YOU DON'T NEED A SMARTPHONE

No more screen time.

Lamm was a young artist, posting her drawings for 200,000 followers on Instagram and successfully monetizing her artwork through brand endorsements and magazine assignments, when she accidentally typed the wrong password and was locked out of her account for several months. That’s when she realized that her career, as she writes in this accessible manifesto, was “owned by Meta Inc.” The abrupt break—and the accompanying improvement in mental health—transformed the author into an anti-tech activist, permanently logged off her social media accounts and now using a “dumb phone” without a touchscreen, apps, or internet connection. Observing that people today spend an average of nearly five hours a day on their phones, she asks, “What would you do with a few extra hours a day?…The point is not necessarily to fill them. The point is to reclaim them from technology.” The first part of the book diagnoses “The Problem,” with sections such as “Outsourcing Thought,” “The Cost of Availability,” and “Chasing Convenience.” As Lamm herself acknowledges, her analysis is not new: “Authors have built whole careers on technocriticism.” But, she adds, “Almost without exception, these authors still own and use the very devices they criticize.” She draws on personal experience when she offers “The Solution,” with tips for online messaging (you’ll have to do it from a desktop), getting around (write down directions ahead of time, but prepare to get lost sometimes), shooting photographs (get a film camera and take pictures more deliberately), and dual-factor authentication (“this is one of the trickiest, and most essential, smartphone features to replicate,” she concedes). A section on “The Downsides of Downgrading” recognizes the very real challenges of giving up a smartphone—not least the “special attention and accommodation” required from those around you.

Unlikely to convert skeptics but warmly inspirational for those seeking liberation from their digital devices.