Totally brilliant and totally correct. Really applaud the author’s rectitude, openness in describing her own reliance on smartphones and growing role as an activist, and her dedication to spelling out practical alternatives and responses to a lot of the “but what about….” questions that people are sure to raise.

A lot of thematically similar books are sold as self-help, something to amplify your ‘productivity’ or increase your efficiency or make you a better worker or entrepreneur or something. Not so here! There are deeper moral and philosophical questions about how you want to live your life—whether you want to be attentive to experiencing your life as it happens to you, even if it is, at times, boring or frustrating; whether you enjoy having the kind of compulsion to use a device that tech companies designed to be addictive and make them money; whether you are “ignoring [your] values because acknowledging them would require [you] to change [your] life.” Yup!

It has already changed how I commute and get around the city—I realized I was opening up the maps app to find places that I’d probably be able to locate without it, and since reading the book, have been trying to develop a better sense of geography! Definitely interested in getting a dumbphone or at least modifying my iPhone to be as dumb as possible.

There is a ‘Worksheet’ section at the end of the book (where these ideas live in their most condensed form) that should go viral.

As someone who is the same age roughly as the author, I really related to this content. I think many people want to disconnect from smart devices but our current society does make it really hard to do so. I personally, after reading, take a hald and half approach. My job requires smart phone use, but I put away my devices when I get home and try not to use them except for emergencies. I'm also no longer on most social media, which I think has given me the most time and peace of mind back. There are ways to get around these things and not feel isolated, and I think Lamm does a great job of identifying those options.

This might be the most important and controversial book you'll read this year.

This compelling and thought-provoking work has me seriously considering switching to a basic phone when my current contract is up. I basically highlighted the whole book, so it feels impossible to just pick out one quote; you just need to read it! I appreciate that Lamm has practiced what he preaches, giving up thousands of followers on social media and risking his art career when he switched to a "dumb phone" and began spreading the message about freedom from smartphones. Lamm rightfully acknowledges the challenges of giving up a smartphone, and how doing so will be more difficult for some than others. (One example: if my kids' childcare provider requires an app, there's not a good workaround for that.) He does provide encouragement as well as some good specific suggestions.

Weird nitpick: He's a bit too blase, specifically, about the purpose of map apps, which aren't just for navigation but also for mapping the fastest route to avoid traffic (which feels very important to me when I'm trying to get somewhere in a timely manner). However, there is at least one basic phone I know of that can have a navigation app, and as Lamm points out, as of the time of writing, there are still other GPS options available.

Ultimately, there are many "what if's" and concerns about the cost of giving up a smartphone. Yet Lamm is right: there is a huge cost to having smartphones, as well: many people's relationships, attention spans and capacity for thought are suffering. This is not just due to a lack of self-control with a neutral technology; smartphones and social media are working exactly how their designers intended them to work.

I think everyone should read this book. Even if they end up sticking with a smartphone, it provides vital food for thought.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage & Anchor for the free eARC. I post this review with my honest opinions.

This is crossposted to Goodreads. It will be posted to Amazon within one week of the book's publication date. I am also going to post it on Instagram on or before the book's publication date (yes, I recognize the irony of that).