Digital Detox

Looking at phone addiction, this week's review analyzes how humanity's obsession with technology has evolved and the value of taking a "digital detox."

Posted on May 22, 2023 in Reviews of the Month

Digital Detox: Why Taking a Break from Technology Can Improve Your Well-Being

Schell, Bernadette H. Greenwood, 2022
255p bibl index, 9781440878114 $63.00, 9781440878121

From the 1998 film You’ve Got Mail, in which the two main characters become obsessed with receiving romantic mail from strangers over a 300-baud internet connection, to the “hyper-interactive” smartphone, internet, streaming-social-media, and gaming world of today, humanity remains preoccupied with being online for excessive periods. Schell delves into describing the ways society has become addicted to technology and presents ways to break those destructive habits, an approach intended to moderate technology binging and minimize its interference in people’s daily lives. The book leaves little doubt that society is changing, as the author vividly discusses how the technology situation has evolved to this point and how people interact within it. This very readable text uses case studies from many sources to illustrate how addictive behaviors have developed and how to break the cycle and “detox” from intrusive technologies. This would be an excellent resource for both beginning and advanced psychology courses, and would also be helpful to psychologists and counselors in schools and private practice. A modified version of the text, perhaps limiting references to the many scholarly studies cited throughout, would also appeal to general readers, and could even become a bestseller.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and professionals. General readers.
Reviewer: J. M. King, emeritus, University of Georgia
Subject: Science & Technology
Choice Issue: Jul 2023

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