Book ~ "Logging Off" (2020) Nick Spalding

From Goodreads ~ Andy Bellows is in a right state. Plagued with insomnia, anxiety and neckache, he’s convinced there’s something seriously wrong with him. And the worst thing is that his doctor agrees. The diagnosis: Andy is in the grip of a self-destructive addiction to technology - he just cannot put that bloody mobile phone down.

Texting, tweeting, gaming and online dating - technology rules Andy’s life. His phone even monitors his bowel movements. So how will he cope when he’s forced to follow doctor’s orders and step away from all of his beloved screens?

From having to leave the flat in search of food like some kind of Neanderthal to engaging in conversations with actual people, Andy’s about to discover just how bewildering - and scary - the analogue world can be.

And when his sixty-day detox hits the headlines - making him a hero to suffering technophiles everywhere - Andy is sorely tempted to pack it all in and escape in the nearest Uber.

Can he get himself out of this mess, and work out how to live a better, technologically balanced life…without consulting Google even once? 

Andy is stressed, his neck hurts and he's having a hard time going to the bathroom.  Convinced he has a serious disease, he goes to see his doctor who tells him he is addicted to the Internet and all the technology that goes along with it.  His doctor suggests that he do a sixty day detox ... no gaming, texting, tweeting, Facebooking, Googling, etc.  To get healthy, Andy agrees.  But he's ready to give up after a couple hours when he has to actually go outside to get something to eat ... it was so much easier when all he had to do was use an app on his phone.

His friend, Fergus, is a journalist and sees Andy's detox as a great story and perhaps an inspiration to others so writes about it in the newspaper.  So no matter how tempted he is, Andy can't quit now because he starts to gain a following.  Along the way, he finds out how hard it is to live without technology (like having to actually use a map to get where he's going) but he also discovers how nice it is when he meets Grace and goes on day trips outside with her.

Could you give up technology and the Internet for sixty days?!

This is the sixth book I've read by this author and I liked it.  I liked the writing style ... it was funny and sarcastic.  It is written in first person perspective in Andy's voice and it's as if he was speaking to me, the reader.  The author is English and the story happens there so some of the references weren't common to me.  As a head's up, there is a swearing.