‘Unplug’ author Richard Simon on how to break up with your phone

How often do you reach for your phone? It’s likely more frequently than you realize—Americans unlock their smartphones 150 times each day, on average. 

A few years ago, Richard Simon, who lives in Baltimore with his family, was feeling distressed about how smartphone usage was affecting his life. His subsequent yearlong detox convinced him that life with only limited smartphone use (or none at all) is happier and more fulfilling. 

In June 2025, Workman Publishing released Simon’s compact, practical guide Unplug: How to Break Up with Your Phone and Reclaim Your Life. In it, Simon includes his own story along with plenty of other individuals’ accounts of their lives with and without smartphones. He also weaves in interviews with scientists and other experts, along with loads of tips—even lists of available non-smartphone devices and their pros and cons. 

The book doesn’t shame readers for their smartphone usage. It explains why the devices are so fundamentally alluring: “Each time you reach for your phone and tap the screen, your brain releases dopamine. The release of dopamine is pleasurable, and your brain will crave more. This reinforces the behavior of checking your phone throughout the day.”

With the back-to-school season ahead offering a chance to charge and recharge on many levels, we caught up with the author to talk about his book.

BFB: What motivated you not just to do a year-long smartphone detox but to write this guide for others?

My smartphone was putting a strain on so many facets of my life, from my ability to focus deeply at work, to the relationships with my wife, children, and dear friends. I had tried so many hacks recommended in self-help books and articles—things like a digital sabbath, deleting social media apps, turning the phone to grayscale, etc. I learned quickly, they didn’t go far enough. That’s why I decided to turn my smartphone off for an entire year. That year-long phoneless odyssey was one of the most transformative periods of my life. 

That’s when I put on my reporter’s hat and sought out others who did the same. I found that no matter your walk of life, whether you are a Major League Baseball player, law partner, anesthesiologist, school principal, software engineer, or novelist, turning off your smartphone to recalibrate the reward pathways in your brain is the first step to reclaiming your life. That’s why sharing my story as well as others was so important.

BFB: You interview all kinds of individuals with experience doing smartphone detoxes of various kinds. That’s helpful for readers looking to make a change (i.e., if so-and-so can do it, maybe I can too). How did you come to connect with these people?

The way I connected with each person in the book varied. For Philadelphia Phillies slugger Nick Castellanos, I found a short one-minute clip from a podcast where he mentioned switching to a flip phone. I got in touch with his baseball team’s PR office (the Cincinnati Reds at the time), who put me in touch with his wife. For Notre Dame student Josh Haskell, I read a profile on how he got rid of his smartphone that was published in the Notre Dame alumni magazine. For chess grandmaster Wesley So, I read a blog post about how intentional he is with the technology he brings into his life. I reached out to his agent and then learned after a three-hour phone call that he got rid of his smartphone altogether.

Believe it or not, out of the 25 profiles in the book, only two were based off of personal connections. Otherwise, most people I found from internet searches.

BFB: Do you think people in Baltimore are more likely than people in other places to have smartphone addictions? Are there places around town where you’re especially sorry to see someone with their head down, absorbed in their phone?

From all of my research, I’ve found that it doesn’t matter whether you live in Nairobi, Kenya, Melbourne, Australia, or Baltimore, Maryland, we’re all hooked.

Something I’ve found from people who’ve read my book is that they tell me they are so much more aware of smartphone use around them. Next time you’re at Camden Yards, the Maryland Zoo, a walk around Mt. Vernon, or sitting in the waiting area at Penn Station, look around…most people are looking down at their phones.

As a parent of three young children, I feel most sorry when there’s a sporting event or a family celebration, and loved ones miss these amazing moments. When I see a child mash a ball at a baseball game, and the parents are looking down at a screen and miss that moment, it brings me such sadness. That’s why enough is enough. We have control over our lives. It’s time to take action.

Richard Simon’s Unplug can be purchased via the Ivy Bookshop, Greedy Reads in Remington, and other local independent bookstores. His website is www.richard-simon.com.

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