Are you constantly scrolling on your smartphone? If so, you are far from alone. The average American checks their phone nearly 186 times per day (that’s 11.6 times per hour), and 46% say they’re addicted to their devices, according to a recent study. In response to this trend, a growing number of people are reclaiming control over their digital lives, taking what might seem like a drastic step: switching to a flip phone.
The subreddit r/dumphones, which counts nearly 200,000 weekly participants, is a hub for those looking to unplug and veterans sharing stories of how they did it. Celebs like Aziz Ansari and Ed Sheeran say they do not use smartphones. “I’m team flip phone revolution,” the now 28-year-old pop singer Camila Cabello declared in a 2023 X post. Last year, Business Insider declared “offline is the new luxury,” as a wave of digital minimalism takes hold.
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We spoke to six regular people, the oldest of whom is 45, who are also part of the flip phone revolution. Each has a different rationale for the decision, but there are some consistent themes. Without the constant temptation to scroll, they say, it’s easier to focus on their priorities. Their social interactions are more satisfying, and they save money. (Flip phones go for as low as $30, and monthly plans can be had for $15.)
Most are not anti-technology—in fact, three are software engineers. Here’s what they each had to say about how downgrading their tech has been the best upgrade of their lives.
Trevor Brown, 35: Making Time for Family
Trevor Brown (Credit: Cole Kan/PCMag/Adobe/Trevor Brown)
When Trevor Brown started his career as a software engineer, he had multiple cell phones. But around 2020, the thrill began to fade. “I started to realize that while a smartphone was very powerful, there were many downsides,” he says. The biggest issue is the ease of accessing the internet and social media at any time. He scrolled mindlessly during “small windows of downtime.” He adds, “It was something I used to escape the real world.”
When Brown, who lives in Florida, began building a family, he further reassessed his priorities. He wanted to be more present with his children, so he took the plunge and bought a $30 Alcatel Go Flip 2 running KaiOS, a Linux-based operating system designed for dumb phones. The device was primitive, but synced with Google Calendar so he didn’t miss appointments.
He later upgraded to the Cat S22 flip phone, which runs a full Android operating system and lets him surf the web. But its small screen makes it less “fun” to use social media or browse online, so he spends less time doing both. He’s even convinced his wife to switch to a flip phone.
Cat S22 (Credit: CAT)
There are inconveniences, like on calls with customer service when the agent asks to send them a text message to verify something. “I’m like, ‘No, I can’t do that. I’m on a flip phone,'” Brown says. “‘It does one thing at a time, so to see the text message I have to hang up.'”
At the same time, the newest mobile phone features—including AI functions—don’t interest him much. “There’s always a new thing, whether it’s cryptocurrencies or AI, and a lot of people go along with it and get into it,” he says, “even though it doesn’t always benefit them.”
Zoe Rodriguez, 24: Overcoming Childhood Phone Addiction
Zoe Rodriguez (Credit: Cole Kan/PCMag/Adobe/Zoe Rodriguez)
Zoe Rodriguez was 10 when her parents gave her a pink iPhone to use whenever she wanted, however long she wanted to. “It set me up for phone addiction,” she says. “I didn’t have great parents.”
Sure enough, for the next decade, Rodriguez spent nearly every waking hour on her phone, she says. Instead of going out with friends in her small Texas town, she lived inside the four walls of social media—mostly Snapchat, YouTube, and Instagram Reels.
By age 20, she was fed up and decided to switch to a flip phone. “I was just like, dude, I have to do something about this,” she says. “I can’t go on like this anymore.”
She went with the $195 Sunbeam F1 and signed up for a $15-per-month Mint Mobile plan. The decision still has “compounding returns to this day,” she says. Without the powerful pull of a smartphone—her flip phone has no internet-connected apps and features T9 texting—she no longer glances at her device during awkward moments.
One of Rodriguez’s figure drawings (of someone on the phone!) (Credit: Zoe Rodriguez)
She’s also found new ways to use her time, like exploring her emotions over a quiet cup of coffee or working on her figure drawing with a “deeper sense of focus.” She often visits the library or shops at Barnes & Noble, fostering a new love of reading that has “profoundly changed” her. “I have all this knowledge, and I feel smarter,” she says.
It’s also helped her dating life. “What guy wouldn’t want a girl who’s not constantly on their phone?” she says. “You can be like the herd, or you can be different. I’d rather be different.”
Joel Epstein, 45: Leading by Example
Joel Epstein (Credit: Cole Kan/PCMag/Adobe/Joel Epstein)
Joel Epstein, who lives in New York, runs five businesses, the largest of which is the cabinetry company Fabuwood. For the past three years, he has not allowed any of Fabuwood’s 1,200 employees to have a smartphone in the office—not even for meetings—and says his staff is more productive, focused, and connected, even though everyone told him he was “dreaming” when he first proposed the idea in 2018. Today, he says, “We’re producing 20% more with the same amount of people.”
He’d previously felt “addicted” to his BlackBerry. “I thought I was productive when I was multitasking,” he says. But when BlackBerry fell out of favor, and iPhones with large touch screens took over, he hesitated to switch. It felt like putting a “full computer” in his pocket.
“I thought, ‘Why should I have a phone that dictates my life?'” Epstein says. As an Orthodox Jew, Epstein was aware of the concept of kosher phones, or flip phones meant to limit technology’s influence on personal and family life. However, he stresses that he did not implement his policy at work for religious reasons.
Epstein gives any employee who wants one a free flip phone to help them stay connected in case of emergencies during work. (He’s designated a limited number of smartphones for, say, sharing photos of cabinetry defects from the factory floor.) This is all having an influence outside the workplace: He estimates that about 100 of his employees have switched to using flip phones in their personal lives.
Brandon, 19: Making College Social Again
Brandon Aikman (Credit: Cole Kan/PCMag/Adobe/Brandon Aikman)
When Brandon Aikman started college at Cedarville University in Ohio in August 2024, he noted something about the relationships he was forming. “I had stronger friendships with people who weren’t always on their phone, scrolling Instagram Reels, TikTok, and short-form videos, getting brainrot,” he says. “I also started to notice that those friends also had trouble concentrating and focusing.”
The culture of the tech industry also turned him off, specifically how it incentivizes people to upgrade “perfectly fine” phones every year. So in October 2024, Aikman told his parents he wanted a flip phone. (He was still on their plan.) They said no, thinking it was a passing phase. But it was a “very sober-minded decision,” he recalls. Eventually, they agreed and got him the Nokia 2780 ($90).
“I’m not anti-tech, I’m just pro being intentional with tech,” says Aikman, who’s majoring in computer engineering. While moving to a flip phone “hasn’t solved all [his] problems in life,” it has been a helpful reminder of his values and what he wants from his relationships. He’s now more present with his friends and feels more aligned with his own values.
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The biggest issue is his school’s two-factor authentication app, Duo, which he needs for, among other things, his on-campus job in the career services office, where he does data analytics. He uses his old iPhone, which isn’t connected to a data plan, to open the app and verify his identity.
Despite such inconveniences, he has no plans to go back. “I see no reason to buy an iPhone, or any smartphone, ever again,” Aikman says.
Lee Seibert, 39: Saying ‘F.U.’ to the Tech Industry
Lee Seibert (Credit: Cole Kan/PCMag/Adobe/Lee Seibert)
Lee Seibert is a software engineer from Ohio who’s fed up with technology. He sees smartphones more as a way for companies to serve ads and mindless entertainment than as a productivity tool, and has recently been frustrated by the influx of AI. “I’m not crazy about the way [AI features] are rolled out in an aggressive way that kind of feels like big tech companies saying, ‘Here’s this thing, you’re going to start using it, deal with it,'” he says.
Seibert has been using a dumb phone as his primary device for over a year. First, he tried the Cat S22, a popular option in the broader dumbphone community for its touch screen. After six months, he decided he didn’t want a touch screen anymore and switched to the $210 Sonim XP3plus 5G (a PCMag Editors’ Choice Award winner) with T-Mobile’s lowest-cost prepaid monthly plan. He intends to keep the phone for at least 10 years.
“I’m a technologist, and it’s fascinating to take control of this aspect of my life in a technical way,” he says. “I see it as a hobby, or a challenge.”
Allison Sigmon, 21: Ignoring the Naysayers
Allison Sigmon (Credit: Cole Kan/PCMag/Adobe/Allison Sigmon)
Allison Sigmon’s old smartphone made her feel “very overwhelmed and stimulated.” She constantly felt the need to reply to work messages to build her business, an editing company, primarily for novels. Hacks like setting timers and using apps to restrict screen time didn’t help.
One day, she came across a YouTube video of someone using a dumb phone. Intrigued, she started researching on r/dumbphone. In July 2024, she took a chance and swapped her Samsung Galaxy for the Cat S22 on a $15-per-month plan. She’s been using it ever since.
At just 21, Sigmon stands out amongst her peers and family. Her friends say her dumb phone use sounds “so freeing” but don’t feel they could ever make the switch. Her aunt got on her case last Thanksgiving: “Oh my gosh, isn’t it time for an upgrade?”
Sigmon, who lives in North Carolina, no longer pays attention to what other people say. Now she’s only on her phone for half an hour a day, down from seven hours on her Galaxy. She does use her laptop more now than she used to, though, to access the internet.
“The biggest benefit has been my mental state,” she says. “I’m calmer. When I close my laptop, my work day is over. I’m not waking up at night thinking, ‘Did I turn that in?’ or ‘Did I respond to that message?’ Because that’s not my problem right now. That’s my problem tomorrow.”
About Our Expert
Emily Forlini
Former Senior Reporter
Experience
As a news and features writer at PCMag, I cover the biggest tech trends that shape the way we live and work. I specialize in on-the-ground reporting, uncovering stories from the people who are at the center of change—whether that’s the CEO of a high-valued startup or an everyday person taking on Big Tech. I also cover daily tech news and breaking stories, contextualizing them so you get the full picture.
I came to journalism from a previous career working in Big Tech on the West Coast. That experience gave me an up-close view of how software works and how business strategies shift over time. Now that I have my master’s in journalism from Northwestern University, I couple my insider knowledge and reporting chops to help answer the big question: Where is this all going?
