Single mom Susan Maushart's The Winter of Our Disconnect (Tarcher, Jan.) is an engaging and thought-provoking memoir of the six-month experiment she and her three teenagers conducted when they unplugged iPods, laptops, cellphones, and other electronics to create a screen-free household. With equal parts current neuroscientific and anecdotal research, Maushart presents well-balanced arguments for and against the presence of constant media distraction in our homes. Her experiment finds the absence of screens enhances sleep, diet, health, creativity, academics, and family interaction. Maushart recognizes the benefits of global access to information, but suggests it should be maintained through management of a home "media ecology." Her thoughtful discussions of some of the information age's more serious considerations such as cyberbullying, cyberstalking, pornography, and sexting widen the book's appeal.