In this open access book Timothy Aylsworth and Clinton Castro draw on the deep well of Kantian
ethics to argue that we have moral duties both to ourselves and to others to protect our
autonomy from the threat posed by the problematic use of technology. The problematic use of
technologies like smartphones threatens our autonomy in a variety of ways and critics have
only begun to appreciate the vast scope of this problem. In the last decade we have seen a
flurry of books making self-help arguments about how we could live happier more fulfilling
lives if we were less addicted to our phones. But none of these authors see this issue as one
involving a moral duty to protect our autonomy.
