From email to smart phones, and from social media to Google
searches, digital technologies have transformed the way we learn,
entertain ourselves, socialize, and work. Despite their usefulness,
these technologies have often led to information overload, stress, and
distraction. In recent years many of us have begun to look at the pluses
and minuses of our online lives and to ask how we might more skillfully
use the tools we’ve developed.
David M. Levy, who has lived
his life between the “fast world” of high tech and the “slow world” of
contemplation, offers a welcome guide to being more relaxed, attentive,
and emotionally balanced, and more effective, while online. In a series
of exercises carefully designed to help readers observe and reflect on
their own use, Levy has readers watch themselves closely while emailing
and while multitasking, and also to experiment with unplugging for a
specified period. Never prescriptive, the book opens up new avenues for
self-inquiry and will allow readers—in the workplace, in the classroom,
and in the privacy of their homes—to make meaningful and powerful
changes.
David M. Levy is a professor at the
Information School of the University of Washington. He has for many
years led efforts to bring contemplative practices and perspectives into
higher education.
