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Haidt argues the introduction of smart phones around 2012, with the resulting constant access to social media, has caused the decline in teen girls' mental health around the world, along with the loss of freedom as parents became more worried about "stranger danger". Research seems pretty robust to me, even though it cannot prove causation. I'm old so I grew up without mobile phones or internet, riding my bike around the suburbs. Even if the thesis of the book is wrong, I think a free range, smart-phone free childhood is not going to kill anyone, so why not try it? The only problem is that if your kid is the only one who doesn't have a smart phone or social media, they'll feel left out. So it's good to try and get your kids' friends' parents to ban the smart phones too. As regards letting kids roam the neighbourhood, I suppose it depends where you live. Haidt let his daughter walk to school in NYC from the age of 9.

Like a lot of these sort of books, Newport uses a lot of interesting anecdotes and historical stories to pad out his overall message which is that while the internet can be useful, you can have too much of a good thing and it can't replace human contact and social media can't replace voice conversations. I feel this is true. Some of his advice like planning your leisure time (actually writing out a plan) sounds too much like work to me. Maybe that would help some people. His main idea though, is to go on a sort of "digital detox" for a month and then reintroduce social media and other "internet entertainment" in a more conscious way, so you're not picking up your phone whenever you feel bored. I have found this has helped me a lot.

I listened to this as an audiobook while I was driving around delivering UberEats, so I missed bits where my iPhone was barking directions out at me. I want to read the actual book in the future.