The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones

by Clare Morell

A road map to free your kids from the harms of digital technology and to recover the beauty, wonder, and true purpose of childhood—by a leading tech policy expert

It’s no secret that addictive digital technologies like smartphones and social media apps are harming a generation of kids socially, mentally, and even physically. But a workable solution seems elusive. After all, don’t kids need phones, and won’t they be vulnerable or socially isolated without tech?

Clare Morell, fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and director of its Technology and Human Flourishing Project, argues that the answer is no. She exposes the lies parents have been sold about managing the dangers of tech through parental controls and screen-time limits, and demonstrates that another way is possible—even if your children are already using smartphones or social media.

The Tech Exit maps a doable pathway to freedom from digital technology for families, local communities, and society. Drawing on dozens of interviews with experts and with families who have gone tech-free, as well as Morell’s own work as a policy expert, The Tech Exit shows how digital technology is anything but necessary for children to live happy, healthy, and socially full lives.

The Tech Exit is essential reading for any parent who has felt stuck between an awareness of the dangers of digital technology for kids and the feeling that tech is necessary and inevitable. Clare Morell’s message is simple and You and your family can be free. The life you want for your children is within reach.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Technology, Family, Cultural, Audiobook, Psychology

256 pages, Hardcover

Published June 3, 2025

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tech Exit by Clare Morell is practical, interesting, and reads like a conversation! I am a parent of young kids and I am so glad I read this early because I feel like I am so much more equipped to handle the challenges of tech in our home (but even if you have older kids there are strategies of what to do as well).

It is a must read and I also found it so helpful to check my own tech use too. I would even recommend this book to people who don’t have kids because we all need to be more thoughtful on what our phones and social media is doing to us.

[Addalai B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would highly recommend this resource! Great info for parents and people who serve youth about how to go screen lite / screen free. Appreciated the current research, especially about phones in schools.

[Jenna DiPrima · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tech Exit is well written, well researched, and left me equal parts disturbed and hopeful. I think every parent, educator, or person who works with children should read this book. Clare persuasively explains how data shows the deeply harmful effects screens, social media, and smart phones have on children. She also uses many real life examples. The book is written in a way that is not overly technical and would be easy for anyone to read.

Unlike most (or perhaps any) books on the market, Clare does a convincing job explaining why things like screen time limits, parental controls, or limited phone use don’t actually work for children. Additionally, unlike many books on the market, Clare offers practical ways to institute a tech exit on the individual, family, and government level. This book gave me hope that it is possible to take control of our kids technology use and to give them a predominately tech free childhood.

[Joshua Chatman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is eye-opening, informative, challenging, clear, and helpful. It’s a page-turner.

Clare said it well in her conclusion, “The Tech Exit is the definition of a positive no. Their no to screens is a yes to so much more. The whole purpose of exiting digital technology is so that we, our children and ourselves, reenter the real world and reconnect with our fellow humans in real life.”

I highly recommend it.

[Jessie Wittman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the perfect climax after the arc of The Tech-Wise Family and The Anxious Generation. I'm sold. Let me forsake the "harm reduction" approach of limiting screen time and using useless parental controls and embrace an embodied childhood for my children that is aimed at self-transcendence.

Heads up: audiobook is a great way to go!

[Caroline Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read. Clare Morell writes an incredibly well researched and hard hitting book regarding the use of screens in our children’s lives, family’s life, and even our own life. This book brings to light the dangers of media, while providing an encouraging and clear course of action in response. I would recommend this book to any parent or anyone examining their own technology use!

[Nick Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good. Practical. Helpful.
Yet another in a series of phone/social media books that clearly detail the dangers of living a purposeless life and the role that tech companies play in addicting us to unintentionality.

[Caleb Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Go ahead and call me a Luddite, but there truly isn't a legitimate reason for kids and teenagers to have smartphones. Great book. More of a practical, hands-on follow up to Haidt's Anxious Generation. Lots of wisdom and insight for adults as well. Makes me want to get rid of my phone. I will gladly wear the Luddite badge!

[Chris Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sobering work with numerous examples on the dangers that social media and smartphones, in particular, cause to children. I must admit, I was leery of this book due to the title. I thought Mrs. Morrell might be reminiscent of simpler era where we blissfully close our eyes and run away from current technology and returned to a latent golden era in her mind. While protecting children from harm is certainly at the forefront, she does have another goal that is less discussed until the end: human flourishing. Mrs. Morrell provides an acronym FEAST on how we can take back our digital lives and connect with each other which I won’t go into too much detail about.

In case you were wondering what this book is about, I will let Mrs. Morrell define it: “This is the definition of the Tech Exit: no smartphones, social media, tablets, or video games during childhood.”

Before you panic, this definition is not as cut and dry as it seems, and she even devoted a whole chapter on “adopt alternatives” (part of FEAST).

I left this book book sobered and resolved again to do what is best for my children, even if screens have some part in their life. I believe you will too if you pick it up.

[Ellen Everson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The research was fascinating, convicting, and motivating. I appreciated that she wasn’t painting all screens themselves as the most evil thing in the world but rather how they were used and the context in which they are present. And there were lots of practical ways presented to help contribute to a solution - rather than just leaving the reader with an unsolvable issue. I appreciated that. The only thing that I wish was discussed more is the importance and need for parents to not just prohibit what is wrong but rather focus on teaching their children what is right. I believe teaching the right virtues and what children should do (instead of focusing on what not to do) is more beneficial and will protect children better in the long run. Other than that one aspect, I really appreciated and enjoyed the content and encouragement to keep screen presence in the home to a minimum!

[Dani Wilkerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's usually hard to envision a screen-free lifestyle, but Mrs. Morell gives very practical suggestions and a blueprint guide to FEAST instead of stay stuck in a screen - for parents, children, schools, and neighborhoods. She clearly lays out government regulations needing massive reforms, but that wasn't the book's focus. Making a change really does start with each of us, in each of our households and communities, as collectively we become a movement to give our children & families a life freed from screens and instead thriving in reality.

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I'm not a parent, I still found this book helpful because Morell guided me to reevaluate my habits with tech use. More than that, I'm refreshed that the book goes beyond mere practical (though helpful) discussion of "how to handle this, what to do with that". Morell calls readers out of consumption for one's self to giving of one's self. It's about more than just how you use screens--it's about what you want your life to be for.

[Drew French · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here’s a book on how to not get your kid a smart phone. If you think “why do I need a book to tell me that?” then this is especially a book for you. Best to read this when your kids are young—so you set the family culture around technology well before the pressures for smartphones mount in the teen years.

[Laura Brownstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and well researched! Very practical too. I highly recommend this book:

[Robert Booth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a needed book.

[Joel King · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is important. I’d recommend it to anyone with kids. Morell is sharp, and what she’s proposing is seemingly radical in this society that is addicted to devices and social media platforms. The book is interesting, an easy read, but at the same time serious. I would challenge anyone to read it and walk away without any desire to combat the dangers of devices for their children.

[Patrick Hamblin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every parent should read this book even if their kids already have phones. Even if you don’t make the full tech exit there are wise decisions to consider. Even though this book is geared toward kids, there are great principles for parents to apply in their own practices with their phones.

[Patrick Brown]

Short review here: https://open.substack.com/pub/ptbwrit...

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some very good information and practical ideas, however I feel that it went too far. The picture that was painted was one of near perfection if you exited tech the way described. I very much agree with the negative effects of the way we use our phones and social media, etc. however evil existed in the world before any of this technology. I have read the Anxious Generation and several other books on the same topic, but this book took it too far in my opinion.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Our children will value what we value. Let’s show them we value people more than phones.” – The Tech Exit

My overwhelming feeling reading The Tech Exit was that I wanted to recommend it to every parent and educator I know. Clare Morell persuasively blends data and real-world examples to paint a picture of what’s so deeply problematic about smartphones, screens, and social media in childhood and what families can do about it. The data is bleak, but the vision of tech-free family life she describes is joyful and inspiring. And importantly, the guidance she offers makes that vision feel attainable.

Morell makes clear that commonly-prescribed “solves” to screens - like parental controls and time limits – fall woefully short in addressing the issues screens themselves exacerbate. Screens aren’t a reward or inevitable part of growing up. In fact, they can make the business of growing up harder; they hamper emotional regulation, worsen academic outcomes, harm mental health, complicate relationships, and make the natural world less interesting, among other disastrous impacts. Morell digs into each of these issues and then shows a better way forward.

Something I really appreciated about this book was that it laid out changes that could be made at an individual-, family-, community-, and federal-level. I finished The Tech Exit feeling newly energized and empowered to start intentionally building community with other screen-free families. I also felt equipped to incorporate more changes into our day-to-day family life to go “analog” (writing down a grocery list, adding a phone basket to our foyer, taking the kids outside to check the weather rather than furtively glancing at a weather app). I was inspired by the different ways "tech exit" parents preserved their kids’ childhood and engaged them in the decision to opt-out of smartphones and social media.

I feel so grateful to have read this book now. My children are young and don’t know screens apart from occasional FaceTime calls with family. But, The Tech Exit emphasizes that it is never too late to rethink your family’s reliance on addictive screens or social media. Now is the perfect time to start and The Tech Exit shows how it can be done.

[Jason Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Game Changer

Many recent books and articles have made a compelling case that smartphones and social media are harmful to children. But we’ve completely intertwined them into our lives and society, so what can be done about the problem??

Enter Clare Morell and her fantastic book. Morell mostly assumes agreement about the problem and skips directly to the standard treatment plan (time limits and filtering), explaining why they have proven to be woefully inadequate.

I was kind of expecting an aspirational book with fanciful dreams of a phone-free childhood, but what I read was much more of a research summary of low-tech families that actually exist and the principles that they live by. In other words: it’s real, it’s happening, and it works!

Morell shares a number of real life examples and variations on strategies that families are using. It feels very actionable and practical. It gives parents both permission and much-needed practical tools to bless their children with a childhood free of digital addictions.

One side note: it was implied, though not stated or required, that having a multiple-child family makes being low-tech work better. A digital childhood is more individualized, but a low-tech childhood is more about community and doing things with other people in real life.

In summary, every parent should read this book! Give this book as a gift at baby showers! Even parents who have already gone a ways down the path of giving a smartphone and social media to their children. The book makes a compelling case and gives tips for how to change course and help older children undo some of the damage.

As a side note, though I don’t think Morell mentions AI at all, a low-tech childhood also goes a long way towards handling that new threat to childhood innocence and development.

[Jennifer Steinhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

We’ve all heard that smartphones and social media are bad for kids, but Morell lays out just how bad it is. In a clear and easy to read book, she outlines the dangers of smartphones/social media using hard data and antidotal evidence. Once you have this information as a parent, you really just can’t go back.
But this book doesn’t just leave you in despair over the world our children have to grow up in surrounded by screens. Morell puts forth a picture of how we can keep our children off social media/smartphones. She gives examples of real parents who have blazed the way in keeping their kids out of the social media revolution and encourages the reader that you can do it too.
This book caused a paradigm shift in the way I think of technology, especially when it comes to my kids, but also my own use of technology. We’ll see if it sticks, but I’ve already put some of the limiters on my smartphone use and have seen my screentime count drop.
This is an incredibly helpful book for parents. We need to be the adults in the room and protect our children from smartphones/social media. I appreciated Morell highlighting Mothers Against Drunk Driving and encouraging us that we can follow in those mothers’ footsteps. This isn’t just a personal problem (like getting drunk), it is a societal problem that hurts others (like drunk driving) and something has to change.

[Steev Hise]

I'm reading this cautiously.

Any book that's glowingly blurbed by MAGA senator Josh Hawley is most likely going to be problematic. There's also many many praises online (so to speak) from right wing christian groups and publications. If you also are suspicious of these folks, take this book with a giant boulder of salt!

Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing is another book about the subject that seems more balanced. I'm halfway through that. It's packed with actual research, rather than the anecdotes that Morell's book seems full of.

As this other book details, there are some healthy effects of kids using phones and social media.This is something that Morell doesn't even mention as something to "debunk". She just, doesn't say anything about all that research that shows what unexpected, counterintuitive positive benefits can be had from connecting to other people via these devices. I'm not saying we should just unleash this stuff on kids to whatever level they want, but Morell posits this totally absolute solution that seems to be going too far, IMHO. There has to be a middle ground.

[Sara Sylvester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful is an understatement. The Tech Exit proves screens are in fact harmful, but offers hope. Clare details how screens harm our children's brain development, physical eye health, mental wellbeing, and even the work we do as parents to help build our children’s character. We live in a society addicted to technology and behave as if we have no choice but for our children to partake. And yet there is a choice. The Tech Exit lays out the choices to make to change course and live screen free. As much as I need this book as a parent, I need this as a tool to help free myself. As Clare writes, "I call this different path the Tech Exit, and this book is my invitation to you to embrace the kind of life you already want for your kids." She’s right. We do want this for our children. We can do this for our children.

[Alice Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both conceptually convincing and truly practical. I've read a number of books that diagnose the damage done by smartphones and access to technology, but this is the first one that offers a practical, family-centric, community-oriented solution. I gained a practical, hope-filled, and motivating vision of this "Tech Exit" life from the case studies about tech-free or tech-limited families and schools, as well as testimonies from teenagers themselves about their thankfulness in pursuing a life where they are not controlled by their devices. This book shows that it really is possible in our day and age to take intentional steps to protect our children and ourselves so that we become more fully human and use technology as a tool instead of being controlled by it.

[Andrew Gates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some helpful things to think about. Here are some of the major takeaways Lindsey and I may try as a result:
-Phones in another room from after work until 30 mins before bed
-TV less than 2 nights a week (brainstorm replacement activities)
-Social Media Sundays (max 15 minutes)
-App time limits on things we tend to spend too much time on or scroll
-Prioritize talking in-person (less texts/calls/FaceTime when possible)
-Value some time for silence/quiet

However, I think tech books tend to be overly dramatic. Though it's not stated, I always get the impression that 1) using your phone is a borderline sinful and 2) tech is basically bringing about Armageddon. So, that's not my favorite with these types of books haha.

[Thomas Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really seals the deal on:

first, the need to get your kids away from social media and unrestricted Internet usage — it’s truly a spiritual bloodbath,
second, the fact that there is no way to actually lock them out of such activities on smart devices, and thus
third, you need to go entirely smart-tech free with your kids.

She lays it all out pretty effectively and with finality. Protect your kids — their souls, their habits, their brains, their creativity, their work ethic. And she goes on with some really practical tips — on how to make the change now (it’s never too late!), what alternatives you must find, and how to set your family up for success.

It’s also quite convicting as an adult and parent myself.

[Forrest Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a MUST read for anyone with kids! Not only is it a quick and insightful read, but it is also extremely practical. The author delivers a bold, thoughtful, and deeply personal exploration of the “tech exit.” I never thought it would be possible until I read her detailed examples of practical ways to join the tech exit. It’s not about fear or guilt but rather a hopeful and empowering read to reclaim your kids childhood and give them an even brighter future. I found myself having deep conversations with other parents after finishing this book. This will help you connect with your child and other families in a way I didn’t think possible.

[Julie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was by far the most comprehensive and persuasive piece I have read on the problems with tech in childhood. As a therapist, I have encountered all of the issues from human trafficking to porn and bullying. Removing the access (to online forums) is the only real solution for minds that are not developed. In my career, I work with failure to launch (into adulthood) and screens are the #1 cause. It’s easier to stay at home with a device than to participate in the world. I believe parents need support in changing the dynamics of screen use at home. It’s not easy to resist. The author poses the question, “What will you do?” With tools from the book, I’m on it!

[Kayla Morell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tech Exit is about saying ‘Yes’: ‘Yes’ to emotionally self-regulated children, ‘Yes’ to self-control, ‘Yes’ to quality family time, ‘Yes’ to children in the outdoors, ‘Yes’ to true learning… You can have all these with a simple, life changing ‘no’ to addictive screens. Morell not only calls for a change in the tech game-plan for parents, but provides accessible solutions for ANY parent, no matter where they are in their parenting journey. This book is a must-read for any parent who desires to give their child the gift of freedom from screen-addiction.