Tiffany Ng, a 24-year-old tech and culture writer in New York, realized she was spending too much time glued to her iPhone so she chained it to the wall. What started as a symbolic gesture to curb screen addiction has become a growing movement among Gen Z and millennials desperate to reclaim a sense of balance in a hyperconnected world.
Ng’s experiment reflects a broader cultural trend. According to a 2023 Pew Research study, more than 40% of U.S. adults and 62% of those under 30 admit to being on their phones “almost constantly.” A 2022 Gallup survey found that 81% of adults under 30 believe they use their phones too much. Instead of abandoning their devices entirely, many young people are reinventing them turning smartphones into pseudo-landlines by mounting or chaining them to fixed spots, creating intentional physical barriers that make overuse harder.
Psychologist Yalda Uhls, CEO of UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers, says physical separation from your phone can make a dramatic difference. “If you can see your phone, you’re going to want to use it,” she said. “When it’s separate from you that’s when people finally stop thinking about it.”
For Denver-based sales executive Maddie DeVico, the solution was simple and surprisingly effective. Feeling overwhelmed by constant notifications, she sculpted a clay docking station and hung it on her kitchen wall her modern version of “hanging up the phone.” At first, she struggled to resist the urge to pick it up, but soon her habits changed. “Once I started putting my phone away, I stopped reaching for it all the time,” she said. Her screen time dropped by three hours per day, and she began filling her evenings with cooking, crafting, and gardening. “I was shocked by the amount of stress that left my body. It was life-changing.”
Her friends noticed the shift too. Dinner gatherings became phone-free, conversations grew deeper, and her viral TikTok video of the homemade phone dock viewed nearly a million times inspired others to follow suit. “We’re just trying to go back to living simpler, without all the chaos and distraction,” she said.
Uhls notes that many Gen Zers feel trapped between their need for connection and the emptiness of digital overexposure. “They crave meaningful experiences,” she said. “They’re aware that the way they use their phones isn’t fulfilling.” Some have gone even further, joining anti-smartphone “Luddite clubs” or practicing “appstinence,” a movement focused on social media abstinence.
Ng herself has turned her tech experiments into content for her newsletter Cyber Celibate, where she explores creative ways to disrupt digital habits including printing her TikTok feed like a newspaper and sending messages via carrier pigeon. For her phone-chain challenge, she used a belt to tether her iPhone to the wall and set a rule not to move or recharge it for a week. “The almost religious experience of being on your phone loses its aura,” she said. “It’s alluring, but not satisfying.”
Without her phone at arm’s reach, Ng began noticing the world around her again the details of her subway commute, the architecture of buildings she passed daily, the small rituals of people in the park. “Toward the end, it really felt like I was reentering real life,” she said. The experience made her rethink how deeply technology has woven itself into every idle moment.
Not everyone rejecting constant connectivity wants to throw away modern tech entirely. Catherine Goetze, creator of the AI education brand CatGPT, built her own hybrid solution a retro rotary phone that connects to her smartphone via Bluetooth. Her setup lets her answer and make calls from an old-fashioned handset, allowing her to stay reachable while keeping notifications and apps at bay. “It’s not realistic to throw your smartphone into a river,” Goetze said. “But you can regain balance and intentionality.”
After posting a video of her creation, Goetze was inundated with requests from people wanting their own. That response led her to launch Physical Phones, a company that produces Bluetooth-connected landlines for modern users. Within 72 hours of launch, she generated $118,000 in preorders. She says her customers are a mix of nostalgic millennials and Gen Zers drawn to the aesthetics of “simpler times.”
The appeal, Goetze says, isn’t about rejecting technology but about redefining how to live with it. “Most people don’t want to go backward,” she said. “They just want to use tech mindfully instead of being used by it.”
From clay phone docks to Bluetooth rotary dials, Gen Z’s landline revival reflects a deeper longing for slowness and control. It’s not about abandoning the future but about reclaiming presence in an age of endless scrolling one “hang-up” at a time.
