One of the things that makes a social-media cleanse so difficult is that every time we log on, every notification we get is an addictive substance. It's just like any drug.

If you can pinpoint the moments in social media that are really negative experiences, those are the ones you can cut out. And when you do, you recognize how much better your life is.

It's funny: I spend time in the book criticizing social media, but I'm also aware that a lot of my success is because of social media. I can broadcast myself and my work to thousands of people that are following me or my friends. I do think that social media can be good for self-promotion.

If I'm a secure person, my online persona is going to be pretty similar to the person that I am. If I'm insecure, my online persona is probably very different from who I am in real life.

We get one of these little pings on our smartphones, and we get a little hit of dopamine as well. We get excited. We feel anticipation. As we feel this, we want it more and more. So we spend more and more time looking at our phones.

Each person can achieve balance by cutting a few things out and seeing how it goes. If you cut something out, and it goes well, and your life is better, you keep doing it.

We miss extra bits of knowledge that can add value to our lives. We sort of lack empathy because we're multitasking all the time.