Will digital media sweep us into a new era of prosperity?
What new advances in entertainment, culture, education, and knowledge can we expect?
Will we get stuck in Cyberland only to be saved by digital detox?
The Digital Rabbit Hole reveals that we are becoming captive in the digital universe. The portals are smartphones and the world is the Internet. We immerse ourselves in social media; we learn through packaged feel-good information; and we will leave the hard work to robots and AI. The book details digital media and discusses smartphone addiction problems. It proposes solutions to stimulate creativity and education and to recapture our humanity.
Paperback: 144 Pages
Genre: Social Science/Non Fiction
Publisher: FutureBooks.info; 1 edition (January 1, 2016)
ASIN: B01A3MTVBS
ISBN-10: 1533307075
ISBN-13: 78-1533307071
The Digital Rabbit Hole is available in ebook and in print at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and IndieBound.
About the Author:
Larry Kilham has traveled extensively overseas for over twenty years. He worked in several large international companies and started and sold two high-tech ventures. He received a B.S. in engineering from the University of Colorado and an M.S. in management from MIT. Larry has written books about creativity and invention, artificial intelligence and digital media, travel overseas, and three novels with an AI theme. Currently, he is writing a novel about free will.
Larry can be found online at:
Website: www.larrykilham.net
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Larry-Kilham/e/B003UPNVNK/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4352387.Larry_Kilham
Review by Tess Fallier:
The Digital Rabbit Hole is not a book I would normally pick up off a shelf to read. It was recommended by my dear friend as something to read and review and I’m so very glad I took her suggestion. It caught my interest and attention quickly with the introduction, which is set to the theme of Alice in Wonderland, where he writes about Alice falling down a different kind of rabbit hole this time. “Once or twice she peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, ‘and what is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘when people can see everything in color and sound on their smartphone.” At that point while reading I came to an interesting revelation: I was reading this “book” on my smartphone. I have always had a love of reading and even I have gotten sucked down this “Rabbit Hole” and do so much with my smartphone that even enjoying a book is something that has become digital. This realization made me want to continue reading this book so that I could try to understand what has caused this and whether this is a good or bad thing for our world.
Kilham does a fantastic job of explaining how and why the digital world has become such a huge part of our lives. My one concern before I read the book and as I first started reading it was that it would only point out all of the negative points of the digital world, but I was very pleasantly surprised that he did a great job of explaining all of the many benefits to having information at our fingertips as well. He made me really appreciate all of the ways our lives are easier and how in many ways we are able to become more intelligent because knowledge is at our fingertips, but at the same time we are not using our brains to figure things out like we had to in the past, because all we have to do is type or talk into our smartphone and get an answer. We no longer have to work for information. Social media helps us stay in touch with friends and family in ways we couldn’t before, but a side effect to that is that we are spending less time with people in person and losing our social skills. Its not just social media that is to blame for the change in social skills and human interaction. In Chapter 5, Kilham points out that even at the stores, people are encouraged to use the self checkout option, where you scan your own items and use the computer to pay, so you never have to speak to an employee to purchase your items.
I plan to reread this book and really take the time to think about all the different points that Kilham makes. I also think as a mother of 6 children, it is something I would like the kids to read. The older ones should read it now, and the younger ones as they get older. I don’t want to discourage using technology, but understanding the risks and benefits of becoming so immersed in a digital world is important and this book is a great way to get people thinking about how we need to find a balance in our lives. We need to use and appreciate all the digital world can bring to us, but still find time to use our minds and stay grounded in the real world.
My plan for this coming weekend, because of reading The Digital Rabbit Hole, is to read a real book that is written with ink and paper. I also want to implement one device free day a week for our family where we play board games and do outdoor activities. I think we need to take little breaks from the digital world we are always so immersed in.
Thank you to WOW! Women on Writing for allowing me an opportunity to participate in this book
blog tour!
Be sure to check out some of the future blog stops on this tour:
Wednesday, August 9th @ The Muffin
Angela Mackintosh reviews Larry Kilham's The Digital Rabbit Hole.
http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/
Tess Meyer is an office manager and service advisor at an auto repair business in Sheboygan. She lives in Manitowoc with her boyfriend. Between them they have 6 kids, a dog, and a cat. They all stay very busy enjoying swimming, gaming, Pokemon Go, and all things nerdy.
Hi Tess -
ReplyDeleteI sure appreciate your nice review.
Apprreciate you blogging this
ReplyDelete