September 9th does not have meaning for most people. But for me 9/9 is an anchor date. On this date 2 years ago I decided to leave my job at Apple. On this day 1.5 years ago, I wrote the first pages of Untethered.
Over the past 2 years I poured my heart out, gave up my cozy, well-paying job, and even my home to explore how we can live our best life on our terms; in partnership with technology instead of hooked and tethered to it.
Today, I believe that as a society we are at crossroads. We can give into our digital distractions, allowing the black mirrors to overwhelm us, or regain our attention. It is our choice. But right now, 88 percent of Americans feel uneasy leaving their phone at home and the average daily media consumptions is above 12 hours per day. Most of us are tethered.
It became my personal mission to discover and share transformative tools that can help us overcome our own tech over-usage and dependency. That is why I want this book to reach as many people as possible. Not only because it will allow me to discover and share more helpful tools but, more importantly, because it can help so many upgrade their detrimental routines, develop healthier digital habits, and live a more fulfilled life in control of their attention; without buying a dumbphone.
Thanks to a lot of the legwork I've put in over the last year and the support I have been receiving from so many of you, the book is already receiving lots of attention, even ranking as #1 new release in Internet Culture and top 3 in several other categories on Amazon earlier today.
But a surprising amount comes down to the early sales and reviews in the first few days. Believe it or not, a book's readership years down the line may be affected by a chain reaction of a couple sales or reviews on launch day and how well they cause it to stick in the Amazon algorithm.
I know you may have already gotten a free copy of the book, so I wish I didn't have to ask you to pay, but if you want to leave a verified review, you need to have bought the book. That being said, I made sure the Kindle version (which can be read without a Kindle device) would cost only $0.99 for the first week (free if you have Kindle Unlimited), so hopefully you will be able to help out.
I'm incredibly grateful that some of you were able to read the book and happy to have you on board. Do you think you'll be able to help make this launch a success so it will reach and impact others?
Even Nir Eyal, the bestselling author of Hooked and Indistractable, recognized that Untethered can have a deeply positive impact on peoples' lives. So he left the very first review saying that "it is easy to blame tech for our troubles, but Untethered goes beyond the clichés and helps us do something about the problem of overuse."
I hope you too can join Nir's footsteps and give the Untethered movement a boost.
With deep gratitude,
