An interesting cultural phenomena that has arisen over the last few years is the grassroots fight against the increasingly dominant role that technology, particularly mobile phones and social media, plays in our children’s lives. In my own community, there are self-organized groups of parents who exist to provide support when “detoxing” children from screens. These groups organize non-screen-based activities to try and pull children and young people away from their screen addiction. The parents have realized--and have seen first-hand--the potentially destructive nature of modern technology and have decided to act, even if schools, companies, and governments do not.

This concern that there may be a downside to the near constant usage of mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and so on, lies at the heart of Richard Cytowic’s Your Stone Age brain in the Screen Age. Generally put, the central thesis of the book is that our “modern” brains are wired the same way as the brains of our Stone Age ancestors and so are ill-equipped at coping with the challenges of modern technology. These challenges lead to problems with social interaction, mental processing, concentration, and so much more.

Throughout the book, Cytowic (who is a professor in neurology at George Washington University) provides a wealth of evidence to support his thesis. The evidence is at its most damning, and most challenging, when considering the impact that modern technologies are having on the most vulnerable--our children and young people. The examples of children being diagnosed with “virtual autism,” or teenagers sleeping holding their phones whilst making swiping gestures in their sleep, hit home the potential severity of the Pandora’s box that we as a society have opened.

But what are we to do in the face of such evidence? Something that took me by surprise when reading this book is how practical it is. I was expecting the book to focus primarily on the neuroscience: at a neurological level, why we are so addicted to these technologies and what are the harms being caused. While Cytowic does a brilliant job of covering these points, he does not merely lay out the facts and end the story there. Rather, he provides practical advice on what can be done to “break the spell” of these technologies. This lifts the book from being merely interesting to being essential reading. In this regard, chapter 18’s list of practical steps is worth the cost of the book alone.

Cytowic is no Luddite. Rather, he is a voice of caution and concern in a society that appears to have accepted the technological invasion of our lives without question. For those wanting to question the status quo, wanting to understand the risk that this invasion poses and to know how they can push back, I cannot recommend this book enough.

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