USA TODAY Reporter Finds Better Tech Balance After 30-Day Dumb Phone Trial

2 articles · Updated · USA TODAY · Jul 9

A month after locking away her iPhone 17, USA TODAY reporter Rachel Hale said the experiment showed the goal was not quitting smartphones entirely but using technology with more balance.
The 30-day switch to a Light Phone II cut phone use but exposed how hard full unplugging is, with two-factor authentication, QR-code menus, digital tickets and work reporting often forcing her back to a smartphone.
Hale also found the biggest obstacle was social and practical friction—slow texting, missed messages and navigation problems—rather than simply resisting her own screen habits.
Gen Z’s broader analog revival helped explain the appeal: Dumbphone Finder traffic rose 12-fold from 2022 to 2025, Walkman sales climbed 111%, and instant film camera sales jumped 157%.
By the end, phone-free gatherings and replacing short-form scrolling with longer reading left her feeling calmer, framing dumb phones less as a universal fix than as a prompt to reset digital habits.