August Lamm used to have 200,000 Instagram followers. These days, she carries a flashlight, waits for weather reports on the radio, and requests that people contact her on her landline or by letter.
Though she admits it’s a more complicated to way to live, she says it’s also made her think more creatively and profoundly, and taught her to enjoy time with her own thoughts, inside of filling every waking hour with podcasts, social media, and cell-phone conversations with friends.
She founded the Center for Archaic Networks dedicated to the study and revival of human networks pre-dating social media. She also the author of “You Don’t Need a Smartphone” and recently started a retreat center in upstate New York for weeklong sessions on giving up technology.
Lamm joins host Robin Young discusses the whys and hows of getting rid of your technology.
Book excerpt: ‘You Don’t Need a Smartphone’
By August Lamm
Excerpted from “You Don’t Need a Smartphone: A Practical Guide to Downgrading Your Phone and Upgrading Your Life” by August Lamm. Copyright © 2026 by Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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