Kindle
$7.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$20.38
Paperback
$9.59
Buy new:
-31% $9.59
FREE delivery Sunday, May 19 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$9.59 with 31 percent savings
List Price: $13.99

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Sunday, May 19 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Saturday, May 18. Order within 6 hrs 9 mins
In Stock
$$9.59 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$9.59
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day easy returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
30-day easy returns
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$7.12
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Wednesday, May 22 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$9.59 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$9.59
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Catherine Price
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life Paperback – February 13, 2018

by Catherine Price (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 2,992 ratings
See all formats and editions
Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
iphone with kindle app
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.

Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.

View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.

Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.

Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Get the free Kindle app: Link to the kindle app page Link to the kindle app page
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.
View Kindle Edition
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$9.59","priceAmount":9.59,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"9","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"59","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"K%2BDz886LHVyAmQeM1ARHmPOyZfVta%2BamjJ3iDEWj2LSra6GeWz%2Brrugl2ru%2BG0mHvjPY1nazH2Ly2FUK0OypqH4VZ2CQf%2Btb3UY0ppcrmK0%2BcGoPPf%2Bcn6LuONjxsxTRSvru6pXnaOuedfFvgruQ1w%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$7.12","priceAmount":7.12,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"7","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"12","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"K%2BDz886LHVyAmQeM1ARHmPOyZfVta%2Bam1G8%2BF%2FcLusZkjSgMlGGd6A0Qik%2F70HKJwxfVV9oslwrveOJBSt6CSENQMWeD0TijDrNkXE60sj9sFMBsPXVVtV%2FXZxOJ9zlSQvuZxMhzRYtbBeESTujByekQPjsALUA2UU%2Fx8yhzebFpgXFYFAlUzYICpjZwZamR","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Packed with tested strategies and practical tips, this book is the essential, life-changing guide for everyone who owns a smartphone.

Is your phone the first thing you reach for in the morning and the last thing you touch before bed? Do you frequently pick it up “just to check,” only to look up forty-five minutes later wondering where the time has gone? Do you say you want to spend less time on your phone—but have no idea how to do so without giving it up completely? If so, this book is your solution.

Award-winning journalist Catherine Price presents a practical, hands-on plan to break up—and then make up—with your phone. The goal? A long-term relationship that actually feels good.

You’ll discover how phones and apps are designed to be addictive, and learn how the time we spend on them damages our abilities to focus, think deeply, and form new memories. You’ll then make customized changes to your settings, apps, environment, and mindset that will ultimately enable you to take back control of your life.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    192 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Ten Speed Press
  4. Publication date
    February 13, 2018
  5. Dimensions
    4.9 x 0.51 x 7 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    039958112X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0399581120
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now

Frequently bought together

How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life
$9.59
Get it as soon as Sunday, May 19
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again
$15.89
Get it as soon as Sunday, May 19
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
$13.79
Get it as soon as Sunday, May 19
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.
Popular Highlights in this book
What are popular highlights?
Previous page
  1. This is a really big deal, because our attention is the most valuable thing we have. We experience only what we pay attention to. We remember only what we pay attention to. When we decide what to pay attention to in the moment, we are making a broader decision about how we want to spend our lives.
    Highlighted by 996 Kindle readers
  2. The next time you find yourself tempted to look at your phone, pause instead. Take a breath and just notice the craving. Don’t give in to it, but don’t try to make it go away. Observe it. See what happens.
    Highlighted by 870 Kindle readers
  3. But what really gets us hooked isn’t consistency; it’s unpredictability. It’s knowing that something could happen – but not knowing when or if that something will occur.
    Highlighted by 744 Kindle readers
Next page

From the Publisher

Booklist says, “A comprehensive, step-by-step solution to spending less time with your phone.”

Kevin Roose says, “The Marie Kondo of brains…I’m starting to feel like a human again.”

Refinery29 says, “Practical advice on how to forge a healthier relationship with technology.”

Sarah Karnasiewicz says, “A book whose message couldn’t feel more timely, or more urgent.”

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The Marie Kondo of brains . . . for the first time in a long time, I’m starting to feel like a human again."—Kevin Roose, The New York Times

"A slim, insight-packed volume that's both a primer on the toll smartphone overuse can take on our mental and physical health, and a practical manual for a 30-day reset designed to put you on a path to moderation, this is a book whose message couldn't feel more timely, or more urgent. (No, really: after finishing the whole thing in one horrified sitting, I immediately pre-ordered 3 more copies for friends and family.)"—Sarah Karnasiewicz, Health

"Price dissects the way her phone has impacted her personal and professional lives, and gives practical advice on how to forge a healthier relationship with technology—without the fear mongering."—Refinery29

"The most important book I've read in years. Life-changing."—Sali Hughes, The Pool

"Could be one of the most important books to be published in recent times."—9Honey

"A comprehensive, step-by-step solution to spending less time with your phone and more time doing the things you love."—Booklist

"To design a more joyful life includes reframing some of our old perceptions and habits. Almost no single thing in modern life deserves a reframe more than the smartphone. In How To Break Up with Your Phone, Price offers an accessible and clever way to accomplish that reframe and discover more time and energy for a better life." —Dave Evans, coauthor of Designing Your Life and adjunct lecturer in the Product Design Program, Stanford University

"Price's book is an invaluable guide of how--in the author's own words—to turn your phone back into a tool, not a temptation. In these dopamine-drenched days of the smartphone era, hours can be lost to the mindless scroll. Price's easily digestible tome is practical, not preachy, and a must-have for even the worst phubber." —Pandora Sykes, journalist and former Fashion Features Editor at The Sunday Times Style

"Fascinating, entertaining and extremely timely. Your phone is an abusive partner—get rid now."—Will Storr, author of Selfie

From the Author

Please check out the book's website, phonebreakup dot com, for more resources, including an online 30-Day Challenge meant to accompany you as you go through the book, and free lock screen images that you can download to help catch yourself when you're about to check your phone without thinking.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ten Speed Press (February 13, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 039958112X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0399581120
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.53 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.9 x 0.51 x 7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 2,992 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Catherine Price

Catherine Price

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Catherine is a science journalist who is devoted to creating evidence-backed books and resources to help people build joyful and meaningful lives. You can learn more about her and her work at ScreenLifeBalance.com and CatherinePrice.com

Catherine's newest book is THE POWER OF FUN: HOW TO FEEL ALIVE AGAIN, from The Dial Press (2021). In

it, Price unpacks the latest research on the necessity of fun and includes tips and strategies to help people find actionable ways to incorporate fun into their daily lives. Groundbreaking, eye-opening, and packed with useful guidance, The Power of Fun is a revealing depiction of the ways that fun is far from trivial. In fact, it is the key to waking up and living a more meaningful life.

Catherine's last book, HOW TO BREAK UP WITH YOUR PHONE: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life, revealed how the time we spend on our smartphones affects our brains—from our ability to focus to our memory—and what we can do to create healthier long-term relationships with our devices. Evidence-based and thoroughly tested, HOW TO BREAK UP WITH YOUR PHONE is an essential guide for anyone who owns a smartphone.

You can learn more about How To Break Up With Your Phone, download free lockscreen images (and other resources), and sign up for a free Phone Breakup Challenge at ScreenLifeBalance.com. (There are also courses designed to help people who are struggling with various issues related to Screen/Life Balance, including social media and email.)

Catherine's written and multimedia work has appeared in publications including The Best American Science Writing, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Magazine, Slate, Salon, Men's Journal, Mother Jones, The Oprah Magazine, and Parade, among others. Her other books include VITAMANIA: How Vitamins Revolutionized The Way We Think About Food (Penguin Press, 2015)—a lively account of the history of vitamins and how we got to where we are today. She is also the author of a parody travel guide called 101 Places Not to See Before You Die (HarperPaperbacks, 2010) and The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook: A Year in the Life of a Restaurant (Harper Collins, 2009).

Catherine is a two-time Société de Chimie Industrielle fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation and VITAMANIA was supported in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She also has been a fellow at the Mesa Refuge, the Middlebury Program in Environmental Reporting, and the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT (for its medical evidence and food boot camps), and has been nominated for an American Society of Magazine Editors award (for a package on back health). She's passionate about nutrition, diabetes, health and travel, and also founded a legally themed clothing shop called Illegal Briefs (www.cafepress.com/illegalbriefs). Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2001, Catherine is a frequent contributor to ASweetLife.org.

Catherine's website is catherineprice.com. Follow her on Twitter at @catherine_price and instagram at @_catherineprice

Or, if you need help with social media, follow her intervention feeds at @screenlifebalance (IG), @slbalance (FB) and @screenlifeblnce (Twitter)

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
2,992 global ratings
I'd recommend this book to any smartphone user!
5 Stars
I'd recommend this book to any smartphone user!
I first saw this book on a whim when I was at the library. I noticed the title, and thought it sounded interesting. It's a quick read, as once I started I couldn't put it down. The book starts off with "An open letter to my phone", and I was hooked from there. I included that letter in the pics.The book is broken down into 2 sections - The Wake Up and The Break Up. The Wake Up goes into how phones are so addictive, how they can harm memory and attention span, etc. The Break Up is essentially a 30 day challenge where you do one thing each day, with the goal of ultimately creating a healthier relationship with your phone. After reading the book in 2 short days, I decided that to get the most out of it, I needed to do the 30 day challenge. It exceeded my expectations!I really appreciated how the author, Catherine Price, isn't telling us phones are bad. She says they are incredible tools that can help lead to richer and more fulfilling lives, if used appropriately. She isn't telling us not to use our phones, but is instead giving us tools that allow us to make the choice of when/how to use our phone a conscious one...rather than the addictive habit that phone usage can so easily become. I would strongly recommend this book to any smartphone user, and I've already purchased an additional copy for my brother.On a side note, I reached out to the author directly and actually heard back! She was friendly, encouraging, and very thankful.
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

KMLG
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent quick read
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2024
Verified Purchase
I wouldn't consider myself addicted to social media, but I definitely have seen changes in myself over the last few years. I lose track of time and realize that I've been scrolling for over an hour, but it feels like just a few minutes... This book came highly recommended and I was able to read the first half (the authors research) in an hour or two. The second half of the book gives a daily guide (for 30 days) to help you "break up" with your phone. All of her suggestions are awesome and really easy to do. I don't know if I'll take it as far as she suggests, but I've already seen a huge improvement in my relationship with technology.
6 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars From 2018 and Is Still Very Relevant for “Digital Mental Health”.
Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2023
Verified Purchase
I read this book at the Y, on my Kindle and by the time I was finishing, I could see much more clearly, all the people-some older, most younger, who are constantly and mindlessly reaching for their phones. This is a must read for all. Waiting for an updated version by same author.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
amla berry
4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful
Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2020
Verified Purchase
I appreciate that this little book addesses the effects that our "smart" phones have on our cognitive, emotional, and physical healh. It offers suggestions for modifying our "smart" phone usage and regaining control of our impulse to over-use our phones. I am finding it to be a very motivational and helpful guide.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Zoe Santschi
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite self help book
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2024
Verified Purchase
This book is super helpful and insightful. The author does an excellent job of explaining complex subjects in an easy to understand way. The author is also super hilarious. The action plan for breaking up with your phone is well thought out and easy to follow. Highly recommend this book!
Helpful
 Report
Jim Paterson
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Insites
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2024
Verified Purchase
My wife loved the book as it has helped her manage her on line social activity tremendously.
Helpful
 Report
Freddie
3.0 out of 5 stars How to break up with your phone book
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2022
Verified Purchase
Not what I expected but okay. Some of this is just plain common sense approaches to limits on using your phone.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Kelly
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is changing my life - master your phone without having to get rid of it!
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2019
Verified Purchase
A more accurate (but less catchy) title might have been “How to Re-establish Dominance In Your Relationship With Your Phone”.

Price has no problem with people using their phones… as long as that’s what they want to be doing.

But she makes a compelling argument that our phones have started to use us instead, and that app designers have harnessed neuroscience to keep us scrolling and checking far beyond what has become useful for us.

The goal of her book is to make us aware of how and when we use our smartphones, how it makes us feel, and to break the cycle of mindless app surfing, scrolling and checking by breaking our addiction to the dopamine cycle.

The book begins with a section explaining why the current relationship between many people and their phones is not a positive one, and some potential consequences which include reduced attention span, reduced memory, and depression.

The second half of the book is a 30 day plan for “breaking up with your phone” and then reforming your relationship so that it’s a healthy one where you’re actively deciding when, where, and how you use the phone.

I’m purposefully following Price’s 30 day plan because it takes time to change a habit. If you try to do it all at once, you might have a good week, but it may be harder for it to stick. Picking up her book every day and reading what “the plan” is for that day and journaling about my progress has helped me play the long game.

This book is changing my life.

I’m on Day 6 of the 30 day process and it’s already changing my life. I’ve reclaimed time in my day by taking those minutes of scrolling and adding them together into blocks of time which I can use to actually sit and read a book for 30 minutes, or bake something, or tackle cleaning out a drawer.

I’ve also noticed an increased level of focus. Because I’m actively trying not to pick up my phone unless I want to initiate something (rather than consume something) I’m better able to empty the entire dishwasher without checking Instagram or Facebook or seeing an e-mail that I must deal with right this second.

I freaked out when reading the section of the book about how our attention span is suffering and our brains may actually be changing due to our phone use. Now I actively try to see tasks all the way through. Every time I completely finish a task without stopping and doing something else, I’m training myself to have more focus and patience.

think everyone with a smartphone should read this book. Maybe you have a perfect relationship already… but I would be surprised if even the most technology savvy and mindful of us can’t learn something from Price’s straight forward tactics for being aware of your current relationship, forming goals for what you’d like it to be, and coming up with a plan to break your addiction and get back in control of your device.
49 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Susan B Arico
5.0 out of 5 stars Price does all of us a service through this book!
Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2020
Verified Purchase
How to Break Up with Your Phone is a readable, concise, helpful, inspiring book.
In the first half, Catherine Price does a masterful job of succinctly presenting the problem and scenario of modern day phone usage and the real challenges they pose to human flourishing. She provides just the right amount of phone development history and narrative thread to give the key points of the big picture and help the reader feel oriented.
In the second half, Price provides a practical, workable step-by-step guide to diminishing phone use significantly so readers can be in charge of their phone lives (instead of the other way around). It is thorough but not overwhelming. Her suggestions are specific enough to be employable, but no one day's directlives feel overwhelming.
Many of Price's observations and suggestions are unique and memorable, such as her recommendation to "have a fleeting relationship" (by which she means - have an in-person conversation with someone you meet on the road or in line, instead of looking at your phone).
I have gone back and referred to this book many times since my first reading.
Price has also given several excellent interviews about her work in this arena via podcast, and I benefit from the emails she sends to subscribers.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Daniel Arteaga
5.0 out of 5 stars Muy recomendable
Reviewed in Mexico on April 11, 2023
Verified Purchase
Me ha gustado que es un libro que te lleva a la acción.

Hoy en día es un libro que deberíamos de leer la mayoría de las personas que usan un celular .
Report
Bt Fish
5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2024
Verified Purchase
I would highly recommend this book for anybody who feels as though they may have a problem when it comes to their phone usage, and also to anybody who doesn't necessarily think that they do, but who might want to test their relationship with their phone, as it may not be as healthy as they think it is.

Really useful book, and I'm hoping that this will enable me to have a better relationship with those around me, who have sometimes played second fiddle to the phone.
Report
Jahr
5.0 out of 5 stars I learned something
Reviewed in Germany on March 1, 2024
Verified Purchase
I learned something I already felt all along , because I deleted Instagram a long time ago. This book is fun to read and enlightening.
Report
byola
5.0 out of 5 stars Mindblowing
Reviewed in Italy on November 4, 2023
Verified Purchase
The book everyone should read!
Report
Orito
5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, brutal, fascinating, and effective
Reviewed in Canada on December 14, 2019
Verified Purchase
This is a phenomenal book that tells you exactly how evil you already know your phone is. Yet, it’s realistic and acknowledges our phones are wonderful devices for connection, organization, and entertainment when used sensibly.

Of course, you wouldn’t be interested in this title if you only used your phone sensibly. And the interesting thesis proposed here is that nobody really uses their phone sensibly. Furthermore, our phones and all the nifty apps inside them have been ruthlessly designed to keep it that way.

We are each of us a treasure trove of data and attention that is being plundered every second we stare at our screens. Even this review I’m writing enriches people I’ll never meet.

That said, I have cut my average daily screen time down to one quarter of what it was before I read this book. That’s 3 hours every day that I’m spending talking to people, reading, planning my life, and just enjoying all the boring, mundane, simple pleasures of being a human. And yes, I still have my phone and find it very useful.

I can’t recommend this little book highly enough. It’s improved my life enormously.
10 people found this helpful
 Report