Tired of Losing Your iPhone at Bars? Maybe You Need a ‘Drunk Phone’

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Today in trends that may or may not be actual trends: drunk phones! What, pray tell, is a drunk phone? According to Laura Krajecki, chief consumer officer at Starcom MediaVest Group, they are cheap phones that young people carry with them on weekend nights so their precious iPhones don’t get lost or dropped in a toilet.

Krajecki told Ad Age:

We were just doing global research with field strategists in understanding the role of beer in Saturday night around the world vs. other drinks. In studying beer, we started to discover that young adults cherish their smart phones and iPhones so much that they don’t want to lose them if they have an epic night out. Now they take what they call their “drunk phone,” a cheap low-end phone, so now they are carrying two phones because they don’t want to lose their smart phone.

Never have I been so proud to be part of Generation Y, the first generation to resort to buying two phones instead of cutting back on drinking. Of course, this could be an entirely made-up trend — Krajecki doesn’t say how many people actually admitted to carrying around a second cheaper phone.

Still, from, um, personal research in the field, I can confirm that sometimes young people leave their phones on bars or drop them in the gutter or accidentally take their friend’s phone home instead. Maybe a drunk phone isn’t such a bad idea after all.

So, what should one look for in a drunk phone? Not much! Remember, you’re going to be out dancing to dubstep or drinking out of a giant boot, not playing with cool new apps on your phone.

Still, there are a few things to consider when thinking about a cheap second phone — mainly, how people are going to contact you.

You can always pick a new Google Voice number and set it to ring all your phones at the same time. You can also set it to ring certain phones at certain times of the day, meaning that if you buy a cheap prepaid phone, you can just set Google Voice to call it on Saturday nights between 6 p.m. and 4 a.m. Another option is buying a cheap phone and swapping out the SIM card if you use AT&T or T-Mobile.

Or you could attach your iPhone to your hand with the Feinger ($15.95, plus your dignity). Honestly, it all seems like a lot of trouble. How would you go about carrying around a drunk phone?

[Via The Awl, Ad Age]

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