- Kendall Schrohe, a 23-year-old from Washington, D.C., is swapping smartphones for dumb phones that can call and text but little else, describing the change as 'heaven on earth.'
- Companies like Dumb.co and The Light Phone have built entire businesses around that promise. Dumb.co says it has more than 5,000 active users, most of them women around 24, and the company runs a 30-day Month Offline challenge for people ready to try going without.
- The trend follows a ruling that Silicon Valley engineered products to hook young users on purpose, adding weight to the argument that the problem was designed.
- The shift occurs as roughly half of US adults visit social media daily and the average American teenager spends nearly five hours a day scrolling, according to 2025 Pew Research Center and the American Psychological Association.
- In November, reports claimed Gen Z’s brains are growing hunched around their phones, citing data showing self-harm rates among girls more than quintupled between 2010 and 2015; in February, Nguyen built a 30-day program called APPstinent after recognizing her own addiction, emphasizing personal responsibility and course correction.
- Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician and professor at UC San Francisco, says social media platforms are built like addictive substances, leading to symptoms similar to substance-related addictions, including impaired control, withdrawal, tolerance, and relapse.
- Nagata added that people who step away from their phones for good tend to sleep better and think more clearly.
Kendall Schrohe, a 23-year-old from Washington, D.C., describes her switch from an iPhone to a flip phone as 'heaven on earth.' She is part of a growing trend among Gen Z individuals opting for 'dumb phones' to escape the addictive nature of social media.12
According to Pew Research Center, nearly half of U.S. adults visit social media daily, with teenagers averaging five hours a day on these platforms. Dr. Jason Nagata, a pediatrician at the University of California, San Francisco, notes that social media can create addiction-like symptoms, including impaired control and withdrawal.910
Schrohe felt the need for a drastic change, stating, 'I needed that extreme measure, like to physically not be able to access social media in order to realize, like, that I actually preferred life without it.' This sentiment is echoed by many young people who grew up with these platforms, making it difficult to envision life without them.
Companies like Dumb.co and The Light Phone are capitalizing on this trend, with Dumb.co reporting over 5,000 active users, primarily women around 24. They offer a 30-day Month Offline challenge for those ready to disconnect.3
This movement comes in the wake of growing concerns about the impact of social media on mental health, particularly among young girls, with self-harm rates reportedly more than quintupling between 2010 and 2015. As the conversation around social media addiction continues, many are seeking ways to reclaim their lives from the grip of technology.678
“The shift comes as roughly half of US adults visit social media daily and teens spend nearly five hours a day scrolling, per 2025 Pew Research and the American Psychological Association. Dr. Jason Nagata of UC San Francisco says platforms are built like addictive substances, causing withdrawal and relapse.”
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