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Description
Do You Control Your Phone—Or Does Your Phone Control You?Within a few years of its unveiling, the smartphone had become part of us, fully integrated into the daily patterns of our lives. Never offline, always within reach, we now wield in our hands a magic wand of technological power we have only begun to grasp. But it raises new enigmas, too. Never more connected, we seem to be growing more distant. Never more efficient, we have never been more distracted.Drawing from the insights of numerous thinkers, published studies, and his own research, writer Tony Reinke identifies twelve potent ways our smartphones have changed us—for good and bad. Reinke calls us to cultivate wise thinking and healthy habits in the digital age, encouraging us to maximize the many blessings, to avoid the various pitfalls, and to wisely wield the most powerful gadget of human connection ever unleashed. Read more
Publisher : Crossway
Publication date : April 30, 2017
Edition : Illustrated
Language : English
Print length : 224 pages
ISBN-10 : 1433552434
ISBN-13 : 34
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.56 x 8.5 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #27,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #83 in Christian Social Issues (Books)
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Paperback
Tony Reinke seeks to answer the question, “What is the best use of my smartphone in the flourishing of my life (p. 20)?” Few questions are more pertinent in an age obsessed with technology in general and the smartphone in particular. While the smartphone was invented barely a decade ago (p. 15), one is now owned by most people and is checked on average every 4.3 minutes (p. 43). Reinke appreciates the valuable tool that the smartphone has become but at the same time recognizes the dangers. As a result, highlighting useful components of smartphone use, each of the twelve chapters zeros in on a unique danger. Some of the more serious dangers include: smartphone addiction, distractions, increased loneliness and isolation, living vicariously, illiteracy due to short attention spans, misplaced hero worship, seeking approval of people rather than God, wasting time, online slander, and secret vices. Reinke does not recommend nonuse of smartphones, as least not for most people, but he does call on his readers to courageously ask themselves three questions. • Ends: Do my smartphone behaviors move me toward God or away from Him? • Influence: Do my smartphone behaviors edify me and others or do they build nothing of lasting value? • Servitude: Do my smartphone behaviors expose my freedom in Christ or my bondage to technique (p. 194)? In conjunction with these questions he adds twelve more: 1. What does my smartphone cost me per year if I add up the price of the device, insurance protection, covers and cases, and monthly service? 2. Do I need mobile web access to fulfill my calling in vocation or ministry? 3. Is texting essential to my care for others? Do those texts need to be seen in real time? And is the smartphone the only way to do it? 4. Do I need mobile web access to legitimately serve others? 5. Do I need mobile web access to navigate unfamiliar cities? Is the device an essential part of my travels? 6. Do I need my smartphone to take advantage of coupons in stores? How much money would I save instead without a smartphone data plan? 7. Can my web access wait? Is the convenience of mobile web access something I can functionally replace with structured time at a laptop or desktop computer later? 8. Can I get along just as well with a dumbphone, a WiFi hotspot, an iPod, or a tablet? 9. Can I listen to audio and podcasts in other ways (through an iPod, for example)? 10. Have I simply grown addicted to my phone? If so, can the problem be solved with moderation, or do I need to just cut if off? 11. Do the mobile lures of my phone insulate me from people and real needs around me? 12. Do I want my kids to see me gazing at a handheld screen so much as they grow up? What does this habit project to them and to others around me (pp. 197-198)? Assuming that most will continue to use smartphones Reinke suggests twelve valuable boundaries: 1. Turn off all nonessential push notifications. 2. Delete expired, nonessential, and time-wasting apps. 3. At night, keep your phone out of the bedroom. 4. Use a real alarm clock, not your phone alarm, to keep the phone out of your hands in the morning. 5. Guard your morning disciplines and evening sleep patterns by using phone settings to mute notifications between one hour before bedtime to a time when you can reasonably expect to be finished with personal disciplines in the morning (9 p.m. to 7 a.m. for the author). 6. Use self-restricting apps to help limit your smartphone functions and the amount of time you invest in various platforms. 7. Recognize that much of what you respond to quickly can wait. Respond at a later, more convenient time. 8. Even if you need to read emails on your smartphone, use strategic points during the day to respond to emails at a computer (thirty minutes each at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. for him). 9. Invite your spouse, your friends, and your family members to offer feedback on your phone habits (more than 70 percent of Christians in my survey said nobody else knew how much time they spent online). 10. When eating with your family members or friends, leave your phone out of sight. 11. When spending time with family members or friends, or when you are at church, leave your phone in a drawer or in your car, or simply power it off. 12. At strategic moments in life, digitally detox your life and recalibrate your ultimate priorities. Step away from social media for frequent strategic stoppages (each morning), digital Sabbaths (one day offline each week), and digital sabbaticals (two two-week stoppages each year) (p. 200). Reinke is a Christian leader who is conflicted over technology and especially the smartphone. On the one hand he loves its usefulness and contributions to his life. As a researcher (he is senior writer for desiringGod.org) and author, it is invaluable. But he struggles to control his smartphone use and finds it often possessing and controlling his life. He has written this extremely helpful book for himself and others. This is a volume which could be helpful not only to individuals but as a teaching tool for younger generations. Reviewed by Gary E. Gilley, Southern View Chapel
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Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2017 by Gary Gilley
Format: Kindle
Tony Reinke, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2017, 224 pp. $11.51 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You is the title of Tony Reinke’s latest book. Anyone who owns a smartphone understands the power and productivity of such a device. But along with these gains come several shortcomings that Reinke addresses in his book. After initially reviewing the table of contents, I automatically assumed that Reinke would encourage users to ditch their smartphones. The author writes, “Our joy in God is at stake. In our vanity, we feed on digital junk food, and our palates are reprogrammed and our affections atrophy.” But Reinke is merely alerting his readers to the implicit dangers of smartphones. Like anything else, a smartphone may be used for the glory of God or may be used for evil purposes. Much of the book is devoted to surfacing idols of the heart and making necessary adjustments. For instance, the author challenges his readers to carefully evaluate every tweet and post online: Will this ultimately glorify God? Will this stir or muffle healthy affections for Christ? Will this merely document that I know something that others don’t? Will this misrepresent me or is it authentic? Will this potentially breed jealousy in others? Will this fortify unity or stir up unnecessary division? Will this build up or tear down? Will this heap guilt or relieve it? Will this fuel lust for sin or warn against it? Will this overpromise and instill false hopes in others? The heart must be ruthlessly and relentlessly evaluated or the smartphone may render a given user a fool. Unfortunately, this clever device has made idolatrous inroads into the hearts of many people and the result is nothing less than tragic: “Submission to a created thing, such as a smartphone, is idolatry when that created tool or device determines the ends of our lives.” Reinke encourages careful contemplation as well as disciplined restraint: “So as Christians, we push back our phones in the morning - in order to protect our solitude so that we can know God and so that we can reflect him as his children. And we push back our phones during the day - in order to build authentic eye-to-eye trust with the people in our lives and in order to be sharpened by hard relationships …” In the final analysis, Reinke neither condemns or condones smartphone use: “It is just as idolatrous to blaspheme a phone as it is to worship a phone,” writes the author. “The solution is for us to wisely enjoy the smartphone - imaginatively, transcendentally, as something that should deepen wonder.” At the end of the day, we face a two-fold challenge in the digital world. Reinke asks readers to consider: On the external front: Are we safeguarding ourselves and practicing smartphone self-denial? On the internal front: Are we simultaneously seeking to satisfy our hearts with divine glory that is, for now, largely invisible? I was personally moved and challenged by Reinke’s book and commend it to others to read and absorb. I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2017 by Dr. David Steele
Format: Paperback
I see it at stoplights. I see it during timeouts at my daughter’s basketball games. And I even see it when I stand in the back of the sanctuary during church services. When there’s a lull in action, however brief, smartphones appear, and eyes are toward them. But why must we check them so often? Is it because smartphones are such great tools for human flourishing or because they are evil taskmasters that make us less human with each use? This is the dilemma with which Tony Reinke opens his book, and if you’re like most people, the dilemma isn’t theoretical. Your phone is changing you. It’s certainly changing me. How could it be otherwise when we apparently check our smartphones every 4.3 minutes of our waking lives (p. 16)? Reinke is the author of several books, as well as the host of the popular Ask Pastor John podcast and a senior staff writer for Desiring God. He’s well suited to write this book for at least two reasons. First, Reinke feels the tension between the blessings and curses of technology more acutely than most. As a professional producer of online content, he must navigate reaching readers without succumbing to the click-bait, Buzzfeed-type posts that dominate web culture (to which, by the way, DG doesn’t capitulate). Second, Reinke is the perfect person to shine the glare from our screens back into our eyes, not only because he is a competent researcher and a nimble wordsmith, but because he is also a God-centered theologian. And this trait is necessary because, as he points out, “conversations about our smartphones often do not raise new questions; they return us to perennial questions every generation has been forced to ask” (p. 24). And it’s this point about how new technology always brings us back to the perennial questions—questions about what it means to be creature not Creator; about beauty vs. efficiency; about loving God and neighbor—which makes this book so insightful. Consider for just a moment our longing for approval (covered especially in chapters 3 and 6). Each generation must wrestle with this. The lore of Narcissus in Greek mythology, who fell in love with his own reflection, certainly predates the 2004 birth of Facebook. Today, perhaps, there are just more metrics to measure our beauty (likes, retweets, followers, pins, subscribers, and so on). And if you let it, your smartphone will send you push notifications for each of these so that when you wake up in the morning, you can glance at your phone to find out how many others love your face too. “When we talk about ‘smartphone addiction,’” writes Reinke, “often what we are talking about is the addiction of looking at ourselves” (p. 110). If there were something to critique about the book, maybe it would be the structure. The title and layout of the book (12 Ways . . .) could make the book seem like one giant list-article, or listicle as they’re called. Listicles tend to be the lowest common denominator of online content. I say this, by the way, as the author of several listicles. But this criticism, in my opinion, doesn’t hold. The depth of Reinke’s insights and his biblical fidelity resist formulaic chapters. One final comment. I found the book disturbing. But not because the problems created by smartphones are merely “out there” in culture or even in the church. Rather, I’m disturbed because the problems are “in here.” Despite all the blessings of smartphones (connection to others, wealth of information, and Bible apps galore), I still see the negative impact in my heart and habits. Too often my children compete with a screen for their dad’s attention. Being confronted with this change was disturbing . . . but it’s the good kind of confrontation, the kind that when paired with repentance of sin and faith in the gospel, leads to the good kind of change.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2017 by Benjamin Vrbicek
Format: Kindle
My husband and I read this with our teen/tween girls. It’s a great book that addresses an ever increasing problem with our dependence on, and even addiction to, our smart phones. It exposes our hearts’ sinful tendencies and offers practical solutions to control our technology instead of the other way around, The book helps us to think through our online habits, to examine our motivation for using social media, to put more focus on our interpersonal, face to face relationships, and to fix the problem of abusing technology that is here to stay. The book provides several self-evaluating questions that are helpful and effective. Some favorite passages: “... our battle against the encumbering distractions of this world—especially the unnecessary distractions of our phones—is a heart war we can wage only if our affections are locked firmly on the glory of Christ.” “Technology is not inherently evil, but it tends to become the platform of choice to express the fantasy of human autonomy.” “In one humble-brag selfie, the trade is made—eternal reward from God is sold for the porridge of maybe eighty likes and twelve comments of praise” “God’s sovereign reign over the most horrific evils of technology is nowhere clearer than in the Roman cross...designed to kill criminals,..,But this awful tool of torture doubled as the hinge on which all of God’s redemptive plan turned. God created trees to serve man, but man invented crosses to destroy man...Through an evil misuse of technology, man killed the Author of life, yet God was sovereign over the entire process...By a cosmic paradox that will never be eclipsed, in the naked torture of shame before the eyes of man, Christ exposed all the forces of evil to the shame of stripped-naked defeat.” “Evil was defeated by technology, all by God’s sovereign design. Technology, even in the hands of the most evil intention of man, is never outside the overruling plan of God. In this case, Calvary was hacked. God broke into the technology of the cross “and with a little twist reversed its function.” God does this: he makes a mockery of our evil technologies through his sovereign hackery.” “the literacy problem we face today is not illiteracy but aliteracy, a digital skimming that is simply an attempt to keep up with a deluge of information coming through our phones rather than slowing down and soaking up what is most important. Those who are aliterate have difficulty separating what is eternally” “As in every age, God calls his children to stop, study what captures their attention in this world, weigh the consequences, and fight for undistracted hearts before him.” “Anonymity is where sin flourishes, and anonymity is the most pervasive lie of the digital age. The clicks of our fingertips reveal the dark motives of our hearts, and every sin—every double-tap and every click—will be accounted for.”) “Our Creator is no respecter if privacy laws. “ The only reason I didn’t give this a 5 star rating is because the author’s writing style is verbose and a little hard to understand. Parts of it are worded like a business presentation and loaded with confusing jargon, some made up words (“deceptional”), and long, convoluted sentences. We’ve had to stop many times when reading aloud, because we couldn’t understand his point. For example, “In the smartphone age, when our cognitive actions are separated from our bodily presence, we tend to overprioritize the relatively easy interactions in the disembodied online world and undervalue the embodied nature of the Christian faith.” “When we put this scrubbed-down representation of ourselves online, we tabulate the human approval in a commodity index of likes and shares.” We were probably just spoiled because our family also recently read Greg Koukl’s The Story of Reality, which was excellently written that our 11yo was fully engaged and had no problem following along. I hope 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You would be revised to make it more kid-friendly since I believe young people could benefit greatly from it. In spite of its flaws, the book should be read by everyone who owns a smartphone.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2017 by KNB
Format: Paperback
Everything was so relatable and convicting! He makes some great practical suggestions and also reveals some eye opening statements. I’ve read many books similar to this, but this one seemed really easy to read and follow: you can start at any chapter and refresh on anything. It is written with a christian view but anyone can benefit. highly recommend!
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Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2024 Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2024 by Oksana Smith
Format: Paperback
Soundbite “The digital age can bewitch and capture our hearts in unhealthy ways. Our advances in technology have a way of rendering God more and more irrelevant to our world and in our lives—the very definition of worldliness. And if our digital technology becomes our god—our wand of power—it will inevitably shape us into technicians who gain mastery over a dead world of conveniences. Aimlessly flicking through feeds and images for hours, we feel that we are in control of our devices, when we are really puppets being controlled by a lucrative industry” (Tony Reinke, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, Crossway, 2017, pp. 192-193). “My phone is a window into the worthless and the worthy, the artificial and the authentic. Some days I feel as if my phone is a digital vampire, sucking away my time and my life” (p. 15). Review: Tony Reinke says in his book, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You: “It is difficult to serve God with our heart, soul, strength, and mind when we are diverted and distracted and multitasking everything. Historian Bruce Hindmarsh adds, ‘Our spiritual condition today is one of spiritual ADD’… Our battle against the encumbering distractions of this world especially the unnecessary distractions of our phones—is a heart war we can wage only if our affections are locked firmly on the glory of Christ” (Tony Reinke, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, Crossway, 2017, pp. 47, 50). This sums up the core issue in his book, as he details the advantages and the idolatrous perils of smartphones’ reach and overreach. His diagnostic questions provide a basis of making that distinction: “Do my smartphone habits expose an underlying addiction to untimely amusements? Do my smartphone habits reveal a compulsive desire to be seen and affirmed?...Do my smartphone habits preoccupy me with the pursuit of worldly success?...Do my smartphone habits build up Christians in my local church?...Do my smartphone habits disengage me from the needs of the neighbors God has placed right in front of me?” (p. 52). This is a vital book for everyone who wants to balance relevance in the world with God-first priorities. 5 stars M.L. Codman-Wilson, Ph.D., 6/8/2017 Excerpts “Like Narcissus staring down into the water, enchanted with himself, we bend over our phones and what most quickly captures our attention is our own reflection: our replicated images, our tabulations of approval, and our accumulated ‘likes.’ Social media has become the new PR firm of the brand Self. And we check our feeds compulsively and find it nearly impossible to turn away from looking at— and loving— our ‘second self’” (Tony Reinke, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, Crossway, 2017, p. 109). “I surveyed 8,000 Christians about social media routines and more than half of the respondents (54 percent) admitted to checking their smartphones within minutes of waking. When asked whether they were more likely to check email or social media before or after spiritual disciplines on a typical morning, 73% said before. This reality is especially concerning if the morning is when we prepare our hearts spiritually for the day…Our phones are addictive and like addicts, we seek hits immediately in the morning, and yes there is an app for that…Behavioral scientists and psychologists offer statistical proof in study after study: the more addicted you are to your phone, the more prone you are to anxiety and depression and the less able you are to focus at work and sleep at night” (pp. 42-43). “Free porn access on a smartphone represents a spiritual epidemic of unprecedented gravity in the history of the church, costing a whole generation of young Christians their joy in Christ and corroding young souls by the acid of unchecked lust…Technology makes us think we can indulge in anonymous vices, even conceptually, without any future consequences. Anonymity is where sin flourishes and anonymity is the most pervasive lie of the digital age. The clicks of our finger tips reveal the dark motives of our heart, and every sin—every double tap and every click—will be accounted for” (pp. 133-135).
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Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2017 by Mary Lou's Reviews
Format: Paperback
I am Christian and reading the Bible is a part of my daily life. The author is not a super famous Christian writer, but nor is he obscure. As it is openly published by a Christian publisher, I don’t think it was author’s intent to deceive or hide the fact it is a Christian. Perhaps the Amazon description should be more clear, less hidden under a bushel…That said I found my initial copy at my local public library. I doubt “12 Ways Smartphones are changing Christians” would be in a city library. But, as I stated, I am Christian and actually ended up enjoying the book even more than I initially expected. I recommend to at least a dozen friends. I’ve since purchased 2 copies. The author may have jumped on the demonize smartphones bandwagon but his points crossover to many areas, and address the larger pictures of: how do you occupy your time? What do you value? From Where : whom does human identity come? Not from the book, but a point to ponder- Sure, gardening is seen as a healthy, productive hobby, but if it’s in lieu of providing proper childcare or picking up required Rx meds, then gardening can be as destructive as a smartphone. Well worth the read for every person of faith - even non-Christian, but an avowed atheist or agnostic, & perhaps even a deist, may find it annoying or off putting. For you, those who may benefit from a sermon but really don’t want to hear one, I recommend: Reset your Child’s Brain by Dr. Victoria Dunkley (?) - even if you are not a parent.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2024 by mom
Format: Paperback
For the most part, this is more of ways Social Media is Changing You...the phone itself is just the avenue to get there...plus your pc, tablet, etc. The chapters don't flow together very well, seem a bit disjointed/hop around... The initial chapter, chapter 12 and Conclusion could give you overall application. Did not agree with the Epilogue that states technology will be a main part of heaven. We do not do Social Media at all - no facebook, twitter, instagram, etc., however, other parts of it were applicable and we are seriously considering going to a "dumb" phone - although the wireless companies are pretty smart and are no longer creating good flip phones, nor supporting lower G...therefore pushing the consumer to smart phones for connection. At the end of the day, the majority of time you spend on your phone, or any other thing for that matter, can become an idol (idol=sin) if you allow it to - ...as a Christian God has given you the power to exercise Self-Control, and to flee those things that keep you from Him.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2019 by T3