'Childhood Unplugged' Is on Its Way

All about my upcoming book!

Let me tell you about a project that has consumed me for the past year and a half. I’ve been busy dreaming up, researching, drafting, writing, and editing a book based on a proposal that I sold to New Society Publishers in fall 2021. It has been one of the most daunting yet exciting creative endeavours I’ve embarked on. The book is called Childhood Unplugged: How to Get Your Kid Off Screens and Find Balance, and I am almost as proud of it as I am of my own three children, which took similar lengths of time to bake in the proverbial oven before their arrival in the world!

As its name suggests, the book takes a bold approach to limiting the use of digital media by children. This is based on my personal experience of raising kids with minimal devices at home, extensive research and interviews with experts (amazing people like Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, journalist Paul Greenberg of Goodbye Phone, Hello World fame, Angela Hanscom, writer of Balanced and Barefoot, and many others), and conversations with other families and educators who embrace an unorthodox “digital minimalist” approach. The foreword was written by none other than Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids and founder of Let Grow.

It’s important to me that people understand I am not anti-technology. I love my laptop, my smartphone, my Netflix subscription, the Internet and all that it has enabled me to do. What I worry about is what’s lost when screens are allowed to take over every aspect of our lives—and I believe that the effect on kids is even more powerful than it is on adults, not only for the patterns it establishes, but also the troubling developmental issues that are starting to be revealed.

I am on a mission to reclaim childhood as the play-filled, imaginative, hands-on stage of life that it’s meant to be, to restore its intrinsic magic by putting devices aside and focusing on real-life activities. I want more conversations, more eye contact, more made-up games, more boredom, more outdoor play, more physical movement, more helping out around the house, more being present for the people who live with and around us. It may sound like a tall order, but I am optimistic; I see change happening. Every parent I talk to wishes their kid spent less time on their phone or computer. We’re aware of the problems; sometimes you just need to hear about someone else rejecting the status quo in order to feel emboldened to do the same.

You Can Pre-Order My Book

My book won’t be out in physical form until July 2023, so you’ll have to wait till then to read it. But it is available for pre-order from NSP and Amazon. Pre-orders are hugely helpful for gauging reader interest, so please get on that list if you’d like a copy.

Over the coming months, I’ll be recording the audiobook version, collecting endorsements, and getting professional PR advice on launching my book-baby into the world. It’s an exciting time! Stay tuned, as there will be lots more news on the book front here at The Analog Family.

In the meantime, here’s a wonderful infographic based on Sherry Turkle’s book Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. It was a profound source of information and inspiration during my research phase.

Graphic made by @curtiswords, shared by Sherry Turkle on Twitter, 1 Feb. 2022