Review of 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You
So, I haven’t actually read this book, I listened to it - on my smartphone. I got it free on audiobook because it was Christian Audio’s book of the month, and because it happened to be on my list to read I went ahead and downloaded it. You can probably tell what I thought of it by the fact that I’ve now bought it in paperback… that is, I think it’s a very helpful book, one I wanted to recap and refer to, and that audiobooks are great for getting me to ‘read’ content but not so great for really studying and taking in. That said, I can be just as bad when reading a book! I can go a page without really taking in a word but still managing to read each one.
On to this book, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You by Tony Reinke. To me this book is a refreshing dose of practical theology. Most of the book is immediately applicable and Reinke does a very good job of persuading us that each of his twelve sections apply. My guess is that not many of us will resonate with all of his twelve points but that most of us will see our reality in most of them. Reinke incisively writes about how our phones change our relationships with ourselves, with our image, with each other and most importantly with God and his word.
My suggestion to you, use this resource, spend the £8-10 and the 3-4 hours and let God’s word be applied to what is more and more becoming the largest portion of our lives. Listen to Reinke, weigh his wisdom and think about how your life should change in light of the Gospel. I’ve done some thinking and definitely reduced some of the harmful or wasteful habits associated with my smartphone but I definitely think I need to revisit this.
I’m going to leave this with a quick quote from the book’s conclusion.
In an act of courageous self-criticism, I must ask three questions:
- Ends: Do my smartphone behaviours move me toward God or away from him?
- Influence: Do my smartphone behaviours edify me and others, or do they build nothing of lasting value?
- Servitude: Do my smartphone behaviours expose my freedom in Christ or my bondage to technique?