On getting a dumb phone.

Shia LaBeouf: "Just do it. Don't let your dreams be dreams."

Sitting in a bath, on my phone

So, I’ve become a bath guy. I don’t really know how it happened. It’s not because I have a nice bath. The water doesn’t come up high or anything. It’s a bath / shower combo and feels kind of like lying naked in a puddle.

But I’m into them. Literally (ba-dum-tss). I sit with a book and read until the water gets lukewarm.

A few weeks ago I sat reading and, I kid you not, checked my iPhone like five times within an hour. And each time I checked my iPhone, I did some combination of the following routine:

1. I checked for texts.

2. I checked all three of my email inboxes.

3. I scrolled through Google News, even though I know it isn’t good for me.

4. I scrolled through my Twitter feed, mainly comprised of NBA reporters.

5. I checked ESPN. Maybe a huge sports thing happened in the past five minutes.

6. I checked Zillow for my local apartments, even though I am not in the market for an apartment; I’m just a silent critic.

Over and over and over this happened. It was exhausting.¹

I don’t think we need convincing

An earlier version of this piece had a really long section where I quoted Wendell Berry, the Slow Media Manifesto, and one of my first pieces for Slow Faith. But I deleted it because I figure that if you subscribe to a newsletter called “Slow Faith,” you probably don’t need much convincing that having a computer in your pocket is a bad thing.

You’ve probably read the books and books and books and books and books and books and books and books and books and books and books that address this issue.

You probably know, like Berry did back in the 80s, that iPhones erode our relationship with family and community.

You probably know all of that. But, like me sitting in that bathtub, you probably still have a smart phone.²

What pushed me over the edge

I decided a while ago that if and when I became a dad, I would switch to a dumb phone.³ I want to model for my kids what it looks like to have a healthy relationship to technology, and I don’t think having an iPhone but “not having social media apps on it” is enough.

Further, the research in all the books listed above and especially in Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation is incredibly damning about smart phone use by children and teens. If it’s bad for them, then it’s probably bad for me too. I don’t want to ask them to do this if I’m unwilling to do it too.

And, finally, something that is infuriatingly not mentioned in most digital minimalism writing: the prevalence and accessibility of pornography. Giving a teenager a smart phone (heck, giving anyone a smart phone) is giving them a portal to the commodification, objectification, and degradation of sex.

So then, sitting in that bathtub, I began to think: if I want to model this later in life for my kids, why don’t I commit to it now? I didn’t have a good answer.

******Check out my added addendum at the end of this piece thanks to a kind comment!*******

Drew, did you decide to switch to a dumb phone because you’re addicted to technology?

Yes. In his book Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport defines addiction this way:

“Addiction is a condition in which a person engages in use of a substance or in a behavior for which the rewarding effects provide a compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue the behavior despite detrimental consequences.”⁴

I’m checking my phone for new emails while walking from my car to my office and during the credits of any movie I see in the movie theater. That’s addiction.

So you’re switching to a dumb phone because you are more addicted to technology than the average person?

No. I really don’t think I’m more addicted to my phone than the next man or woman. But that isn’t justification to continue using it.

So I did it. I went fully dumb.

With Jonathan Haidt and Cal Newport fueling all the fury and rage within me, I stormed into my local Verizon store (jk I gently opened the door like a small Victorian child). A really helpful guy looked at me and laughed when I told him I wanted the cheapest flip phone money could buy ($125! That’s still expensive!). I left the store with this bad boy:

And I’ll tell you something: I felt sexy. That phone screams I’M COUNTER CULTURAL! That phone screams THIS GUY’S GOT IT GOING ON! That phone screams I’M DOING THIS FOR MY NON-EXISTENT CHILDREN!

But here’s the problem: it didn’t do group texts. And I need group texts. For work, for my church small group, for family.

And I realized something else: I needed a phone that was partially smart, if a phone like that existed. The flip phone felt sexier, but it wasn’t practical for me in 2025. Ironically, I found status (shout out

Griffin Gooch

’s dissertation) in having a flip phone. It said something about me, and it made me prideful. A “smart dumb phone” would be the humbler choice.

So I had to take the flip phone back

I felt like an idiot walking into the Verizon store, but I did it because getting my money back is important to me (minus the $50 restocking fee).

And then I began to research options…again

Oh boy did I fall down every reddit board rabbit hole known to humankind. I looked into the Light Phone—generally considered the best of the “intentional phone” category—but it wasn’t shipping until August and cost roughly the same as a ticket on Katy Perry’s Blue Origin flight. I looked at Sunbeam Wireless, but their’s was a flip phone, which made texting non-ideal.

And, finally, I looked at the Wisephone from Techless. The phone is a locked-down smart phone. The company controls the app store and only lets you download apps that are productive in nature (Chase mobile, Venmo, Google Calendar, etc.). Any non-productive apps (Netflix, browsers, IG, etc.) are off limits.

Oh, but they do have Spotify! I need to listen to my Avett Brothers!

Four days later it came in the mail. I love it. Here it is in all its glory:

You can do it too

Something interesting has been how many comments I’ve received from people along the lines of, “I’ve been thinking about making the switch too, but I just don’t know if I can.”

I’M HERE TO TELL YOU YOU CAN. THE WORLD IS BEAUTIFUL WITHOUT MY IPHONE. THE SUN IS SHINING AND INTERESTING PEOPLE ARE ALL AROUND ME.

I’m telling you, my brain feels so good without constant dependence on a smart phone. I don’t know what my nearest open apartment looks like, but I am better for it.

Have a question! Pop it down below in the comments, I’d be happy to share more of my research!

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******AN ADDED ADDENDUM******

Ashlee Gadd

kindly commented the following:

“I love this for you. And I'm glad you've done the research so if/when I am ready to take the plunge, I know what to do ;) From the parenting perspective—it is crazy, ridiculous, and obnoxious how many apps you are expected to have for school, sports, etc. We are extracurricular minimalists so it hasn't been a huge issue for us, but even my daughter's kindergarten class uses an app for all communication from the teacher to us. 🫠 Also, you can't even go to Disneyland without their app (or maybe you could but it would be very very hard), so keep that in mind for your future self and children 😜”

This, my gentle reader, I was completely unaware of. The Wisephone does have 1,054 apps, and you can request any app be added to the app store. But I honestly don’t know if it covers everything. Being a parent is amazing to me, and in sharing my own journey to a dumb phone, please do not read any judgment from me about what is best for you and your parenting!

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1. At one point I wondered whether—like a toaster—my phone would electrocute me if it fell in the tub. (I just googled it and found this headline from 2017: “Teen electrocuted after playing on phone in bathtub.”) Don’t plug your phone in by the bathtub is the moral of the story.

2. If you are reading this on your iPhone or Android, please do not feel guilty. I was like you, just a few weeks ago!

3. DISCLAIMER: I completely, completely respect where you land on this issue; I do not want this to come across as scolding or patronizing. This is just my personal opinions. Also, I have never been a dad, so there could be some obvious reason why this isn’t possible, but I don’t know of it yet.

4. Newport, Cal, Digital Minimalism (New York: Porfolio, 2019), 15.