Book Review: How to break up with your phone
People tend to try to change their relationships with their phones without first asking themselves what they actually want their relationships with their phones to be. They start with a vague goal—“I want to spend less time on my phone”—without specifying what they’re actually trying to change or accomplish, or identifying why they reach for their phones to begin with. Then they try to go cold turkey, and end up feeling discouraged and powerless when it doesn’t work.
Catherine Price
One of the books I just finished reading and loved is Catherine Price’s “How to break up with your phone”. With a very wicked and funny start the book raises awareness on our habits of using smart phones on a daily basis.
You would think that the book is an anti-technology manifesto— well, it is not! It’s a compassionate and practical guide to reclaiming your attention. With am easy reading storytelling, dropping ideas and a structured 30-day plan, the book combines science, self-reflection, and actionable exercises to help you form a healthier relationship with your devices.
There is one thing that I liked - if you are reading me for a while you know I am a fan of Kaizen and Tiny Habits (BJ Fogg), and the book praise just that lasting change doesn’t come from grand gestures or sudden detoxes — it comes from small, deliberate shifts that compound over time.
Mentioning the funny writing for a second time is a must - cause makes the book even cooler.
The first part of the book - “The Wake-Up” starts raising your awareness on how phones are intentionally designed to be addictive: dopamine-driven notifications, infinite scroll, and social media “likes” that act like slot machines. The author details the impact on our brains, attention spans, sleep, and mental health.
The second part “The Breakup” comes with a cool 30-day plan to reset your relationship with your phone. As I mentioned the book is not a manifesto of quoting using your mobile devise, is more like an awareness process of how you can untrained your brain to serve you not toxic app that you think are free and yet you pay them with your time and your content. The author walks you through small steps like identifying “toxic apps,” turning off nonessential notifications, and creating “phone-free zones.” The focus is on regaining choice and control, not on banishing technology altogether.
From time to time I like to take a break that I call a “digital detox” from devices, I choose to drink wine with my friends leaving the phone in another room, have coffee dates where I keep the device in my backpack, or full Saturdays or days in vacation when I check my phone once or twice per day. I have some special ringtones for the family in case of an emergency and outside of that I spend the day “old school” with books, journals, pens, exploration and chats. Something similar is also recommended by Samantha Price - she calls it Digital Sabbath - where you choose one day a week (or even half a day) to disconnect fully, from all the internet enabled devises and it is based on an experiment that she did with her husband. If you decide to do such a thing notice how your body and mind respond to this detox.
Another tip that resonated with me was the Technology triage. Which of the apps you have on your phone truly add value, and which ones drain you? Delete or hide the toxic ones is a way of creating an intentional limit between your time and those apps. And that reminds me that is time to free some space on my phone by erasing old and not-needed apps.
Why Journaling Fits This Journey?
Price repeatedly emphasizes awareness: asking yourself, What do I want to pay attention to? Journaling is the perfect companion because it captures those reflections in real time. Writing lets you observe cravings, track progress, and design intentional habits. In fact, the book itself encourages keeping a “phone breakup notebook” — a dedicated space where your insights and experiments live.
And here are 3 prompts for journaling inspired by this book:
Technology Triage - Write down: How do I currently use my phone? Which apps make me feel drained? Which make me feel good? Track your daily phone usage and reflect on how is it aligning with what you want in your life.
Habit Shifts - Journal on triggers: When I reach for my phone, what am I actually craving—connection, distraction, escape? Experiment and replace your phone time with a book, a walk, a face to face conversation. Record in the journal how it feels.
Morning Pages - before checking your phone in the morning, write down for 5 minutes your thoughts.
How to Break Up with Your Phone is less about rejection or breaking up with your devices and it is more about healthy boundaries and reinvention. The big change doesn’t require a digital revolution—it just requires small, consistent acts of awareness. Every time you make a choice to resist a notification, every time you swap scrolling for journaling or a real conversation, you’re strengthening a new identity: someone who chooses where their attention goes. And that is how transformation sticks.
Photo credit: Ben Kolde
