The Joy of Missing Out: Finding Balance in a Wired World

Description

There's no doubt that technology has overrun our lives. Over the past few decades, the world has embraced "progress" and we're living with the resultant clicking, beeping, anxiety-inducing frenzy. But a creative backlash is gathering steam, helping us cope with the avalanche of data that threatens to overwhelm us daily through our computers, tablets, and smartphones. The Joy of Missing Out considers the technologically focused life, with its impacts on our children, relationships, communities, health, work, and more, and suggests opportunities for those of us longing to cultivate a richer on- and off-line existence. By examining the connected world through the lens of her own internet fast, Christina Crook creates a convincing case for increasing intentionality in our day-to-day lives. Using historical data, typewritten letters, chapter challenges, and personal accounts, she invites us to explore a new way of living, beyond our steady state of distracted connectedness. Most of us can't throw away our smartphone or cut ourselves off from the internet. But we can all rethink our relationship with the digital world, discovering new ways of introducing balance and discipline to the role of technology in our lives. This book is a must-read for anyone wishing to rediscover quietness of mind and seeking a sense of peace amidst the cacophony of the modern world. Christina Crook is a wordsmith and communications professional and instigator of the project Letters from a Luddite, which chronicled her thirty-one day internet fast and fueled her passion for exploring the intersection of technology, relationships, and joy.

Christina Crook is a wordsmith and communications professional whose poetry, essays and interviews on art, culture and technology have appeared in UPPERCASE, CBC.ca, Vancouver Magazine, Today's Parent, MUSE, Geez, Faith Today and the Literary Review of Canada. In 2012 she disabled the data on her smartphone, turned off her email and said goodbye to the Internet for 31 days. This experience, chronicled as the project, Letters from a Luddite, garnered international media attention and fueled Christina's passion for exploring the intersection of technology, relationships and joy.

Crook quotes a wide range of philosophers and poets, educators and researchers, weaving together a text that is accessible. She invites readers to consider the effects of living a wired life; the challenge of setting personal, family, and work boundaries; and the rewards of living into alternative choices. Included are spaces for self-reflection. This title lends itself to small group, book club, or teaching staff conversation. --Jenny deGroot, Banner, May 2015 Crook's book does a marvelous job of examining where we've gone awry and how we might begin to take ourselves and our lives back, while acknowledging the reality and importance of our wired world. -- Dr. Susan Biali, MD, Psychology Today, March 2015 The Joy of Missing Out offers thoughtful consideration of how online communications have evolved, as well as the value we place on being ever present in a digital world, often to the determinant of personal space and quiet time. Through practical examples and directions, Crook champions developing healthier habits for a more mindful online experience. -- Lori A. May, Portland Book Review, April 2015 The crush of Internet fodder makes it hard to escape, even if you try. Christina Crook, the author of The Joy of Missing Out, published in February, stayed offline for a month in 2012 but still found popular culture seeping into her conversations. "The big stories, people are talking about them," Ms. Crook said. "If there was a story in the wider culture, it wasn't like I was missing out." Indeed, her lack of knowledge only played to the ego of her more connected friends. "Most people want to feel in the know," she said. -- Laura Holson, New York Times, March 2015 "Deep down, we know something is up," Crook says. It may be the reason her book has struck such a chord with readers. It comes down to her message that living online and creating picture-perfect Facebook personas isn't living in light of God's design.-- Steven Sukkau, Christian Week, May 2015 Written as a sort of meditative guidebook, complete with 'Chapter Challenge' questions at the end of each section designed to encourage self-examination and critical thought, The Joy of Missing Out is chock-full of interesting (and alarming) research, critiques of digital assumptions, revealing insights, and inspiring quotes. I was so inspired by [The Joy of Missing Out] that I convinced my husband to try a weekly 24-hour period that's completely screen-free. We did it for the first time this past Sunday and the result was deeply satisfying: I read 250 pages of my novel; we hiked and played outside in the snow with our kids; and played two board games with them. When I logged into Facebook on Monday morning, I wasn't surprised to discover I'd missed nothing.-- Katherine Martinko, Treehugger, Feb. 2015 Crook cites various reasons for fasting from the Internet: to awaken ourselves and refuse a life of numbed distraction; to recover sacred spaces of silence and solitude; to nurture gratitude for everyday gifts. And while fasting seems to cut us off from the flow of important information, it can allow us to go deeper.-- Jen Pollock Michel, Christianity Today, March 2015 The Joy of Missing Out is chock-full of quotations and citations from experts, but they are given context by Crook, who writes thoughtfully throughout.-- Tracy Sherlock, Vancouver Sun, March 2015 A life-changer for anyone experiencing the pressure and disconnection of a fast-paced, media-saturated culture. - Rachel Macy Stafford, New York Times Best-selling Author of Hands Free Mama Christina Crook has crafted a well-researched, utterly readable field guide to finding quiet, and ultimately, ourselves, within today's electronic cacophony. ---Mike Tennant, co-author, The Age of Persuasion Christina Crook writes prophetically about our complicated, often troubled, relationship with technology. But rather than forecasting gloom and doom for the modern age, Crook proposes meaningful questions for cultivating meaningful lives in the present tense. The Joy of Missing Out reclaims sacred space for all things blessedly human, and I highly recommend it to readers.--- Jen Pollock Michel, author, Teach Us to Want A skillful meditation on the dynamic of InfoTech and presence. A critique of digital assumptions. A welcome reminder of the real world and its tech shadows."---Raffi Cavoukian, C.M., singer, author of Lightweb Darkweb: Three Reasons to Reform Social Media Before It Re-forms Us Weaving together research, personal reflections, and philosophy, Crook offers hope that we can create a new relationship with the digital world. Whether you're a parent navigating how to monitor your child's screen-time, or someone who mindlessly checks email from bed in the morning, The Joy of Missing Out offers practical, tangible advice for ensuring your online habits are aligned with your values.---Kim Sedgewick, co-founder, Red Tent Sisters Intuitive, sensitive, interested in the little moments that make up our life's significance, valuing the qualitative over the quantitative, interested in quality, and finding the ways in which technology can help the infant, the elderly, the sick, and the victim, Ms. Crook writes a book in search of those human qualities that matter most. In its own way, it is our age's sequel to The Joy of Cooking and The Joy of Sex. Who knew you could gain so much by selectively giving up so little? ---Dr. Read Mercer Schuchardt, Associate Professor of Communication, Wheaton College Christina Crook takes an honest look at our Internet tether and makes us realize that by being more "connected" we may in fact be growing ever distant from others--and ourselves. Well-researched and beautifully written, The Joy of Missing Out will encourage you to cultivate your attention span, put pen to paper, spend mindful time with your family and rediscover the pleasure of life, unplugged.---Janine Vangool, publisher and editor, UPPERCASE magazine Crook writes in a way that gives us hope and reminds us of the beauty of "real life", without diminishing the value of technology. Her book is relatable, never preachy; it is finely drawn from experience and research. We can learn from this.---Dr. Laurie Petrou, Associate Professor, RTA School of Media, Ryerson University If you've ever found yourself checking your cell phone instead of playing with your children, or surfing the web instead of talking to your best friend, this is the book for you.---Christopher Meades, author, The Last Hiccup Christina [Crook] calls us to be present with ourselves. Any parent, anyone working in the marketing industry needs to fasten themselves down and read this book (without checking their Facebook newsfeed) and allow Christina to call you to a better place of being. This book is a must read for anyone who owns a smartphone, has access to the internet, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. ---Darian Kovacs, Founder and Principal, Jelly Marketing