Written by Andy Crouch
Review by Belinda Hargrave
Published by Baker Books 2017
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30259180-the-tech-wise-family
Just in time for getting back to school - a lesson on being wise with tech.
My brother-in-law and his young family (3 boys under 6) had just come back from a holiday in New Zealand. He was telling me how he came back refreshed. I didn’t know how you could possibly come back refreshed after wrangling three very energetic boys across the Tasman Sea. Turns out they didn’t have time to spend on their devices. Every day was packed with things to see and time spent together as a family. He said that once he arrived home after a couple of days he was back to feeling fatigued and drained again. Why? Old patterns of sitting in front of glowing screens started to enter back into daily life. A wonderful coincidence, as I just so happened to have a copy of Andy Crouch’s book ‘The Tech-wise Family’ to give to my brother-in-law that very day.
I’ve had many conversations with friends and family with young children, about technology in the home impacts family life. The comment was often ‘it’s not like there have been any books written about this yet’. This is because it’s all so new and happened so fast. I’m an 80’s child, and I’m grateful to have grown up free of the ‘easy everywhere’ technology (as Andy Crouch describes it).
‘The Tech-Wise Family’ was a great read for me. Pregnant with our first I’m determined to not let smart technology overtake family time. So I found this book helpful in remembering the purpose of family.
For me, I thought it was a humble read. At the end of each of the ’10 Commitments’ chapters, Andy describes the ‘Crouch Family Reality Check’. These bite size recaps explain where they’ve succeeded and where they’ve fallen short. Andy acknowledges that it’s a journey and that their family isn’t perfect. So it’s a book that didn’t read as a ‘quick fix’ for the family, or a ‘self-help’ book that already has the answers to all your problems. However, I can understand that the tone of the book may read differently depending on which stage of life a family is at. Overall, I’m grateful that a book like this has finally been written, and that the insights have been implemented by real family over several years.