Hamlet's Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Ages
By William Powers

Reviewed by Ed Chinn

Have you ever noticed that every win is also a loss?

Yet, most "wins" come to us without ever being sought or even examined. The process is frankly astonishing; unknown people and powers convince us to quietly exchange old values and strengths for unwanted, untested, and often dangerous stuff. Today, according to the new book, Hamlet's Blackberry (HarperCollins, 2010), "...without realizing it, we're living by a very particular philosophy of technology. It can be summarized in one sentence. "It's good to be connected, and it's bad to be disconnected."

Hamlet's Blackberry is a powerful, but sensible, call to wake up and examine the cost and impact of digital technologies - primarily the Internet and cell phones. Author William Powers doesn't suggest getting rid of them. But he does reason that connectedness must be balanced with unconnectedness. It's a rhythm issue.

One of the most unique payloads in the book is his examination of seven thinkers -- Plato, Seneca, Gutenberg, Shakespeare, Ben Franklin, Thoreau, and McLuhan -- and their messages to us. Although the insight itself isn't new, Powers eloquently persuades the reader that we are not facing anything unique. We struggle with what humans have always faced...the conforming pressure of crowds and the need for private and sacred space. This whole section - the stories, the history, the human profiles, the lessons - is worth the cost of
the book.

Acceleration is an inevitable result of technology. Hamlet's Blackberry shows the cost of that acceleration: we're losing the ability to go deep. Life moves so fast that we are all like flat rocks skipping across the surface. We do not go deep in study, work, conversation, prayer, art, care, parenting, or any other profoundly human venture. We talk on the phone while checking email, watching TV, and writing checks. Google is easier than deep research. Porn is easier than building deep and intimate trust. We don't gain deep traction at work because we check email or Facebook 50 times a day. We don't create; it's easier to download or cut and paste what someone else created. We don't go deep in prayer; we read blogs by people who claim to do that.

For several years, I've observed that modern life is a centrifuge; it spins so fast that we're all pinned to the outside wall. And, there is no one at the center. We all live "out there." In Hamlet's Blackberry, I finally found someone who agrees with that and gives ample evidence and examples of how and why that is true. He writes that "connectedness" causes us to lean outward. We tilt toward "out there" rather than "in here." Connectedness throws us "away from the few and the near, toward the many and the far." He mentions a
news report about one girl who sent 300,000 text messages per month! Wonder
how her interpersonal skills are doing?

The crescendo of Hamlet's Blackberry is the last chapter. Powers loves technology; he only advocates learning how to live with it. And, for him and his family, that means a renewal of the idea of "Sabbath." Specifically, he and his family turn off their modem and their cell phones on Friday night and leave them off till Monday morning. Withdrawal? Of course. But he takes us through how they crashed through that addiction and found real life. Now, the
whole family looks forward to the disconnected weekends. I do believe I'm going to try this.

Hamlet's Blackberry is the most valuable and useful book I've read in a long time. It makes a valuable contribution to learning how to manage technology and retain or rediscover the abilities and graces of going deep.

As a writer, Ed Chinn has been published in many US newspapers, magazines and websites. His new book, "Footprints in the Sea," is available here. Ed and his wife, Joanne, live in Middle Tennessee. Email Ed.