Digital Exhaustion: Simple Rules for Reclaiming Your Life

Paul Leonardi

Oct 2025 · Ebury Digital · Narrated by Kaleo Griffith

Audiobook

9 hr 6 min

Unabridged

Eligible

This book will become available on October 9, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.

Switch to the ebook

About this audiobook

Brought to you by Penguin.

We all know the feeling of digital exhaustion.

The aimless scrolling, eyes glazing over at the screen. The feeling that no matter how many messages we respond to, how many posts we read, or how much data we sort through, we can never stay ahead of it.

Digital Exhaustion shows us how we can reimagine our relationship with our digital tools.

Digital transformation expert and Professor, Paul Leonardi, argues that our exhaustion comes from the “exhaustion triad;” that is, the way that our tools change how we pay attention, how we attribute behaviours and intentions to others, and how we experience our emotions.

By creating new habits around our use of technologies, we can set up boundaries so they stop depleting us so quickly. Follow these eight rules to regain control of your life:

Rule #1: Stop Using Half Your Tools.
Rule #2: Make a Match.
Rule #3: Batch and Stream.
Rule #4: Wait. One Hour. One Day. One Week.
Rule #5: Don’t Assume.
Rule #6: Always Be Intentional.
Rule #7: Learn to See Around Corners.
Rule #8: Be Here, Not There.

Discover the life-changing guide to using your digital devices in surprising new ways to help you beat exhaustion and find new sources of energy.

‘A practical game plan for pushing back. It's time to reclaim our lives!’ Cal Newport, bestselling author of Slow Productivity and Deep Work

© Paul Leonardi 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

About the author

Paul Leonardi, PhD, is the award-winning Duca Family Professor of Technology Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Over the past decade, he has consulted with for-profit and non-profit organizations (including Google, Microsoft, General Motors, Baxter, Discover, Cisco, and the Better Business Bureau). He is also a regular keynote speaker for corporate trainings and user conferences on topics related to communication and digital technologies. He is a contributor to the Harvard Business Review and the co-author of The Digital Mindset with Tsedal Neeley (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022). He received his PhD in management science and engineering from Stanford University.

Listening information

Smartphones and tablets

Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.

Laptops and computers

You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.

Report illegal content