going to be quite iconic to bring that back.”

Barbie, Heineken, HMD and Nokia… name a more iconic quartet. This brand collaboration could have been completed by slapping a bottle opener onto a phone case or by pink washing devices. But it is led because they see the same purpose. 

“Heineken sees people having too little time even though they're in the bars or in places where they mingle with their friends, but they're sitting on their phones all the time.”

It was the same thing with Barbie - without the bars.

“Playtime is getting squeezed out, because kids are getting smartphones earlier,” explains Lars. “Coming from my background at Lego, play and creativity sit very much at the core of my heart. So, that's what has really changed since the 3210 was launched the first time.”

But Lars and the team recognise that many can handle their smartphone usage in a moderate way, without risking ‘text claw’ and are not calling for a cull. It’s more that for those (such as this Editor) who find it difficult to control the urge to check who has seen a WhatsApp message or who has reacted to a Instagram story, where options for a digital detox are welcome. 

“Some have a more balanced use of their technology devices,” Lars says. “It should be a digital system, not a digital dictator. I think that's where we are sometimes bossed around by our devices.”

Now with the 3210, you can leave the house with your phone, keys and purse to enjoy a little digital detox – whether playing with friends, or at the bar with colleagues on a Friday night. 

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