"The Digital Diet" by Daniel Sieberg

TITLE: The Digital Diet: The 4-step plan to break your tech addiction and regain balance in your life
AUTHOR: Daniel Sieberg
PUBLISHER: New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, 2011, (272 pages).

Digital addiction. The ubiquitous Internet has led to an insatiable thirst for WiFi, digital information, and an unending need to be connected online. Daniel Sieberg calls this 'tech addiction.' He writes:

"Technology has overwhelmed our daily lives to the point of constant distraction. Many of us can no longer focus on a single task or face-to-face conversation without wanting to reach out - or retreat - to the virtual world every few minutes." (Back cover)

Proposing a four-step strategy to break the digital addiction, Sieberg aims to help readers regain a semblance of human normalcy, to win sensibility back from an online virtual world to an offline reality.

Step 1 is Re:Think. Before one can change, one needs to acknowledge the current condition. Here Sieberg exposes the dangers of being addicted. When one is plugged-in, one essentially checks out of the real world. There is also an unhealthy 'binary binge' where one consumes digital units without regard for one's general physical, mental or emotional health. Using the language of body diets, Sieberg warns us about letting technology 'fog' out our minds, creating an unhealthy 'e-obesity' where we consume technology without observing limits, and other environment problems that result from always on technology devices.

Step 2 is Re:Boot which begins a series of detox steps. He suggests practical steps like putting our gadgets into a box periodically in favour of something old-fashioned. By listing down the different technologies, one starts to distinguish between devices that are for communications and those that are for preparing daily essentials like oven, refrigerators, etc. The key is to give ourselves a fresh start to welcome nature, be open to real people, and to basically detox ourselves from digital madness. Suggestions are also made for discovering our own 'virtual weight index.'

Step 3 is Re:Connect which lists more practical exercises to take. From simple things like gazing at a tree to physical exercises, Sieberg encourages readers to learn to 'subtract' non-essentials. Often, technology contains too many fancy gizmos that we do not really need. Part of this subtraction exercise is to help us differentiate the needs from the wants.

Step 4 is Re:Vitalize. At this point, one is ready to move from an inorganic addiction to a more wholesome and natural organic lifestyle. He ends with ten digital rules to note.

1. Avoid tech turds: by NOT placing our technological gadgets at prominent places, (eg leave phone in your pocket when at a restaurant dinner table.)
2. Live your life in the real world: avoid posting personal updates too readily until you are willing to interact non-digitally with the people in front of you. (eg talk to your companions in front of you more than the distant person on the phone)
3. Ask yourself whether you really need that gadget: not everything digital is a must-have. 
4. Seek tech support: if necessary, outsource the use of the digital device
5. Detox regularly: tackling digital addiction is an ongoing exercise to be done on a regular basis.
6. Sleep device-free: Have a safe haven from the reaches of technology.
7. It's either the human or the device: make an intentional choice of people over gadgets.
8. Remember the 'if/then' principle:  how we treat our digital addiction affects the way we treat the real world.
9. Structure your e-day: plan our daily consumption of technology
10. Trust your instincts: pursuing our ultimate goal in balance and awareness.

My Comments

Manage technology before technology manages us. The longer we stay in addiction, the harder it is to break from it. Learn from those who have experienced technological burn-out. It is important to ensure that we are able to function normally as human beings. For all its wonders, technology cannot fully replicate the way we live as human beings. We cannot hug a computer and feel any emotional warmth. Neither can we build relationships only through an Internet connection. More often, the way to sustaining a positive and fruitful human relationship is to relate at a human level. Recognize that technology can only help us so much. Remember that technology is a tool, not the ultimate. 

This book is practical, helpful, and necessary in an increasingly connected world. Although the book is planned as a 28-day detox program, it can be easily modified to fit our own schedules. The important thing is not the specific steps. The important thing is to recognize the NECESSITY to take a break from our digital world, and to reconnect with people in the real world. Yes, we can Facebook. We can twitter. We can even depend on traditional emails. Yet, the human being cannot be easily digitized. As engineers, scientists, and technologists increasingly try to make the computer behave like a human, if we are not careful, we are in danger of making humans become like a computer. This book is one such book that speaks against this trend. 

Ratings: 4 stars of 5.

conrade

"A Slice of Trust" by David Hutchens and Gibbs Smith

TITLE: Slice of Trust: The Leadership Secret with the Hot & Fruity Filling
AUTHOR: David Hutchens and Barry Rellaford
PUBLISHER: Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith, 2011

Not many of us have the time to read. Sometimes it is due to the busyness that we succumb to. Other times, it is because books are not easy to read. For such people, it will be great to find a book is not only gentle on our time, but also captivating to read. This book is perfect for the busy person.

About the Book
Based on Stephen Covey's The Speed of Trust, this book tells a fable of two men running a pie-shop business. It brings alive the many concepts that highlight the importance and efficiency of trust in the business world. At the same time, it teaches us the need to exercise wisdom. Through the simple story, one learns:

• trusting people speeds the process up;
• "Trust is built over time, a slice at a time." (66)
• "Being trusted invites people to be their best." (40)
• "To trust is to lead." (50)
• In trust, the risks are large, but the rewards are huge.
• High Propensity + Low Analysis = Blind Trust
• High Propensity + High Analysis = Smart Trust
• Low Propensity + Low Analysis = No Trust
• Low Propensity + High Analysis = Distrust

The goal of trust is to be willing and open to trust others. This may be difficult for some people, especially for those who have been hurt or taken advantage of before. In order to aid trusting, adopt a level of analysis that is appropriate. Remember to analyze the situation, the contexts, the environment more than the person. The moment we start to psychoanalyse the person, we are treating the person as an object. Instead, study the contexts so that you can understand how and why the person is reacting as such.

This may not be explicitly Christian, but it sure has Christian principles that can be practised. I believe that the Church needs a high level of trust within. Small groups need to be trusting of one another. Trusting that is smart, and honest. By reading this book, one also learns that trust needs to be built over time. In fact, like any relationship, trust is imperative to the health of any organization. If you want to grow in closeness in any group, make sure that you have slices of trust.


conrade