Review: The Opt-Out Family

2024-10-04

Strange book. Somewhat useful, approaches something beautiful. But also struggles to reach any depth. Each sentence resembles the very social media she derides, full of pithy maxims but light on actual content. Rather than a single work that’s tied together, it feels like she wrote a whole bunch of one-liners and then decided which chapters to stick them in.

Despite its weaknesses, I found the book compelling. It takes courage to opt out of using a cell phone like everyone else. As I think about my kids and their technology use, how it effects them during their day, I find myself nodding along to many of her points.

I’m not sure how I want to take her advice, exactly. I know I want to incorporate some of it into my family’s routines, but I don’t know what yet.