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Smartphone Nation: Why We're All Addicted to Our Screens and What You and Your Family Can Do About It
Indigo’s Best Books of 2025 The Hill Times’ Top 100 Best Books in 2025
“A candid, rigorous, and witty read on how to stop digital devices from wreaking havoc on our lives. As a leading expert on social media and internet policy, Kaitlyn Regehr illuminates what we can do—individually and collectively—to put our smartphones in their place.” —Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again, and host of the podcast
“This is one of the most important books I have read in a long time. It is an urgent and eye-opening description of the high-stakes battle for our attention, and our children’s attention, in the age of the ever-present smartphone.” —Heather Reisman
A refreshingly candid guide to gaining agency with your smartphone, filled with exercises and science-backed strategies to help you and your children become healthy and informed digital citizens in the age of the smartphone, social media and AI.
How many times have you looked at your phone today? Or rather, how many times did you look at your phone to do one thing, only to find yourself looking at something completely different ten minutes later? We’re all addicted to screens, but what can you do about it?
Whether we like it or not, our lives and careers, as well as those of our children, will be shaped by social media, apps, and AI. In today’s attention economy, our minds and our attention equal the product that is sold to advertisers. Only those who learn how to navigate our digital world effectively will thrive.
Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr breaks digital consumption into an accessible structure of the food pyramid we all grew up on and frames it into five digital nutrition education and learning, at the bottom of the pyramid, where the most time should be spent; creativity, including interests like reading, music, or drawing; communication with friends and family; participation, such as searching and gaming; and passive, the activities we should do the least, like doomscrolling.
Smartphone Nation encourages and supports readers, showing you how
Game your algorithmCatch misinformationSpot and tackle "microdosing" of harmful contentNavigate the attention economy, which prioritizes engagement at any costImprove your digital nutrition for better mental healthSpring clean your online viewing experience
Uplifting and empowering, this pioneering, practical book will equip you—and your family—not only to survive in the digital space, but to thrive.
“A candid, rigorous, and witty read on how to stop digital devices from wreaking havoc on our lives. As a leading expert on social media and internet policy, Kaitlyn Regehr illuminates what we can do—individually and collectively—to put our smartphones in their place.” —Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again, and host of the podcast
“This is one of the most important books I have read in a long time. It is an urgent and eye-opening description of the high-stakes battle for our attention, and our children’s attention, in the age of the ever-present smartphone.” —Heather Reisman
A refreshingly candid guide to gaining agency with your smartphone, filled with exercises and science-backed strategies to help you and your children become healthy and informed digital citizens in the age of the smartphone, social media and AI.
How many times have you looked at your phone today? Or rather, how many times did you look at your phone to do one thing, only to find yourself looking at something completely different ten minutes later? We’re all addicted to screens, but what can you do about it?
Whether we like it or not, our lives and careers, as well as those of our children, will be shaped by social media, apps, and AI. In today’s attention economy, our minds and our attention equal the product that is sold to advertisers. Only those who learn how to navigate our digital world effectively will thrive.
Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr breaks digital consumption into an accessible structure of the food pyramid we all grew up on and frames it into five digital nutrition education and learning, at the bottom of the pyramid, where the most time should be spent; creativity, including interests like reading, music, or drawing; communication with friends and family; participation, such as searching and gaming; and passive, the activities we should do the least, like doomscrolling.
Smartphone Nation encourages and supports readers, showing you how
Game your algorithmCatch misinformationSpot and tackle "microdosing" of harmful contentNavigate the attention economy, which prioritizes engagement at any costImprove your digital nutrition for better mental healthSpring clean your online viewing experience
Uplifting and empowering, this pioneering, practical book will equip you—and your family—not only to survive in the digital space, but to thrive.
- GenresNonfictionAudiobook
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Published August 19, 2025
31 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 25, 2025
I got an ARC of this book! It is very informative and uses examples of exploitation that I watched happen in real time. Super surreal. Great resource for those who wouldn’t know where to begin with tackling tech in your life and your kids lives. Offers a glossary of terms which I thought was cute!
November 5, 2025
A thought-provoking and eye opening look at how technology can be a harming influence and why we need to be more vigilant about how we use it and what information we allow to be shared. I really appreciated the case studies the author provides in the book and the practical tips to make our information sharing more mindful and safe, especially when it comes to how much and what we share of our children before they are old enough to consent. Highly recommended especially for fans of books like The 4% fix by Karma Brown, Dopamine kids by Michaeleen Doucleff and 10 Rules for Raising Kids in A High-tech World by Jean M. Twenge.
December 26, 2025
While the book obviously is in support of decreasing and/or limiting the use of smartphones, I appreciate that the author acknowledges that preventing children from ever using social media doesn’t teach them digital literacy. Instead it presents a variety of problems that are present in this digital age, how they came to be and them gives possible solutions so that you can determine your own comfort level for you and your family.
Highly recommend for parents with kids that are nearing the age of smart phones and using the book as a template to have discussions with your child(ren).
Highly recommend for parents with kids that are nearing the age of smart phones and using the book as a template to have discussions with your child(ren).
October 9, 2025
As someone who hopes to raise children one day - this was actually a really great listen!! Some things are helpful for me too.
September 16, 2025
This one is good.
It pairs nicely with “The Anxious Generation.”
Happy Reading, everybody!
It pairs nicely with “The Anxious Generation.”
Happy Reading, everybody!
December 27, 2025
How I Came to Read This Book: I definitely heard about it by way of Indigo spotlighting it. I listened to the audiobook.
The Plot: We all know smartphones are kind of the worst. Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr is focusing less on hype and more on science, studies, and facts to help drive home the realities of how we are consuming content on our phones, and what the possible repercussions are, as well as providing actionable solutions to help break bad habits. With a particularly strong focus on young people's smartphone use and addiction, the book is a balance of history lesson, trend watch, and strategy.
The Good & The Bad: Overall, I commend this book for being a tight, condensed little read. It's not hitting you over the head with a lot of jargon and theory. It's basically shining a light on how things came to be the way they are (and honestly the history lessons were some of the most interesting bits of the book), what it might mean for us long-term, and what we can do about it. I will say that I don't specifically identify as someone who has a strong smartphone addiction, so in some ways, the book didn't feel hyper-relevant to me on that level. I've already trained my algorithm, and I gave up infinite scrolling around the time of the pandemic.
But the real shining elements for me actually came from the strong focus on the next generation's use and reaction to smartphones. As a parent, this is something that unsettles me, and I look to my friends with older kids for guidance. This book also shed some additional light on the realities of giving kids unbridled access to social media, and while I still don't have a clear cut answer as to what exactly I'm going to do (other than the 'ride-along' idea, which I really liked), it certainly illuminated a lot of risk to me that I maybe was a bit naive about. On the flip side, I'll say that if you aren't a parent, you might find this book is too focused on moderating young people's use and not necessarily actionable enough for how to curb an adult addiction.
A good portion of the book also tries to lasso the very tricky concept of "whose responsibility is it" when it comes to both the addictiveness of the apps on our smartphones, and the content itself. The author rightfully acknowledges this is a tangled web. While the book is about smartphones, ostensibly it's also largely about social media apps designed to keep us glued to our phones (although another section I appreciated was the delve into quality vs. quantity of screen time - I feel very differently about me spending time editing a video on my phone than I would of me scrolling through other people's content). Is it Apple's fault we now have a portable world in our pocket? Is it TikTok's fault for creating a hyper-accurate algorithm? Is it Meta's job to moderate content for different audiences, or the internet as a whole? There's a lot of tricky, navel-gazing questions here that the author doesn't fully wrap her arms around (understandably), that sort of take up space without a satisfying resolution.
Of course, by the time we get to the conclusion, Regehr also acknowledges that this book was tricky to write because so much of it is unfolding in real time. And I appreciated her mentioning that parents are very much stumbling around in the dark because we don't have a north star to reference to help guide how we handle this aspect of parenting. There is a hopeful note that perhaps future generations will laugh and mock how irresponsible we were with content creation and consumption, but I don't know...this book was often pretty hard to get through because it felt so searingly overwhelming and dark and hard to solve (particularly when diving into the story of a young girl who took her own life, largely motivated by harmful content served up to her on social media).
This book is an important read. It's well-crafted, even if it very honestly admits it doesn't have all the answers. While there weren't maybe quite as many gems in her for me than I would have liked, that's also maybe a positive sign that I'm doing alright, consumption-wise. And I've certainly recommended it to more than a few friends grappling with the same questions I am. My child is currently not exceptionally interested in screens, and I don't let her fade away into an algorithmic wormhole of videos, literally ever. But I know that day will come, and I at least feel like I've got some ways to approach it.
The Bottom Line: A valuable, succinct read that comes at a massive problem admitting its own shortcomings; but still offers nuggets of insight, wisdom, and strategy.
Anything Memorable?: No.
2025 Book Challenge?: Book #58 in 2025
The Plot: We all know smartphones are kind of the worst. Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr is focusing less on hype and more on science, studies, and facts to help drive home the realities of how we are consuming content on our phones, and what the possible repercussions are, as well as providing actionable solutions to help break bad habits. With a particularly strong focus on young people's smartphone use and addiction, the book is a balance of history lesson, trend watch, and strategy.
The Good & The Bad: Overall, I commend this book for being a tight, condensed little read. It's not hitting you over the head with a lot of jargon and theory. It's basically shining a light on how things came to be the way they are (and honestly the history lessons were some of the most interesting bits of the book), what it might mean for us long-term, and what we can do about it. I will say that I don't specifically identify as someone who has a strong smartphone addiction, so in some ways, the book didn't feel hyper-relevant to me on that level. I've already trained my algorithm, and I gave up infinite scrolling around the time of the pandemic.
But the real shining elements for me actually came from the strong focus on the next generation's use and reaction to smartphones. As a parent, this is something that unsettles me, and I look to my friends with older kids for guidance. This book also shed some additional light on the realities of giving kids unbridled access to social media, and while I still don't have a clear cut answer as to what exactly I'm going to do (other than the 'ride-along' idea, which I really liked), it certainly illuminated a lot of risk to me that I maybe was a bit naive about. On the flip side, I'll say that if you aren't a parent, you might find this book is too focused on moderating young people's use and not necessarily actionable enough for how to curb an adult addiction.
A good portion of the book also tries to lasso the very tricky concept of "whose responsibility is it" when it comes to both the addictiveness of the apps on our smartphones, and the content itself. The author rightfully acknowledges this is a tangled web. While the book is about smartphones, ostensibly it's also largely about social media apps designed to keep us glued to our phones (although another section I appreciated was the delve into quality vs. quantity of screen time - I feel very differently about me spending time editing a video on my phone than I would of me scrolling through other people's content). Is it Apple's fault we now have a portable world in our pocket? Is it TikTok's fault for creating a hyper-accurate algorithm? Is it Meta's job to moderate content for different audiences, or the internet as a whole? There's a lot of tricky, navel-gazing questions here that the author doesn't fully wrap her arms around (understandably), that sort of take up space without a satisfying resolution.
Of course, by the time we get to the conclusion, Regehr also acknowledges that this book was tricky to write because so much of it is unfolding in real time. And I appreciated her mentioning that parents are very much stumbling around in the dark because we don't have a north star to reference to help guide how we handle this aspect of parenting. There is a hopeful note that perhaps future generations will laugh and mock how irresponsible we were with content creation and consumption, but I don't know...this book was often pretty hard to get through because it felt so searingly overwhelming and dark and hard to solve (particularly when diving into the story of a young girl who took her own life, largely motivated by harmful content served up to her on social media).
This book is an important read. It's well-crafted, even if it very honestly admits it doesn't have all the answers. While there weren't maybe quite as many gems in her for me than I would have liked, that's also maybe a positive sign that I'm doing alright, consumption-wise. And I've certainly recommended it to more than a few friends grappling with the same questions I am. My child is currently not exceptionally interested in screens, and I don't let her fade away into an algorithmic wormhole of videos, literally ever. But I know that day will come, and I at least feel like I've got some ways to approach it.
The Bottom Line: A valuable, succinct read that comes at a massive problem admitting its own shortcomings; but still offers nuggets of insight, wisdom, and strategy.
Anything Memorable?: No.
2025 Book Challenge?: Book #58 in 2025
August 25, 2025
We can’t get away from it – the smartphone has become a main instrument in our lives. Some have all of their life’s needs captured in that one device: our socials, our trackers, our bills, our bank accounts, our credit cards .. the list is endless. Having a book like Smartphone nation couldn’t come at a better time.
It is an up to date, comprehensively researched guide about the dangers, and benefits of the smartphone. It made me realize that we are all addicted to it one way or another – young and old. An important resource for parents to help manage and guide youngsters and teens – I feel lucky that my children are young adults now, the exposure is exponential now, even compared to when they were in their teens (just a few years ago.). I see how reliant my elderly mother is to her phone. It is literally a lifeline not just socially, but also for health monitoring.
This also made me realize my own reliance and focus on my device. I found the concept of “Digital Nutrition” , being analogous to the Food Guide, to be a very impressive and concrete way of taking stock of my smartphone use.
I thought it would be a laborious read or “how to” guide, but the format and approach is entirely relatable. I would recommend this book to everyone.
A solid 4.5 stars – thanks for Netgalley, Penguin Random House Canada and the author for the ARC for review.
It is an up to date, comprehensively researched guide about the dangers, and benefits of the smartphone. It made me realize that we are all addicted to it one way or another – young and old. An important resource for parents to help manage and guide youngsters and teens – I feel lucky that my children are young adults now, the exposure is exponential now, even compared to when they were in their teens (just a few years ago.). I see how reliant my elderly mother is to her phone. It is literally a lifeline not just socially, but also for health monitoring.
This also made me realize my own reliance and focus on my device. I found the concept of “Digital Nutrition” , being analogous to the Food Guide, to be a very impressive and concrete way of taking stock of my smartphone use.
I thought it would be a laborious read or “how to” guide, but the format and approach is entirely relatable. I would recommend this book to everyone.
A solid 4.5 stars – thanks for Netgalley, Penguin Random House Canada and the author for the ARC for review.
September 8, 2025
An accessible but thorough dive into our reliance and addiction to smartphones and technology in today’s society, as well as the impacts on our children. This book provided well researched information, and while some information was hard to swallow, it’s all important to be aware of in today’s society. The author also provided useful and reasonable advice on how to tackle some of the issues we are facing both for ourselves and within our families.
While the subject matter may seem dry to some, it is a necessary read for many. It forces the reader to take a step back to look at their own social media and cell phone use in general, and acknowledge that changes need to be made. Everyone can improve in some way but we also need to understand how and why we would want to. This book provides that information and so much more, while being accessible and understandable to the average person.
My only wish is that it had been a bit longer allowing there to have been a more deep conversation on some of the topics. The chapters specific to children are the ones that fascinated me most as a new parent who will be navigating these challenges in just a few short years.
While the subject matter may seem dry to some, it is a necessary read for many. It forces the reader to take a step back to look at their own social media and cell phone use in general, and acknowledge that changes need to be made. Everyone can improve in some way but we also need to understand how and why we would want to. This book provides that information and so much more, while being accessible and understandable to the average person.
My only wish is that it had been a bit longer allowing there to have been a more deep conversation on some of the topics. The chapters specific to children are the ones that fascinated me most as a new parent who will be navigating these challenges in just a few short years.
October 19, 2025
While not a riveting read, an important review of the. impact of screens!
Did you know that "google" became a noun and a verb and was entered into the Oxford dictionary in 2006? technology leading to new words!
Some tips:
- turn on incognito browsing
- unfollow accounts regularly
- beware of "truth decay" which is the "slow, insidious increase of systemic mis or disinformation, we're not talking about one post one time, but rather the accumulative impact of constantly macrodosing on mistruths. Disinformation can be more attention grabbing than truth and thus rewarded by the algorithm"
- look qualitatively at your technology usage
- add time limits to your "doom scroll"
- spring clean and game your algorithm to the positive!
This is an eye opening read and would be especially helpful for parents that are thinking about getting technology for their kids!
Did you know that "google" became a noun and a verb and was entered into the Oxford dictionary in 2006? technology leading to new words!
Some tips:
- turn on incognito browsing
- unfollow accounts regularly
- beware of "truth decay" which is the "slow, insidious increase of systemic mis or disinformation, we're not talking about one post one time, but rather the accumulative impact of constantly macrodosing on mistruths. Disinformation can be more attention grabbing than truth and thus rewarded by the algorithm"
- look qualitatively at your technology usage
- add time limits to your "doom scroll"
- spring clean and game your algorithm to the positive!
This is an eye opening read and would be especially helpful for parents that are thinking about getting technology for their kids!
September 22, 2025
In Smartphone Nation, Dr. Kaitlyn Regehr takes the reader beyond just moderation of phone usage and focuses on improved information and digital nutrition, as well as the regulation and defunding of harm, hate, and disinformation on online platforms.
Well researched and thought provoking Dr. Regehr also provides actionable suggestions throughout the book for readers looking to improve their digital diets. I find the book is mostly targeted towards parents, with a lot of helpful advice about how to keep your kids safe online, but really anyone with a smartphone can benefit from giving this a read.
Thank you Knopf Canada, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley for a copy of this book to review.
Well researched and thought provoking Dr. Regehr also provides actionable suggestions throughout the book for readers looking to improve their digital diets. I find the book is mostly targeted towards parents, with a lot of helpful advice about how to keep your kids safe online, but really anyone with a smartphone can benefit from giving this a read.
Thank you Knopf Canada, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley for a copy of this book to review.
October 5, 2025
This is a great book for alerting parents to dangers they and their children may encounter online. It encourages you to think critically about how your family uses the tools available on a smartphone, including search engines, apps and social media.
While you may be aware of many concerns that are brought up, such as echo chambers, truth decay, and online porn, Dr. Regehr provides several conversation guides that are useful in approaching these topics with children and teens. They provide a framework for teaching children to evaluate what they see and read, so they can make wise decisions in the future.
While you may be aware of many concerns that are brought up, such as echo chambers, truth decay, and online porn, Dr. Regehr provides several conversation guides that are useful in approaching these topics with children and teens. They provide a framework for teaching children to evaluate what they see and read, so they can make wise decisions in the future.
October 17, 2025
The author opens the book mentioning that there are already a lot of books about the problems with smart phones and screen time — this is true, and I’m not sure this added a lot to the conversation. While it’s not a bad book and some of the discussion questions/activities are useful, overall I found this a little oversimplified compared to Anxious Generation, and less inspiring than 24/6. I would recommend it if only you’re relatively new to learning about smartphone use and parenting with respect to technology.
November 10, 2025
Promising annotation. I am also fighting the urge to hold my phone all the time, so it was perfectly for me.
The beginning was interesting and captivation. Found new information about children’s safety on the internet.
But closer to the end it became so boring and hard to read, that I returned the book earlier, not finishing 10% of it, because I didn’t want to finish it. Though, I rarely do that.
The beginning was interesting and captivation. Found new information about children’s safety on the internet.
But closer to the end it became so boring and hard to read, that I returned the book earlier, not finishing 10% of it, because I didn’t want to finish it. Though, I rarely do that.
September 5, 2025
Everyone should read this book!
September 13, 2025
I most enjoyed the ideas in this book of ways to change our behaviour, to “hack the algorithms”
September 23, 2025
I listened to the audiobook version, and I think I would have enjoyed this book more had I read the physical or ebook versions instead.
Read
October 6, 2025An important, and practical, read.
October 15, 2025
Important for anyone using a smartphone.
October 30, 2025
Gives good ideas as to what to do and relevant stats that are from around the world.
October 30, 2025
Particularly useful for parents
December 11, 2025
it was ok, I didn't really learn much new since 2020s Netflix Documentary Social Dilemma
December 5, 2025
This book was repetitive and didn’t add much to what already exists on the topic. I was hoping for something a bit more practical.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews