Some Gen Zers swap smartphones for "dumb" phones in a bid to unplug
"It really opens up your mind," said one 23-year-old who ditched smartphones to wean herself off social media.
Updated on: August 5, 2026 / 4:04 PM EDT / CBS News
Kendall Schrohe remembers the moment she swapped her smartphone for a flip phone.
"For me, like the second that my iPhone was gone, it was just like heaven on earth," the 23-year-old Washington, D.C., resident told CBS News.
Schrohe is among the growing number of young people who are ditching their smartphones in favor of stripped-down "dumb phones" in an effort to unplug from social media amid concerns about the platforms' impact on mental health . Some also feel nostalgic for an era they never knew before the advent of mobile devices.
According to Pew Research , roughly half of U.S. adults in 2025 visited social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook at least once a day. Research from the American Psychological Association showed even higher usage among young people, with the average U.S. teen spending nearly five hours a day on social media, according to the group.
So-called dumb phones are a broad category. At one end are old-school flip phones, popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, that handle calls and texts but little else. Then there are devices that use flip-phone hardware but integrate messaging and other apps. Another approach involves using smartphone technology that blocks social media.