How to Break Up with Your Phone
Photo of Nicklas Jarnesjö

Nicklas Jarnesjö &
How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price

Edition
ISBN 9780399581120

Reviews

Photo of Angelyn Francis
Angelyn Francis@angelynsayshi
4 stars
Jul 4, 2024

Short, light, informative and reflective. The tone makes it easy to whizz through and it provides a lot of reflective moments. While in 2022, phone effects on your brain aren't news (published in 2018) for anyone who hasn't done reflective work on their relationship with technology it's a good read.

Photo of Jaden Nelson
Jaden Nelson@unojaden
5 stars
Nov 30, 2023

Catherine Price is a genius. I think this was the best possible book for me when I was looking for an escape plan from my phone. This isn't going to be a long review even though I have A LOT of thoughts on it. I took notes in the book and I could discuss/argue this for ages. Price writes in a way that made for such a fun reading experience. It was funny, very clever, relatable, and SO eye opening. I would HIGHLY recommend that everyone with electronics in their life read this (especially people that have had phones in their life from a young age). If you aren't willing to read the whole thing and follow through with the plan, I would definitely recommend reading at least the "Wake Up" part of the book because it has such shocking and eye-opening facts. I followed through with the 30 day "break up" with my phone and I learned so many useful habits for life. I would really recommend reading this because the point of the book is to help you find a relationship with your phone that you are happy with and that is precisely what this did for me! Loved it.

Photo of Meghan Navoy
Meghan Navoy@megnavoy
5 stars
Feb 4, 2023

everyone who owns a smartphone or tablet or has an account on social media should read this book and question their relationship with these devices

Photo of Nikita Pashinsky
Nikita Pashinsky@nikita
4 stars
Feb 1, 2023

"Your life is what you pay attention to."

+1
Photo of Clara
Clara@keysandparrots89
3 stars
Sep 24, 2022

This book is a pretty good quick day by day guide for detoxing from your phone, though a few days seem a bit like filler. It does depend on your level of commitment, though. I tried to follow along day by day, and did end up doing the 24 hour shut-off which felt good. This book does contain some interesting factoids that one could explore further too!

+2
Photo of laura
laura@lauraeerika
4 stars
Aug 15, 2022

what a funny and informative read i honestly laughed out load like couple of times but on the other hand it had some good points, i think this is a book for people who want to learn about their phone and how it manipulates them, ngl the first part made me scared which is why it took me so long to finish this book.

Photo of Saima A
Saima A@alattebooks
4 stars
Aug 12, 2022

Pretty interesting. Kinda academic but the realities of cyberpsychology are well outlined. Might be able to fully implement the month long "break up"

Photo of Seyfeddin Başsaraç
Seyfeddin Başsaraç@seyfeddin
5 stars
Jul 28, 2022

Telefon bağımlısı olduğumun farkında değilmişim bu zamandır. Bu kitap sayesinde bağımlılığımın ne seviyede olduğunu keşfettim. Kitap iki ana kısımdan oluşuyor. İlk kısım insanlığın ne denli bağımlı olduğunu ve bu durumun ehemmiyetini tüm açıklığıyla anlatıyor. İkinci kısım ise 30 günlük bir program dahilinde telefonunuzla olan ilişkiyi minimuma indirmek için yapmanız gerekenleri anlatıyor. Açıkçası kitaptaki tavsiyeleri çok faydalı buldum. iOS 12 ile gelen Screen Time özelliğini de kullanarak, günde telefon kullanım süremi ortalama 4 buçuk saatten 25 dakikaya kadar indirdim. Telefonuyla çok zaman geçirdiğini düşünen, yapmak istediklerini zaman bulamadığı için yapamadığını söyleyenlere tavsiye ederim.

Photo of Fiona Coffey
Fiona Coffey@bibliofi
2 stars
Dec 17, 2021

This book just wasn’t for me. I found it kind of preachy and annoying. Some of the facts were interesting, but personally, im not going to do anything because some person in a book tells me to. I’m going to do it because I decide that I want to, and then I’m going to do it my way. Do I think this is a bad book? Not at all. I just didn’t think it worked for me. I have a pet peeve for short books that could have just been a blog post or an article on Pinterest, and I think this fits into that category.

Photo of Anna Kulwikowska
Anna Kulwikowska@ankakulwikowska
3 stars
Dec 6, 2021

czemu nie.

Photo of Laura Mitchell Hutchinson
Laura Mitchell Hutchinson@lauraahutchy
4 stars
Nov 5, 2021

CONFRONTING. I haven't followed the 30 day plan specifically but this book has definitely changed my relationship with my phone. Now a lot more conscious of my mindless scrolling and I feel more empowered to just delete apps and spend time without my phone completely. I think this book and its wisdom is something I will regularly come back to.

Photo of Opa Kholis Majid
Opa Kholis Majid@opkhls
3.5 stars
Jul 30, 2023
Photo of Rachel D
Rachel D@vibrantafternoon
5 stars
Jun 30, 2023
Photo of Toni pilato
Toni pilato@tinyytoes
4.5 stars
Dec 5, 2022
+1
Photo of Conni
Conni@conni
4.5 stars
May 1, 2022
Photo of Fiona Coffey
Fiona Coffey@bibliofi
2 stars
Dec 15, 2021
+2
Photo of Rochelle Butcher
Rochelle Butcher@rochelles_reading_journal
4 stars
Jul 5, 2024
Photo of Lizelle G
Lizelle G@lizelle
4 stars
Dec 28, 2023
Photo of Emma
Emma@emmao
3 stars
Apr 18, 2023
Photo of Kiman
Kiman@kiman
2 stars
Apr 14, 2023
Photo of Elisa Benaggoune
Elisa Benaggoune@elisazouza
5 stars
Feb 12, 2023
Photo of James Miller
James Miller@severian
3 stars
Jan 20, 2023
Photo of Rebecca Shaffer
Rebecca Shaffer@rebeccaboo
5 stars
Jan 8, 2023
Photo of Micah
Micah@siltoile
3 stars
Jan 3, 2023

Highlights

Photo of Lindy
Lindy@lindy

The second part of this book includes a 30-day guide on disconnecting with your phone which I found helpful, but also had difficulty following when life got busy. I guess this highlights the cycle of time scarcity and the reliance on phones as an easy escape.

Photo of Lindy
Lindy@lindy

In other words, learning to read doesn't just enable us to store and retrieve information; it literally changes the way we think. It reorganizes our neural circuitry in a way that encourages creativity, problem solving, and insight. And it increases our ability to sustain attention. In fact, many scholars believe that the development of written language was an integral step toward the development of culture. As Maryanne Wolf writes in her fascinating book about reading, Proust and the Squid, "New thought came more readily to a brain that had already learned how to rearrange itself to read."

Photo of Lindy
Lindy@lindy

What's more, far from relieving my anxiety, checking my phone nearly always contributed to it. I'd look at it for a second before bed, notice a stressful email in my inbox, and then lie awake for an hour worrying about something that could easily have waited until morning.