Gen Z, the new ‘Silent Generation,’ swaps smartphones for dumb ones…

Gen Z was supposed to be the first fully digital generation.

They grew up with smartphones in their hot little hands, social media accounts before they were old enough to swim, and an entire childhood recorded, uploaded, ranked, liked, shared, and permanently part of every algorithm on the planet.

They were supposed to love every second of it… but that didn’t happen.

A growing number of them are now trying to escape the tech lifestyle they were born into.

Young Americans are deleting apps, cutting back on screen time, getting rid of social media, and trading expensive smartphones for “dumb phones” that make calls, send texts, give directions, and play music.

Basically, they’re paying to turn their iPhone into a 2004 Motorola Razr.

Can you blame them?

Silicon Valley promised us that constant connectivity would make all of us smarter, happier, more informed, and more connected.

But it turns out that was another lie. Because what it actually did was create a group of humans that can reach anyone on Earth in seconds, and now everyone is anxious about answering their phone.

Family and friendships have turned into content and clicks. When you make a bad post, it becomes this permanent scar on your public record, and every quiet moment you manage to squeeze in gets swallowed whole by non-stop notifications, doomscrolling, online fights, beauty filters, performance anxiety, and the constant pressure to prove that your life is way more exciting than it actually is.

Even boredom has become a thing of the past.

There’s no sitting quietly in a waiting room anymore or staring out the window during a long drive.

Every empty second is now filled with content, and Gen Z has spent its entire life inside that tech machine.

And now many of them have had enough.

They’re fine with having a phone, they just don’t want to be ruled by the addiction machine anymore.

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.

What is a dumb phone?
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.

Schrohe got her flip phone from Dumb.co, a startup that sells devices loaded with practical tools like Uber, maps and Spotify, but no social media. Dumb.co said it has more than 5,000 active users and that its typical customer is a 24-year-old woman.

Other dumb phone providers include The Light Phone company, while technology companies such as Brick sell companion devices that connect to smartphones to block social media.

That’s about 35 hours a week on social media. That’s basically a full-time job without no paycheck.

The “dumb phone” movement is about control.

Gen Z thinks the phone should serve the person holding it, not the other way around.

There’s also something fascinating about young people who are nostalgic for an era they never experienced.

And that could also explain why their pushback isn’t just about social media.

Gen Z is also not-so-enchanted by AI. They see it as their enemy in a lot of cases.

Weirdly enough, Boomers like AI more than Gen Z does.

The Conversation:

Who’s actually enthusiastic about new tech?
It’s often assumed younger generations are the most enthusiastic adopters of new technologies. Yet numerous studies already show gen Z is pushing back against AI.

A recent Gallup study found gen Z is

not convinced that AI enhances creativity or critical thinking, and the majority believe it may come at a cost, particularly to learning.

In contrast, a 2025 Thomson Reuters survey found the most “ambitious group” predicting AI would enter the workplace were baby boomers.

Baby boomers and AI
Baby boomers bridged the gap between analogue technologies like the typewriter and digital innovations like word processors. The labour market was defined by long hours and administrative filing.

This explains why, according to survey data, many boomers see AI as a revolutionary tool. They think AI not only saves time, but is more intuitive than the technologies they once relied upon.

Technology writer Josiah Gogarty argues boomers also find AI amusing. He points to the rise of low-quality AI content or slop on Facebook, “lapped up by the platform’s older audience”.

Yet for younger generations, AI presents an existential threat to their livelihoods.

When booed by the attendant students, Borchetta doubled down: “Deal with it. Do something about it. It’s a tool, make it work for you.”

But his comments ignore the structural conditions that allowed older generations to prosper in ways younger generations cannot. Borchetta and other boomers came of age during a period when human labour carried significantly more economic and social value than it does today.

The very systems that made these individuals wealthy have weakened labour security while removing the professional pathways that allowed them to thrive in the first place. The message “adapt or get left behind” therefore feels disingenuous to a generation now faced with a future defined by constant disruption and reskilling.

It actually makes sense when you think about it… Boomers entered the workforce when technology made their jobs easier.

The typewriter became the word processor, the word processor became a computer, and so on.

But to Gen Z, it looks like the machine is training to replace them before they’ve even landed a job.

One generation sees a better calculator, and the other sees a pink slip.

The dumb phone, the rejection of AI, quiet quitting, reduced drinking, economic caution, and fear of permanent online exposure are all pieces of the same larger generational personality puzzle.

Gen Z isn’t rebellious… they’re more careful.

And that’s why many are now comparing this generation to the original Silent Generation.

The Silent Generation was born between 1928 and 1945, during the Great Depression, World War II, and a time when adults were overwhelmed by things they couldn’t control.

Children quickly learned not to add to the chaos.

The Silent Generation kept their heads down, respected authority, and managed fear internally, and too much attention was something that could be dangerous.

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