Could dumbphones be the solution to our self-esteem crisis?

When Jenna decided to ditch her smartphone last summer, she wasn’t expecting it to make her feel more beautiful. Like many, she was simply fed up with the mindless scrolling that left her with the lingering feeling that she was missing out on her real life. So, she purchased a ‘dumbphone’ with no social media apps and limited functionality; a phone that can make calls and send texts, but does little else. Six months on, the decision has transformed how she feels about her appearance. Now, when Jenna looks in the mirror she feels like she looks younger and more attractive than she did this time last year. Meanwhile, she has stopped wearing make-up almost entirely.

We all know by now that social media can wreak havoc on our self-esteem. A 2024 report by Dove’s Self-Esteem Project found that 90 per cent of girls aged 10-17 follow at least one social media account that makes them feel less beautiful. Meanwhile, a 2023 study found that a shocking one in seven 16-24-year-olds had considered ending their lives as a result of comparing themselves with others on social media platforms. While the usual advice is to set social media time limits or unfollow accounts that make you feel bad, a growing movement of digital minimalists is choosing a path many consider more extreme. They are getting rid of their smartphones altogether.

The term ‘dumbphone’ was coined in the 1980s, but Google searches for the word have sharply increased since 2022, reaching peak popularity in June 2024, around the time that Jenna made the switch. In 2024, a consumer report found that 28 per cent of Gen Z and 26 per cent of millennials were interested in acquiring a dumbphone. Getting rid of your smartphone is a way to claim back the time you would otherwise spend scrolling, but another positive side effect has emerged. Many report feeling better and more confident about the way they look after distancing themselves from social media and smartphones. In short, quitting your smartphone could make you feel more beautiful even if your physical appearance stays the same.

Many report feeling better and more confident about the way they look after distancing themselves from social media and smartphones

Beauty trends have long been defined and accelerated by social media. Filters revolutionised the way we present ourselves and see others online, influencing cosmetic surgery trends and promoting unrealistically exaggerated features. Micro-aesthetics and beauty hauls have sped up overconsumption, often increasing feelings of inadequacy, ugliness and low self-esteem in the process. Since Apple introduced the first smartphone selfie camera in 2010, the possibility of checking your appearance or snapping a quick selfie hums in our pockets at all times. Phone cameras have increased the potential for constant surveillance and self-criticism, creating pressure to be constantly perfecting your appearance, something we are told requires an investment in make-up, skincare and cosmetic procedures. If your smartphone makes you feel ugly, you’re not alone.

“Social media made it feel like I had to be perfect and attractive all the time, or else I was faking it,” says Ashley, 20, who has been using a dumbphone since last autumn. “When I had a smartphone, every spare moment was spent tucked into it, especially in new or awkward situations,” she continues. “Now that I’m no longer able to tuck myself into the comfort of social media, a lot of people-watching goes on. The variety of attractiveness I see in real life means I have a better idea of the real ‘conventional’ attractiveness of the average population rather than ‘the elite’ people on my phone – you don’t often get popular on social media unless you’re at least a little bit attractive.”

Psychologist Jola Jovani points to the Social Comparison Theory to explain this. “The theory suggests that people measure their own worth through the observation of others,” she notes. “Through the use of social media, you will often encounter people’s best version of themselves with angles, lighting, make-up, clothing and editing that is just right. In self-monitoring by switching to older devices, people are reducing the constant barrage and frequency of exposure to standards that are not representative of the average person, body or lifestyle.”

While looking at people in real life can provide a more balanced and realistic view of beauty, Elle, 19, has found that quitting her smartphone made her care less about external beauty altogether. “I have more time to learn who I am,” she says. “I have more hobbies; crocheting, knitting, journaling, reading, baking and finding four-leaf clovers. When I think of myself, I can point to those things and they make me feel more beautiful, although they don't have anything to do with my appearance. I have a larger sense of self.”

Our constant access to social media, our own faces and those of others, has promoted a new level of unattainable beauty that can make us feel more insecure than ever.

On an individual level, it’s clear that quitting your smartphone can make you feel more beautiful by reducing the number of opportunities for self-comparison and self-criticism while allowing more time for activities that de-prioritise physical beauty. On a wider scale, the dumbphone trend is reflective of a broader dissatisfaction and burnout from mainstream social media platforms. Following Donald Trump’s inauguration, it has become clearer than ever before that tech billionaires are not acting in our best interests. Millions of users have been deleting their social media accounts or, at the very least, expressing a desire to.

Dr Lisa Strohman suggests that this wider social media exodus could prompt a general shift in beauty trends even if the dumbphone revolution never fully arrives. “The plastic surgeons that I have interviewed said they love social media filters,” she explains, “because it’s much easier to take your core structure as a person with a filter and make that realistic, versus showing up and saying, I want to look like Kim Kardashian. If more people are opting out of social media and filters, I think plastic surgery trends and therefore beauty standards could shift.”

Of course, beauty standards existed long before smartphones and they will persevere even if we all quit our phones tomorrow. Yet it’s undeniable that our constant access to social media, our own faces and those of others, has promoted a new level of unattainable beauty that can make us feel more insecure than ever. Dumbphone users might be on to something. Although it’s likely to remain a fringe movement when our smartphones are so enmeshed in our lives, it’s hopeful to know that the option exists. Wherever you lie on the spectrum of digital minimalism, the benefits of reducing the time spent glued to our smartphones are clear. So, the next time you feel ugly after scrolling on TikTok all night, remember to take a step back. It’s not you. It really is that damn phone.