In Real Life: Searching for Connection in High-Tech Times - Softcover

Jon Mitchell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1937006905 ISBN 13: 9781937006907

Publisher: Parallax Press, 2015

Synopsis

Technology helps us with our hardest work. It can also offer us endless distractions. Can technology enable us, as individuals and communities, to do our greatest possible work, the hard work of being a good person? Jon Mitchell sets out to identify and explore the ways in which we can develop a more thoughtful relationship with technology. Rather than using technology as a medium for connecting with the world, he recommends we rethink our relationship with technology, using it as a resource that allows us to have a more intimate and personal relationship with the world around us, nature, and our loved ones. Mitchell offers concrete practices for the way we use technology in our daily lives. With an accessible and conversational, easy-to-read style, Mitchell uses his years of experience as both a tech journalist and a mindfulness practitioner to propose a rethinking of both the design of technology and its use.

About this title

Review:

"The particular mix of technologies you need and use for spiritual work will change. The contemporary state of technology will change, and the work you do will change. The foundation for a spiritual relationship with technology is not expertise in specific technologies. Rather, it's a methodology, or a practice if you prefer. It's a way of seeing, doing, and learning. It's a mindset." --Jon Mitchell, "In Real Life"

""In Real Life" is one of the best books I've read about the meaning and use of technology. It's well-written, informed, humble, savvy, entertaining, direct, and useful."--Howard Rheingold, "Net Smart" and "The Virtual Community"
"Can there be 'sacred technology?' Jon Mitchell convinces us that it is possible in this provocative and deeply spiritual exploration of our high-tech times."--Rabbi David Wolpe, "Why Faith Matters"
"The rapid growth of the Burning Man community and the spread of its culture was made possible by the year-round connectivity that the Internet afforded us. This book shines a thoughtful light on the technologies that support the kind of global betterment that Burning Man is all about." --Will Chase, publisher, Burning Man

About the Author:

Jon Mitchell is a graduate of Brown University, where he concentrated on Music and Mind. He worked as a journalist in online media for ReadWrite.com and several other magazines. He is a content strategist at Burning Man, and has recorded a rock album called Portal. He lives in Oakland, California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Parallax Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1937006905
• ISBN 13: 9781937006907
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224