Phone Rules - by Luc Rinaldi (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Award-winning investigative journalist Luc Rinaldi offers insights, inspiration, and practical advice to reset our relationship with our phones so we can raise healthier and happier kids and re-engage with life.

Worldwide, we are using our phones far more than is healthy. Research confirms this: our phones are making us nearsighted, causing painful and persistent back and neck problems, and robbing us of the sleep and physical activity necessary for robust physical and mental health. Worse still, they are driving a widespread rise in depression, self-harm, and suicide, especially among young people.

Yet, even if we know that there's an urgent collective need to get off our phones to be with each other and experience life as fully as possible, we are stymied by the scale of the problem and by the many highly addictive ways in which our phones distract and delight us, pulling us back in.

Beyond diagnosing the self-destructive relationship between humanity and handheld devices, Phone Rules offers solutions for parents rearing digital natives, children navigating their first phones, people perpetually tethered to their devices, and everyone in between. Rooted in fascinating research and sympathetic profiles, Rinaldi shows us not only what is at stake, but paints a picture of what we stand to re-gain.

About the Author

LUC RINALDI is an award-winning investigative journalist who has covered technology and mental health extensively for Maclean's, Toronto Life, and The Walrus, among other publications. In 2024, he was nominated for more National Magazine Awards than any other journalist in Canada. He has worked on staff at several magazines, including Pivot, which won the National Magazine Award for Best B2B Magazine during his tenure as editor-in-chief. He is also a frequent guest speaker at colleges and universities, and has taught magazine feature writing at Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada's foremost journalism school.