Do You Control Your Phone — Or Does Your Phone Control You?
This book was a Christmas gift, and at first, I even thought that maybe someone is implying that I spend too much time on my phone. Whether it's true or not, the book is pretty interesting and relevant even though it was published in 2017.
About the Author and His Creation
The book was written by Tony Reinke - an author, non-profit journalist, and host of Ask Pastor John (John Piper’s podcast). Moreover, he's also a senior teacher for the Desiring God project which is carried out with the help of a lot of media resources.
The name of the book - 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You - gives us a perfect understanding of the content. The author describes 12 spheres of our lives that are influenced by our phones. In the introduction, Tony claims that he didn't write the book with the purpose to prove a specific point of view. For this reason, the phenomenon of a smartphone is studied from both positive and negative sides which gives readers a chance to make up their own minds about it.
Content
Instead of trying to retell the main ideas of the book, I will just quote a few paragraphs from the conclusion where the author sums up all 12 chapters.
"In the last twelve chapters, I have warned against twelve corresponding ways in which our smartphones are changing us and undermining our spiritual health:
Our phones amplify our addiction to distractions (chapter 1) and thereby splinter our perception of our place in time (12).
Our phones push us to evade the limits of embodiment (2) and thereby cause us to treat one another harshly (11).
Our phones feed our craving for immediate approval (3) and promise to hedge against our fear of missing out (10).
Our phones undermine key literary skills (4) and, because of our lack of discipline, make it increasingly difficult for us to identify ultimate meaning (9).
Our phones offer us a buffet of produced media (5) and tempt us to indulge in visual vices (8).
Our phones overtake and distort our identity (6) and tempt us toward unhealthy isolation and loneliness (7).
But it's not just about warnings. Along the way, I have also attempted to commend twelve life disciplines we need to preserve our spiritual health in the smartphone age:
We minimize unnecessary distractions in life to hear from God (chapter 1) and to find our place in God's unfolding history (12). We embrace our flesh-and-blood embodiment (2) and handle one another with grace and gentleness (11).
We aim at God's ultimate approval (3) and find that, in Christ, we have no ultimate regrets to fear (10).
We treasure the gift of literacy (4) and prioritize God's Word (9).
We listen to God's voice in creation (5) and find a fountain of delight in the unseen Christ (8).
We treasure Christ to be molded into his image (6) and seek to serve the legitimate needs of our neighbors (7)".
You can notice that the points are organized in a way that centers around chapters 6 and 7, "which focus on the two greatest commandments that frame our identity and define our purpose on earth: love God (6) and love your neighbor (7)".
Pros and Cons
I would like to point out some positive and negative sides of the book.
First of all, despite the fact that the book was written about five years ago (which is a long time in the world of modern technologies), the principles described in it are still relevant. I would also say that the topic itself is a burning issue since most of the time we spend with our smartphones within reach.
Second of all, the author elaborates on the topic really well, referring to a lot of statistical data and engaging information. For example, at the beginning of one chapter, he mentioned that on average we check our phones about 81,500 times a year or every 4.3 minutes. This means that while a person is reading that chapter they would want to check their phones at least three times. Such facts are good attention grabbers.
The third positive feature that I want to mention is that the author doesn't use his own knowledge as the ultimate authority but refers to many sources (including Bible ones) to prove his points.
Here I'd like to point out one more thing: as promised the author doesn't stand firmly against smartphones and doesn't push readers to stop using them completely. The book includes a lot of facts supporting technological progress in general and the usage of mobile phones specifically.
Regarding the negative points, the only thing that I noticed is multiple repetitions of the same information and a very detailed explanation of all the ideas. On one hand, the whole book can be squeezed into an article, and people will still get the point. On the other hand, all the details, references, and examples help the readers dive into his ideas and feel the influence of our phones a little better.
I personally stumbled on my language barrier (again) and also sometimes after chapter 5 I lost my enthusiasm. So to some extent, I finished this book so I could write this review afterward.
My Rating - 7.5
Regardless of the long list of advantages, this is what I want to rate this book because of its size. Personally, I would enjoy it more if it were twice as short but denser.
If you want to read it, though, I can lend you a copy!
留言