Dev-in-the-BM_2.0:
You can also figure it out yourself without any math.
Digital minimalism is trending among Gen Z.
Although the majority are still sticking to their smartphones, a growing segment are switching to dumbphones.
That’s obviously bigger than all frum yidden in the US.
The Orthodox Jewish community in America is tiny.
If going dumb is big enough that the NYT, BBC, CNN, AP, and many other MSM are covering it, then it’s bigger than the total Orthodox Jewish population.
The digital minimalism market + Kosher market is close to 400K-750K devices total in the US. Globally, it is estimated close to 2M-3.5M I have more official numbers that I can’t provide, but I can give those ball parks as of now.
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Interesting.
I thought I saw estimates for total amount of dumbphones in the US closer to a few million.
And I have a hard tie believing that it’s only a few million globally.
There is a difference between total (seniors, children, kosher, digital minimalism) and kosher + digital minimalism.
Just what I found, showing smartphone vs cellphone usage, broken down by age:
November 20, 2025
How we did this
To better understand Americans’ smartphone and broadband adoption, Pew Research Center surveyed 5,022 U.S. adults from Feb. 5 to June 18, 2025. SSRS conducted this National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) for the Center using address-based sampling and a multimode protocol that included web, mail and phone. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race and ethnicity, education, and other categories.
Surveys fielded before 2023 were conducted via phone. For more on the mode shift in 2023, read our Q&A .
Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .
Who owns cellphones and smartphones?
Substantial majorities of Americans across a wide range of demographic groups are cellphone owners. The same is true for smartphone ownership – though some differences do emerge, particularly by age, household income and education.
% of U.S. adults who say they own a __, by AGE
Ages 18-29
30-49
50-64
65+
Cellphone
99
99
98
95
Smartphone
97
96
90
78
Cellphone, but not a smartphone
2
3
7
16
Note: Respondents who did not give an answer are not shown.
Keep in mind, that dual phone minimalists would presumably count as smartphone users in this survey.
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