Why our screens make us less happy

There are hundreds of "be your best self" books, but this one is my favorite. Brad and Steve are down-to-earth experts who explain, in practical terms, the origins of focused long-term success. The strategies they propose encourage us to, among other things, wean ourselves off the sorts of tech devices that encourage mindlessness and obsession.

Steiner-Adair does a masterful job of explaining to parents how they should engage with their children in the digital age. One of her wisest observations is that parents should learn as much as they can about the social networks that consume their kids — by, for example, taking the time to navigate Snapchat and Instagram — so they can discuss them in a way that makes them sound informed rather than out of touch.

Sales visited hundreds of girls around the United States as they lived their lives, tracking their interactions with the digital world. American Girls is entertaining and vivid but also disturbing for what it tells us about how teen girls are shaped by the time they spend immersed in social networks.

Louv won the Audubon Medal for this illuminating book on the role of nature in promoting healthy childhood development. As Louv described it, nature is a powerful antidote to the screen world (and to many other maladies, from obesity and attention disorders to depression and anxiety).

Schull spent more than a decade observing the behavior of slot machine gamblers in Las Vegas and spoke to dozens of experts who explained how slot machines are designed to be addictive. Gambling is the original behavioral addiction — the grandfather of social networking sites, email and video games — and much of what Schull discovered about gambling also explains why these newer behaviors are so hard to resist.