by Jonathan Haidt and Catherine Price
A combo book with a graphic novel spread throughout showing one school year and 6 middle school students. Three become very addicted to their phones and all the features that become time sucks. The other 3 either have old flip phones or phones without apps. You see a contrasting year where the ones NOT addicted to their phones actually get better at friendships, activities and life. The 3 addicted become more & more lonely and isolated until they make some changes by the following summer. The sections of the fictional story are separated by lots of non-fiction graphic information about the dangers of becoming addicted to technology and the benefits of finding balance. I was blown away by the chart on page 71 about how much of your life you ”lose” based on how many hours a day you get sucked into screentime. Just 4 hours a day of “time-suck” on a screen is as much as 2 whole months of your life. Yikes! The book is for teens, but it sure made me reflective of my own use.
The book is filled with suggestions of how to make choices that enhance one’s life, instead of wasting it in a false sense of reality. I liked the bio. blurbs of older teens who reflected on their younger selves use of technology and how they use it now. It helps readers understand what real friendship, real freedom, and real fun looks like vs. the imitation that is often used in a manipulative way online. I read this wondering if it would feel too “preachy” or super anti-tech, but it didn’t really feel that way. It was empowering to the “rebels” who were able to make different choices with their tech so they could still be authentic in their day-to-day interactions.This felt like an important book for middle school students to pick up and read. I think the graphic-novel feel to it will help pull students in. Hopefully the message will resonate with them and empower them to make choices to better themselves.
The book includes 4 specific steps a reader can take to become a rebel, notes and sources, a Learn more section, and an index at the end of the book.