The Winter of Our Disconnect

The Winter of Our Disconnect
By Susan Maushart
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2011. 278 pgs. Nonfiction

What do you do when you and your children are all too connected to technology? Unplug everything! Maushart, a single mother, felt the entire family was too connected and decided to have a six-month sabbatical. Everything went—the television, computers and the Internet, cell phones, and video game devices. The only things left were the landline phone and radios/stereos. Everyone experienced some sort of withdrawal and one daughter spent six weeks at her father’s as a way of rebelling. But in the end Maushart found that unplugging brought their family closer together and opened new creative outlets for several of them, among other benefits.

This is a very fascinating look at how various media outlets have overtaken our lives, particularly those of the younger generation. Maushart chronicles her family’s experiment and cites many studies on how technology is hurting us, how teenager’s brains may or may not be different from adults, plus other intriguing data. This will make readers evaluate their own media consumption and look at how they can handle technology differently.

MN