Closer Together, Further Apart: The Effect of Technology and the Internet on Parenting, Work, and Relationships

Psychotherapist Weiss and physician Schneider (co-authors of the forthcoming Always Turned On: Facing Sex Addiction in the Digital Age) play to their strengths in a brief work that is by turns laudatory and cautionary regarding the Internet and related technologies. Although “parenting” and “work” appear in the subtitle, those subjects get relatively short shrift, while digital relationships and various online perils are addressed more thoroughly. The authors raise questions about the effects of early use of digital media or smartphone use in social settings but, frustratingly, their most common reply is “we simply don’t know.” A reader might wish for more effort by the authors in interpreting what research does exist, though later chapters, such as “Tech, Sex, Love” and “Online Vulnerability: The Dark Side of the Force,” provide more specifics. Throughout, the authors caution digital immigrants not to be judgmental of digital natives. For Weiss and Schneider, “fake is the new real” in terms of relationships, and, they contend, that might be okay. Younger readers may rejoice in this validation of their lives while older readers may yearn for more substance. (Feb.)