Should Everyone Give Up Their Smartphone?

Published: July 3, 2025

Phones, smartphone — Photo from Camilo Jimenez via Unsplash

By Gavin Boyle

More and more people can’t live without their smartphone, but is it practical for them to give the tech up, or is there another solution to beat the addiction?

“So much of our lives are happening on our devices that it’s very tough to say that any set number of hours is ‘good’ or bad,” said Jacqueline Nesi, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University. “Different people have different reactions to smartphones. It’s also dependent on what’s happening on the device, so it’s hard to give specific numbers.”

An increasingly popular method to address the problem of technology addiction is to downgrade to a “dumb phone” which offers users the core functions of a phone, such as calling and texting, without other features like games, apps or internet browsing.

“You use [the Light Phone] when you need to, and when you put it back it disappears in your life,” explained Kaiwei Tang, CEO of Light, a startup creating an iPhone alternative. “We get a lot of customers telling us they feel less stressed out; they become more productive; they become more creative.”

For many, however, these alternative phones are not viable options as most of the world continues to use smartphones and expects others to do the same.

“An average adult cannot abstain from screen use in the modern world and still experience academic and career success,” said Cori Stott, executive director of the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. “We consider it more like a binge eating disorder, where the solution is found in addressing the mental health challenges underlying the overuse and building self-regulation skills and habits.”

To take this approach to addressing the problem, others are turning to tools that help limit their screen time. For some, it is as easy as turning off notifications and building better habits of putting their phones away during leisure time, but for others, more aggressive tactics are needed.

One such option is the Brick, a device that removes a smartphone’s ability to access chosen apps while keeping the others online.

“We use [phones] to hail a ride, document our days with pictures and notes, get directions, and countless other things that truly enhance our daily lives. By giving up our smartphones, we would be forced to give up these luxuries we so take for granted,” explained Brick co-founders TJ Driver and Zach Nasgowitz.

“Faced with this problem, we decided to build our own solution: Brick,” they continued. “Now you can decide which tools you’d like to keep with you, and then tap your Brick to ditch the rest for a bit. Because it’s a physical device, you’ll have no temptation to use the distractions until you come back to the Brick (whether that means across the room or across the city).”

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Whatever the solution, nearly every American would benefit from less screen time. As more kids and adults work to break their technology addictions, hopefully we can get to a point as a society where we are not as reliant on the tech as we are right now.

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