Manoush Zomorodi says your phone is wrecking your body

Manoush Zomorodi didn’t just quit her phone—she studied how it’s changing us. After her book Bored and Brilliant exposed how screens drain our focus, her new one, Body Electric, turns the lens downward: your neck, your spine, your sleep, your breath.

It’s not about scrolling too long. It’s about how hunching over screens for hours turns your body into a machine running on borrowed energy. Your shoulders curl inward. Your jaw clenches. Your breath gets shallow. Your circadian rhythm? Gone.

The book comes from NPR and Columbia University Medical Center, not a startup lab. No buzzwords. Just real people—teachers, nurses, delivery drivers—whose bodies are paying the price for convenience.

Zomorodi doesn’t tell you to delete apps. She asks: What if your tech served your body, not the other way around?

Why this matters for us: Your body is the only home you’ll ever own, and tech shouldn’t turn it into a rental.