Cheryl Geliebter gets a lot of looks when she pulls out her phone. That's because she has a flip phone.
"Most people are blown away," she tells CNBC Make It.
The 40-year-old New Yorker has only ever used a "dumb phone" — or a phone with basic calling and texting features but minimal, if any, internet access or other "smart" features — as her cell phone. She says it allows her to contact people on the go without the distractions of notifications and the web.
There are technological and social challenges that come with forgoing the conveniences of a smartphone in 2026. Geliebter says she is "left out of stuff" occasionally. Still, "the pros of not having the smartphone outweigh the cons," she says. "For the most part, I think it's a blessing."
Geliebter got her first mobile phone at 15, though she says it was more of "a burden" than anything else. She preferred to call her friends from her house phone and would use the computer for instant messaging and email, so she felt it didn't serve a purpose.
