Excellent book that outlines problems and offers solutions to the new digital world that we live in.

If I am a social-media junkie, my lack of self-control feeds the social-media addiction in you. And the more I text and tweet and Snapchat, the more I drag you and others in the digital vortex of reciprocating obligation. This is the secret to how social media giants grow their valuation into the billions. They need me to entice you.

No matter what your stance on social media, what extreme you hold, it behooves us to know the implications of social media. This is not shame text but a text that will empower you to not be manipulated and to get back to reality of real relationships.

Social media traps our heart in ways that that our grandparents never had to deal with but I do think it reveals our hearts like no other generation as well. Not that we are worse generation before but that we are the same. Social media is a distraction that we need to control. In all things, there is good and evil and Reinke gives a great word on both.

He explains the challenge in the digital age is twofold.

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?

Our insecurities are put in play with the social media world that we lose reality and become more narcissistic. Our need for validation, likes, applause does the opposite of what the gospel calls. This is a battle that WE all face.

The twelve ways:
We are addicted to distraction
We ignore our flesh and blood
We crave immediate approval
We lose our literacy
We feed on the produced
We become like what we like
We get lonely
We get comfortable in secret vices
We lose meaning
We fear missing out
We become harsh to one another
We lose our place in time.

I think this last presidential election really speaks to this. I think social media in all its efforts to grow love they have only grown hate. Not addressing that differences are good in our efforts to love another. This text is so needed for our time as Christians to fight for the gospel and those that do not see the beauty of the Gospel.

A Special Thank You to Crossway and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

If there is any one icon of our modern age, it would be the ubiquitous cell-phone. Not too long ago, we have credit card companies like American Express whose catchy advertisement says: "Don't leave home without it." Now, we cannot leave our homes without our phones with us. Some people would even drive all the way back from work when they realize they had left their phones at home. It has become our scheduler, daytimer, our work device, our home appliance, our online radio, our social media outlet, our camera, our notebook, our key way of communications, and many more. Yet, there are risks with regard to its use. This book demonstrates to us that there are at least 12 ways that we are being changed by this little device. Like a small rudder that turns a large ship, the little cell-phone can turn even the toughest human being. In the foreword to this book, John Piper declared that "smartphones are dangerous" simply because it can become an idol. The famous media critic, Marshall McLuhan asserts that technology, which includes smartphones are essentially extensions of oneself. Jacques Ellul warns us about the unpredictability of these new innovations while Oliver O'Donavan reminds us to be aware of the more important things BEFORE the proliferation of the smartphone. While some medical professionals may focus on the dangerous effects of radiation from the phone, Reinke looks from a lifestyle angle. Spurred by critical analyses from Oliver O'Donavan, Jacques Ellul, and Marshall McLuhan, the author approaches smartphones from a measured angle, not taking extreme views of either good or bad. Specifically, he asks: "What is the best use of my smartphone in the flourishing of my life?" He calls readers to re-examine the ways they are using the phone. He maintains that he is also writing for himself. That is true because the smartphones have affected most people on this planet. It is rare to ever find anyone without a cellphone these days.


Reinke brings in nine key realities from the Bible. Technology is a principality that modifies creation. It can improve life but it does not eradicate the brokenness of the world due to sin. It can be used for good as well as for evil. It empowers us and it can also be used to subvert others. Most importantly, technology shapes our theology. In order to ensure that we control technology before it controls us, we need to be aware of the 12 insidious ways the phone can change us.
Distraction: Reinke gives us ten ways to diagnose our condition.
Ignoring Our Conscience: How we are becoming disembodied in our everyday behaviours, and overestimating our own capabilities.
Instant Gratification: Beware the temptations of self-glorification and constantly seeking approval from others.
Lower Literacy: How smartphone usage has affected our reading habits
Consumerism: The age of the mediated self where we point, shoot, and forget.
Becoming what we 'liked': we fall in love with ourselves and our actions prove it.
Loneliness: Inability to preserve our solitude leads to isolation.
Secrecy: How we hide ourselves behind anonymity.
Meaninglessness: Need to rise above the oceans of passivity and egoism, to look at the eternal values of God.
Fear of Missing Out: Inability to deal with being left out.
Online Harshness: How personal information can be manipulated and abused; how a pessimistic culture can find reasons to dampen people's others.
Losing Our Place in Time: addiction to breaking news, and how we unwittingly allow social media to define us.
In each of the chapters, Reinke gives us diagnostic questions, critical statements, and reminders from the Bible that we are more than what the cellphone tells us. Toward the end of the book, he provides readers with concise summaries and possible antidotes against the negative effects of the smartphone use on us. He raises some thoughts about spirituality which really hits home. For instance, Reinke notes: "In our love of mechanisms, techniques, and power, we lose our way - and we lose our worship and our prayer, because God has grown secondary to our technology." This describes concisely what the uncritical use of the smartphone could do to our spiritual lives. Are we using the device or is the device using us? We need to ask ourselves about what the phone is doing to us? Technology has a lot of good we can use. There are also downsides. Some would even praise the phone so much that they become blind to any negative comments about the phone. It has become an addiction that many cannot part with. Denzel Washington in an interview with BBC has also warned us about it. What is the phone doing to us?

With this book, Reinke helps us to cover a lot of angles. Many of the warnings stem from a spiritual perspective, about how the use of the smartphone has driven us away from God in some way. Anything that does not push us closer to God is a form of idolatry. Uncritical use could lead us to be numb to the ordinary things of God. We prefer to take selfies or phone pictures instead of letting our eyes admire and enjoy the creation of God. When this happens, we lose an opportunity to appreciate God's creation for itself, choosing to be content with storing the magnificent scenes in some temporal digital image. Moreover, digital images do get corrupted or lost for various reasons. In our world of photoshop and image editing tools, it is so easy to make something authentic into a false image. Perhaps, this is a metaphor for how we treat God. By preferring the things of man instead of God Himself, we have chosen to worship the created instead of the Creator. We have opted for the gifts instead of the Giver. We have chosen foolishly, exchanging God for the images of the world. If there is one reason to read this book, it is to be rudely awakened to the dangers of uncritical smartphone usage. It would be impossible to abandon the phone altogether. The next best thing is to develop a strategy to rein in the tentacles of influence and to discipline ourselves to limit our use of the smartphone and to do so wisely. We need to move from wander to wonder; from browse to read; from addiction to restriction; and many more counter-smartphone moves. The more we find ourselves unable to part with our devices, the more this book is for us.

Tony Reinke is senior writer for Desiring God.

Rating: 4.75 stars of 5.

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Crossway Publishers and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

Is Your Phone Changing You?

Is your phone changing you?

That’s a question we all must ask ourselves in our iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Samsung Galaxy S8 culture. It’s a question that must be addressed in the Church as we pursue the sanctification and gospel mission required of us. Tony Reinke’s 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You is a gospel-saturated, biblical, and sociological look at the phenomenon of the mobile phone and how it is re-shaping everything from our communication habits and skills to how we view the world around us. Reinke’s book is a must-read for any Christian with a cell phone—especially those smartphone users who hear that constant voice saying, “surely I have a new notification, right?!” and then look at their phone only to be left with sad reality of a phantom vibration and an unmet need to be desired.

Same Roots, Different Fruit

Reinke wisely reminds us in the introduction that “conversations about our smartphones often do not raise new questions; they return us to perennial questions every generation has been forced to ask.” Our phones didn’t create a new set of heart issues which the bible was unable to address. Rather, our phones are another example of something potentially good that Satan craftily uses to draw out the vices found deep within the recesses of our hearts. For many who haven’t adopted smartphones and social media, it is easy to look at the effects of these devices and forget that the cravings for approval, gratification, distraction, fear of missing out, etc. are symptoms of greater heart issues caused by our fallenness as humans. However, we can rest assured that God’s all-sufficient Word can address the underlying causes of our smartphone problems.


Repentance and Reliance Are Necessary

Throughout 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, Reinke is clear that our smartphone issues are worship issues. He poignantly reminds us, “If we worship idols, we become like the idols…Our idols dehumanize us; they petrify our souls, and dumb and dull and deaden all of our spiritual senses.” As Christians, if we analyze our smartphone habits and recognize idolatry, there are only two options for us: repentance and reliance. 1 John 1:9 reminds that “If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” There is no app, no knuckling-up, no deactivating, no shunning, and no self-discipline that can fix the root of our smartphone sin problems. The only answer is to repent and rely upon the faithful and just God who has become our Advocate by dying on the cross and offering us the free grace for true sanctification. It is God who is able to keep us from stumbling and who conforms us to the image of His Son. No other method for change is eternally effective.

The Choice Is Yours

In his conclusion, Reinke is unwavering that he does not advocate for a phone-free utopia envisioned by so many who see the impacts of smartphones. In support of his personal use of a smartphone, Reinke states, “For now, in this season of ministry, I will own a smartphone. But like never before, I can see how unnecessary the phone is to most of my life.” That is the path I find wisest in this season of my life. I will be more intentional in examining my smartphone habits as I seek to gain a higher view of Christ and His glory. However, Reinke applauds those who are willing to give up their smartphones for the glory of God in our culture:

Giving up a smartphone is not only one of the bravest and most countercultural acts of defiance possible today—it is a gift to others. If I’m a social-media junkie, my lack of self-control feeds the social media addiction in you. And the more I text and tweet and Snapchat, the more I drag you and others into the digital vortex of reciprocating obligation… To any addict brave enough to go smartphone free, I applaud you. You will serve the people around you in unseen ways that will never be noticed or celebrated.
If God is calling you to this radical stance, please walk in both obedience and humility. I thank you for your willingness to lead the way for others to follow. There are always saints that God will use in particular ways for His glory, and your stance will impact those who use their phones and those who don’t. There is room for smartphone-using and smartphone-losing saints in God’s future Kingdom.

A Sober-Minded Response

We must each be sober-minded as we ponder James 4:17, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” To answer the question, “Is your phone changing you?” We must all answer “yes!”. The difference is whether that “yes” means we are being changed for better or for worse. That is ultimately a question that must be answered through biblical, Christ-centered self-examination both in solitude and community. It is utterly crucial that we refuse to let a small piece of glowing metal numb us to the greatest glory experienced in the entire universe–God Himself. Eternity is far too valuable for that.