Life-Changing ‘How to Break Up with Your Phone’ Book Review – 7 Key Takeaways

I’ll be honest with you – when I first picked up Catherine Price’s “How to Break Up with Your Phone,” I was skeptical. I had already tried so many ways to create a healthy relationship with my phone, and never was happy with the result so why should this book be any different?

Turns out it was different. This book helped me and countless others, and it can help you too.

But here’s where this book gets interesting – Price doesn’t expect you to throw your smartphone in a drawer and never use it again. She gets that we live in 2025, not 1995. Instead, she offers this brilliant 30-day plan that feels actually doable. Nothing crazy, one little switch-up a day, and in the end, you’re most likely a changed person.

What makes this book different from other digital wellness books I’ve tried is the scientific backing behind every recommendation. It is genuinely well researched and uses techniques that are top of the art in psychology.

Over the next sections, I am going to break down why you should read the book and give you the key takeaways that I took from the book.

What Makes “How to Break Up with Your Phone” Different from Other Similar Books

I’ll be honest – I’ve read my fair share of content around digital wellness. Non of it was bad, but also non of it was like this book.

The great thing about How to Break Up with You Phone is that it incorporates all that you need. The first part is about acquiring all the necessary knowledge around technology and addiction. She does not paint it all black, our phones are wonderful tools too.

Then the second part of the book is, as I have said, a plan that gets you to break the old patterns and create new and healthier habits. The best part nothing that she proposes is actually a crazy shift. Most of it are neat tricks that use the way our brain works. Like organizing your screen that certain problem apps are not that tempting anymore, or settting some healthy boundaries around specific places and times when you wont use the phone.

The No. 1 reason why you should buy this book and not any other one is that what you learn here is actually more than enough to get your screen time under control. You only need to read and follow this one book and you’re basically good to go.

The 7 Key Takeaways

1: Understanding Your Phone’s Addictive Design

You will never get your phone use under control if you do not truly understand how addictive they are! Because you need to accept that, like with any drug addiction, willpower alone will not get the deal done. If you do not implement intelligent ways to handle your phone it’s addictive powers will always get the best of you.

Price explains how app developers literally hire neuroscientists and behavioral psychologists to make their products more addictive. We’re not weak-willed for constantly checking our phones – we’re up against teams of experts who’ve studied exactly how to hijack our brain’s reward system.

Every notification, fun video, interesting post or so little achievement in a game, will trigger dopamine. Anything that triggers dopamine is likely to be repeated. There is nothing in todays world, not even drugs that give you as many possibilities to hunt those little rewards.

The even upped their game with something called variable reward schedules. Like a slot machine (one of the most addictive things in existence), sometimes you purposely get shown reels that you don’t care about only that the rewards is going to be even bigger the next time a funny video comes up.

So if you didn’t know, you are being manipulated all the time through your phone.

2: Building Awareness on How Devices Impact your Mental Health

There are many ways your phone could negatively impact your mental health. Price explains many of them: Phones destroy our attention span, can trigger anxiety because we are always in an alert mode/low-level stress, the blue light and stimulation mess with our sleep, etc.

The key here is that before you change anything about your phone usage, you first just observe.

• How do you feel before you use your phone, while you use it and after you have used it?
• How do you feel if you don’t use your phone but it is nearby?
• How do you feel if you did not use it for some time?
• How is your attention span?
• Are you constatly a little stressed?
• ….

Just observe and get a feel for how your phone impacts YOU. My biggest aha moment was when I realized that when I see my phone or feel it in my pocket, I feel a pressure that urges me to use the phone. This stressed me and at some point I would always use it. This information was crucial for me, to then implement the right changes.

3: Creating Boundaries with Your Device

Price’s chapter on boundaries was probably the most impactful. Knowing that you do not win a head-on battle against your phone. It’s time to implement some boundaries. Those are places or times where there is no phone use at all. First and foremost, keep your phone out of your bedroom.

This is simple, but super helpful. Just think about situations and places where you do not wanna use the phone. Then stick to it.

A necessary boundary for me was social situations. Price emphasizes creating phone-free social experiences, because that is what we truly want. We want more real experiences and less time “wasted” behind our screens. I am pretty strict here, even leaving my phone at home when I go dancing.

4: Increasing friction

Increasing friction is just making it a little harder for your unhealthy phone habits. One of the reasons our phones are so addictive is that the rewards are so easy to get. You just need to press your screen three times and get soooo much variety. Sometimes just working a little against that can go a long way.

Here some ideas how you can increase friction for you problem apps:

• Access certain apps only through browser
• Reorganize your home screen so that only useful tools are seen there
• Turn your phone to gray and set a black background
• Make it a habit of asking yourself what do I wanna use my phone for now, when you’re about to reach for it.

All these changes are small, but they all make it a little less likely that you will spend hours on your phone. That little decrease can go a long way.

5: The 30-Day Phone Breakup Plan Step-by-Step

Okay, let’s talk about the meat and potatoes of Catherine Price’s approach – her famous 30-day phone breakup plan. I have mentioned it several times before, because i truly think the plan is great.

The amazing idea about the 30-day plan is that, if you try to change all of your phone habits in one day, you will definitely be overwhelmed. If you, however, just make one little 5-minute change per day, but consistently for 30 days, then after that month, your screen time will look very different.

Price’s plan is separated into 4 parts, each week has a new topic: analyzing old behavior, breaking old habits, building new habits, and reclaiming your brain.

6: Mindfulness Techniques for Increasing you Mental Control

As I said, willpower alone is not enough to break your phone addiction. This, however, does not mean that we can not increase and use our conscious mental control over our habits.

Here, practicing mindfulness is super helpful. I think many have heard of this term as it’s become more popular in recent years, and no, it’s not just a fancy meditation technique. I find it hard to define mindfulness and how to use it, but here is my best try: Mindfulness is a skill that allows you to be more aware of what is happening around you, but more importantly, also inside of you. The better you get at it, the more you will be able to consciously decide whether you want to follow an urge (like wanting to use your phone) or resist it.

Mindfulness has been shown to be helpful in substance addiction recovery. I think it’s so useful because instead of having to fight against your urges, you learn to see and accept them as such, which for some reason makes it so much easier to just say no.

There are many ways you can practice mindfulness. The easiest is a 5 to 15 mindful meditation: Try to focus on your breath, inhale, exhale, and the pauses in between, nothing else. Now when (not if) you realize that you have been distracted, note that to yourself, a quick thought like oh a tought/instict/worry/urge… has come up, and gently bring your attention back. This meditation is much less about keeping your attention on the breath than about realizing once it has drifted off and reacting in a mindful (not emotional) way.

Then you obviously should try to take those mindful reactions into your everyday life. It’s like taking a step back from your emotional reactions, and giving yourself the choice whether you want to dive into the reaction or you wanna focus on something else.

7: Building Real-World Connections and Activities

This to me is the most important step of them all, and this for two reasons:

1. First of all, if you cut something from your life that gave you pleasure, comfort, connection, etc. (even if it was fake connection, your brain does not make these distinctions) then you need to replace it with something that also serves the same need you have, or you will inevitably spring back to the old behavior.
2. Second, and even more important, is the reason that this is why we are breaking up with our phones in the first place. To again have more real experiences in the real world. So this is the moment where we start doing that.

Here there is no right and wrong just try out stuff and stick to what you enjoy most. Be brave and do things you usually don’t do. I started dancing in my breakup something I always wanted to do but never actually did it.

1. Make a list of what you used to enjoy most before your phone took over your life. Most likely there is still something you would enjoy now.
2. Invest more time in face-to-face relationships. Proactively plan dates or fun activities with your friends.
3. Also think of some no phone downtime activities, I enjoy reading and yoga to calm down and chill.
4. Joing groups, clubs, organizations helps you to stay accountable and is more fun too.

Conclusion, Why you Should Read this Book

I know I sound biased, but this is a book I would suggest to anyone. Doesn’t matter the age or life situation, I don’t see any person who could not profit from the tips and tools in this book

Breaking free of the steady thinging grip our devices have on us is a topic dear to me. As it’s one of the most important decision you can take today. Imagine the impact such a change can have on your whole lifetime.

It’s just a fact that if you do not take control over your devices they will control you. Your attention and desires will be markeded and sold and you will be helplessly manipulated. I don’t believe in evil agendas, it’s just the way those big companies make money. But you can break free. If you’re not a big reader try to follow the tips I laid out for you, but if you manage i highly encourage to read the book and take in all the extra infos you can get.