BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A local teen from Ballston Spa was chosen by FrontierBundles.com to ditch his smartphone and instead use a flip phone for a week.

“I’m an hour in and I want my phone back already,” Tyler Novak said during an interview with News10 Sunday evening. 

Novak, 19, started the Flip Phone Challenge Sunday. He is one of six people nationwide chosen for the week-long social experiment.

FrontierBundles.com announced its Flip Phone Challenge in June. The goal is to see what happens when people step away from smartphones.

Novak was tasked to document his experience in exchange for $1,000. Frontier wants to know how long it takes to do basic tasks like texting, checking email or getting around without help from Google Maps.

“Using a flip phone is going to be a bit of a learning curve,” he said. Novak, who admits has never owned a flip phone, said he will miss his music apps and the unlimited texting and calling feature his smartphone provides. 

“I’ve never taken a break from using an iphone or a cellphone,” he said. “The only time I turn it off is when the phone needs to be restarted.”

Frontier provided Novak with a TracFone 60 minutes for talk, text and data, a physical map, a pocket phone book, 90’s pop CD’s and a journal to track his thoughts throughout the process. 

He plans to vlog his experience for his YouTube channel, in which he broadcasts to over 41,000 subscribers. 

“Everything I have ever needed is on my phone, I think I’ll learn how well off we are off with (smart)phones,” he said.

Make sure to keep up with News10 to follow up with Novak as he completes the Flip Phone Challenge.