Hold the Phone
How Parents Can Rescue Their Kids From Too Much Screen Time
$37.15
- Paperback
248 pages
- Release Date
1 December 2026
Summary
What if your family could have less screen time—and more real life?
Whether you’re setting screen limits from the start or changing course with older kids and teens, Hold the Phone shows you how to create healthier boundaries around technology and a richer life beyond it.
Smartphones and screens are reshaping childhood, but parents have more power than they may realize. In Hold the Phone, author and speaker Katherine Martinko offers a practical, encouraging g…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781774060216 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1774060213 |
| Author: | Katherine Martinko, Jean M. Twenge |
| Publisher: | New Society Publishers |
| Imprint: | New Society Publishers |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 248 |
| Release Date: | 1 December 2026 |
| Weight: | 363g |
| Dimensions: | 14mm x 152mm x 229mm |
Critics Review
I started following Katherine Martinko’s excellent writing soon after The Anxious Generation was published. I eventually invited her to be one of the few speakers that my team recommends when we get speaker requests. In Hold the Phone, Martinko synthesizes her years of research and public speaking to inspire parents with compelling imagery and a clear message: The threats to our children from digital tech are serious and ever-changing, yet we parents have more agency than we realize. Hold the Phone will strengthen your resolve while arming you with ideas for giving your kids a healthy real-world childhood.
– Jonathan Haidt, Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership, New York University—Stern School of Business, and author, The Anxious Generation and The Righteous MindHold the Phone is a timely and highly readable guide to helping families rethink their relationship with technology. Martinko weaves personal stories with credible science, offering practical, achievable advice without judgment or alarmism. Relatable, thoughtful, and refreshingly down-to-earth, this is a book families can actually use.
– Anna Lembke, MD, author, Dopamine NationKatherine Martinko has done it again. Hold the Phone is a powerful call to arms, making the case that while Big Tech must be held accountable for its actions, when it comes to kids and smartphones, parents are the first line of defense. Packed with practical strategies and no-nonsense advice, Hold the Phone will empower you to set limits on screen time — for your kids and yourself — and come back to (real) life. If you’re a parent, you should read this book.
– Catherine Price, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How to Break Up With Your Phone and co-author of The Amazing GenerationHold The Phone is about more than screens – and so is childhood. Martinko makes a convincing, actionable plea for more childhood independence and responsibility in the real world. Taking away phones is not the goal. The goal is giving kids BACK something stolen by a culture of fear: more playing, doing, helping, connecting, exploring, and experiencing in real life. This book can give your kids – and you – far more freedom, fun, and purpose.
– Lenore Skenazy, author, Free-Range Kids and president, Let GrowKatherine Martinko
Katherine Martinko is the author of Childhood Unplugged: How to Set Screen Limits, Reduce Device Dependence, and Reclaim Childhood. A speaker on behalf of Jonathan Haidt’s Anxious Generation campaign, she gives talks internationally on how to reclaim childhood from devices. In her Substack newsletter, The Analog Family, and in columns for The Globe and Mail newspaper, she offers smart guidance on tough topics, like when to give kids smartphones, how to navigate FOMO, and why parental modeling matters. A graduate of the University of Toronto, Katherine lives in Ontario, Canada.
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