How To Break Up With Your Phone

I’m guilty of phone addiction. It’s become a crutch to living our lives online vs outwardly. It’s an easy way to communicate on the go, or research a topic, but the myriad app options are time suckers. I don’t know how many times I’ve gone to check FB, Twitter, or IG and time has flown by. Did I do anything productive in my time online? I might have, but then again I may have just scrolled to see if anyone replied to a post of mine. Usually only a small handful do. Was it worth all that time lost? Approval addiction is an ugly beast that has a big appetite that demands to be fed constantly. That’s why when we don’t check our phones we get antsy.

I recently read the very short book Off which is a similar book to How To Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price; the difference is that this later book was more in depth. The information packed into this little yellow book is disturbing, convicting, enlightening and depressing.

How To Break Up With Your Phone talks about the behind the scenes ways your smartphone is designed on purpose to be addictive and how apps like FB, IG, etc. are set up to suck you in. The chapter on FB creeped me out. Tomorrow I’m deleting my FB account. My friends are like, “I’m sad to see you leave.” Are you kidding me? I haven’t passed on. I’m still reachable by phone, text, in person, snail mail. That social media platform has become a true social crutch and made people lazy to directly communicate with each other offline. It makes me sick because it shows you aren’t worth keeping in contact with unless you are on FB. This book also, discusses how phone addiction has changed our mental states and ways in which we are able to focus. ADHD, anxiety challenges anyone? I know I have anxiety, but that’s probably from my coffee addiction. Lastly, this book gives you a thirty day step by step plan on how to break up with your phone and take back control of your life. The step by step guide is thoughtful and I can’t wait to complete it.

I received my copy of How To Break Up With Your Phone for free from Blogging For Books in exchange for my review. This book should be required reading for schools, work places, friends, family, etc. Let’s be present in our lives. We each have allotted time and who wants to waste it glued to a screen?