I don't have a written review, but here is a link to the author interview on an episode of my podcast:
https://myscreentimetoo.com/2023/04/20/episode-153-the-super-mario-bros-movie/

With the modern obsession with and reliance upon screens of various kinds, comes an obsession with whether or not they are good for us and in what quantities or for what purposes.

Via everything from pop culture to the far reaches of space, Phillip Maciak examines all aspects of screen time and explores questions such as whether screens are actually bad for anyone at all and whether the internet counts as ‘real life’.

I did find that by about twenty pages in the words ‘screen’ and ‘time’ in conjunction with each other had lost any meaning they had previously had due to the unavoidable constant repetition and, having not seen the TV show Mad Men, many of the many references to that exemplar were a little lost on me. Nevertheless, the individual essays that form each chapter are well-written and easy to follow, and provide plenty of food for thought about our intimate relationships with our computers, phones and televisions on an daily basis.

The academic construction and research, backed by facts and reasoned arguments, are leavened and livened in tone by copious references to pop culture (frequently Mad Men or Bluey!) and personal anecdotes about the theories in application. The only thing that felt lacking was some form of concluding chapter that would draw the various ideas together and offer some final closing opinion from the author to round things off.

Obviously this book is a useful resource for anyone interested in any academic areas in which screens feature (media studies, sociology, cultural studies etc) but also makes an interesting read for those with a layman’s interest in the subject which, after all, definitely affects all of you reading this review via your phone, e-reader, laptop, pc…!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the description of what this book was about I was intrigued by the subject matter and the timetable the book covers.

In the early 1980's my father worked for AT&T and I remember him telling my sisters and I that in the near future you'd be able to to see the person you are talking to on the phone on a screen! It was such an exciting concept to me and as a middle-schooler I was hoping this technology would hurry up already! (It wasn't fast enough for me!)

Phillip Maciak does a great job of covering all the bases of what screen time was way back when and the meaning of screen time in present day. The memories of what it was like to have to sit in front of a screen at the exact time a program was being broadcast to VCR's, DVR's present day streaming services and everything thereafter; the internet, personal computers, tablets, smartphones and apps.

I sometimes felt really nostalgic reading this book, remembering simpler days. Maciak adds his personal touch to the book with stories of his family and screen time experiences. When you think about it technology really has come a long way in quite a short time. This book presented a coherent timeline of various forms of screen time and gave information and research I hadn't thought about.

If you're interested in the advances in technology over the past 30+ years and how it has changed how we communicate and entertain ourselves you will find this book interesting.

Very interesting read and some of the articles that were used to help.


Thank you NetGalley and NYUPress

Happy to highlight this new release in “The Art of Living” a round-up of new and notable spring reads about how we live now, for the Books section of Zoomer magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

The "Avidly Reads" series covers a variety of topics in our cultural landscape, including opera, guilty pleasures, poetry, and board games, describing ways in which we feel about them. "Avidly Reads Screen Time" discusses how screen time isn't exactly the boogeyman that scientists have described. The term "screen time" entered the lexicon since the beginning of television, and has evolved throughout the last sixty-plus years.

I appreciated how the author pointed out that screen time isn't necessarily a bad thing and has done some good things in our society, specifically during the pandemic. I got the point pretty quickly that moderation of screen time, especially for children, is best for us. That being said, I didn't think that this was a groundbreaking book by any means. All of the points that Phillip Maciak detailed didn't seem like something that a layperson wouldn't already know or ascertain on their own.

I also began to lose interest at times when the same point was written five different ways, stating the same thing. This book doesn't stand out either in terms of every other book that I've read about screen time.

I wish that the analyses in the book weren't so redundant to what has already been written about this topic. There wasn't anything super fascinating and I wouldn't blame any future readers for maybe skipping this book in the series.

An interesting and insightful look at the concept of "screen time." This is the first book I've read in the Avidly Reads collection, and I was pleasantly surprised. I did wish that some of the topics were explored more in depth, but I think the goal of this series is to give more of a broad overview.
The sections that included personal anecdotes were quite effective, and I really enjoyed the reading experience. Not an all-time favourite but still worth the read!

Great blend of analysis and memoir on the nebulous concept of screen time. It's especially good at dispelling the moral panic around it.

An interesting look at how screens have evolved and impacted society. I’m definitely going to look up more of his writing.

Thanks to NYU Press and Netgalley for an ARC of this title

What a great meditation on the changing nature of what the "screen" in "screen time" has meant, from the first definition of the screen time era in 1991 to the present, where our phones tell us exactly how much time we spend staring at the screens in our lives if we let them. This hits the delightful sweet spot of academic and accessible.

Thank you @netgalley for the arc in response for a review. Avidly Reads Screen Time, is something that should be reading for all. A standard bearer for anyone questioning screen time, the time they spend on screen and thinking twice before offering a screen to their child. It’s a history of the culture of screen time as well as a fair amount of criticism. It also looks at how we define screens.
Most importantly in the age of social media, it looks at how screens define us. Beautifully written and food for thought.

Had a really hard time with this not being available to read on my kindle. Very hard to focus for long on my phone/computer screen. It felt disjointed but I assume it was the reading experience vs the content.