The Digital Divide: Writings For and Against Facebook, Youtube, Texting, and the Age of Social Networking
Written by Mark Bauerlein
Narrated by Xe Sands and Peter Berkrot
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
With The Dumbest Generation, Mark Bauerlein emerged as the foremost voice against the development of an overwhelming digital social culture. But The Digital Divide doesn't take sides. Framing the discussion so that leading voices from across the spectrum, supporters and detractors alike, have the opportunity to weigh in on the profound issues raised by the new media-from questions of reading skills and attention span, to cyber-bullying and the digital playground-Bauerlein's new book takes the debate to a higher ground.
The book includes essays by Steven Johnson, Nicholas Carr, Don Tapscott, Douglas Rushkoff, Maggie Jackson, Clay Shirky, Todd Gitlin, and many more. Though these pieces have been previously published, the organization of The Digital Divide gives them freshness and new relevancy, making them part of a single document listeners can use to truly get a handle on online privacy, the perils of a plugged-in childhood, and other technology-related hot topics.
Rather than dividing the book into "pro" and "con" sections, the essays are arranged by subject-"The Brain, the Senses," "Learning in and out of the Classroom," "Social and Personal Life," "The Millennials," "The Fate of Culture," and "The Human (and Political) Impact." Bauerlein incorporates a short headnote and a capsule bio about each contributor, as well as relevant contextual information about the source of the selection.
Bauerlein also provides a new introduction that traces the development of the debate, from the initial Digital Age zeal, to a wave of skepticism, and to a third stage of reflection that wavers between criticism and endorsement.
Enthusiasm for the Digital Age has cooled with the passage of time and the piling up of real-life examples that prove the risks of an online-focused culture. However, there is still much debate, comprising thousands of commentaries and hundreds of books, about how these technologies are rewriting our futures. Now, with this timely and definitive volume, listeners can finally cut through the clamor, read the very best writings from each side of The Digital Divide, and make more informed decisions about the presence and place of technology in their lives.
Mark Bauerlein
Mark Bauerlein is a professor emeritus of English at Emory University and an editor at First Things, where he hosts a podcast twice a week. He is the author of five books, including The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone under 30). His commentaries and reviews have appeared in publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.
Related to The Digital Divide
Related audiobooks
Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Utopia Is Creepy: And Other Provocations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our Polluted Media Landscape Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFact vs. Fiction: Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in the Age of Fake News Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grandstanding: The Use and Abuse of Moral Talk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Christian: The Politics of a Word in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Church of Facebook: How the wireless generation is redefining community Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Rethinking the Police: An Officer's Confession and the Pathway to Reform Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Educate a Citizen: The Power of Shared Knowledge to Unify a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5God and Mammon: Chronicles of American Money Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5NOT Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Born Digital: The Story of a Distracted Generation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Takes a Family: Conservatism and The Common Good Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Short History of the Twentieth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last Call for Liberty: How America's Genius for Freedom Has Become Its Greatest Threat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Try Common Sense: Replacing the Failed Ideologies of Right and Left Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cult of Smart: How Our Broken Education System Perpetuates Social Injustice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Democracy Rules Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wholly Different: Islamic Values vs. Biblical Values Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Contract with the Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Social Science For You
Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lonely Dad Conversations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kindred Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Year of Magical Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hate U Give Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radiolab: Mixtape: How The Cassette Changed The World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radiolab: Journey Through The Human Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Left Hand of Darkness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Digital Divide
3 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5It's hard for me to review this book because I came at it expecting something different than what I got. I should know better than to judge based on title, but I was expecting a book dealing with economic disparity and our media culture. Instead, I got a fairly basic (to me as someone with a masters in this subject) collection of older literature focused on the different effects of media on the brain and culture. It is not uninteresting and those without much knowledge of the subject may get a lot out of it, but it wasn't for me. Also I think a great deal of it must be taken as historical context at this point. It's sad to consider things written in 2006 outdated, but that's how things are on a field like this.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mostly hit or miss, though the essays that hit did so because they offered heretofore unthought of new perspectives.