Left to Their Own Devices: How Digital Natives Are Reshaping the American Dream

by Julie M. Albright, Thomas Dolby (Foreword)

A sociologist explores the many ways that digital natives' interaction with technology has changed their relationship with people, places, jobs, and other stabilizing structures and created a new way of life that is at odds with the American Dream of past generations.Digital natives are hacking the American Dream. Young people brought up with the Internet, smartphones, and social media are quickly rendering old habits, values, behaviors, and norms a distant memory--creating the greatest generation gap in history. In this eye-opening book, digital sociologist Julie M. Albright looks at the many ways in which younger people, facilitated by technology, are coming "untethered" from traditional aspirations and ideals, and What are the effects of being disconnected from traditional, stabilizing social structures like churches, marriage, political parties, and long-term employment? What does it mean to be human when one's ties to people, places, jobs, and societal institutions are weakened or broken, displaced by digital hyper-connectivity? Albright sees both positives and negatives. On the one hand, mobile connectivity has given digital nomads the unprecedented opportunity to work or live anywhere. But, new threats to well-being are emerging, including increased isolation, anxiety, and loneliness, decreased physical exercise, ephemeral relationships, fragmented attention spans, and detachment from the calm of nature.In this time of rapid, global, technologically driven change, this book offers fresh insights into the unintended societal and psychological implications of lives exclusively lived in a digital world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Parenting, Education, Technology

368 pages, Hardcover

Published April 16, 2019

Reviews

[Polly Roth · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 Stars

This comes across as aggressively "back in my day..." Some of Albright's ideas are interesting, but I found she lost credibility as she tried to place blame on technology for every. single. societal. issue. The book also reads as many journal articles haphazardly thrown together. Albright explains concepts that were introduced in chapter 1 all over again in chapter 5. Some, (like the movie Her) she explains so many times I lost count.
I found that by the last 40 pages I could only skim. I got her point, and this could have been much shorter. I think it makes an intriguing journal article, but as a book? Much too long-winded and repetitive.

[Dale Coffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know whether to describe this book as a "tour de force" of the worldwide impact of technology on society now and in the future, or a rambling discourse that attempts to cover everything from the future of the American dream to issues of global citizenship. In either case, this is a very well researched and insightful book, well worth the reader's time. I would definitely have given it five stars if quality of the editing matched the quality of the content.

[Iván · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un buen libro sobre tecnología y sociedad.

[Navya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good things first: this book is well researched and expansive. Albright clearly has the experience, and has done the research, to speak clearly about how digital technologies and their 'natives' are reshaping many different aspects of the world as we know it. I liked some of the framing too - 'untethering' seemed like a very accurate way of describing what is happening to the 'digital natives'.

And yet, this was one of the oddest takes on digital technology I have seen. Part of its oddness was actually how mundane it was. Its thread of connecting the lifestyle of Millennials to their experience with digital media, and that lifestyle then deemed bad, was pretty much reminiscent of a particular kind of news headline that dominated a few years back (the "Those Millennials, always on the damned phoned, killing all industries and eating avocados" kind). It also goes out of its way to simply explain what new technologies are which, while important in an academic text, takes space away from presenting any interesting analysis about them. It would be useful for people who perhaps don't know what Snapchat streaks are, but fairly unremarkable for people who are looking for something deeper.

Both these things combined gives the impression that this book was an information manual to an audience who are somehow entirely unfamiliar with the values of the (American) Millennial generation as well as new technologies. I don't know who that is supposed to be (older generations, maybe? Though I find even that difficult to believe), but for someone who did grow up with many of these technologies, this book was fairly uninteresting and lacked nuance.

Another issue was the author's attempt to connect pretty much everything that is wrong with the modern world to the use of smartphones by Millennials - even when that is obviously not the case. One example that stood out to me was that the digitally connected younger generations are moving away from local markets towards fast foods. The author then presents France, which still values artisan production and local grocers, as a positive example. Except that...France also has a high rate of smartphone use? And a Millennial generation? Much like this, many things the author speaks about are simply the product of change of generational values, economy and social conditions. Not all of them are a direct impact of digital technologies. Certainly not all of them are bad.

There are issues with the presentation, too. Many anecdotes and stories seem at best tangentially connected to the topic at hand (looking at you, 5 page description of Churchill writing and delivering the WWII victory speech). The author has a habit of explaining the same concepts over and over again (I think I read what "American Dream" meant at least three times). These things would have not stood out in an otherwise more interesting book, but here I kept coming back to them.

Overall, this book is wide in its scope and leaves you with an interesting thought here and there. But that's about it.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Left to Their Own Devices" is a nice catchy title, but "Untethered" should have at least been in the subtitle since 6 of the 9 chapters include the word "untethered" in the chapter title: "Becoming Tethered", "The Untethered Adult", "Untethered from Nature", "Untethered Work", "Untethered From the Body", and "The Untethered World". The concept that our devices and our 24x7 connectivity to the virtual world has left us untethered to the real world is easy to grasp, though more and more disturbing as we understand the long term consequences from this addiction to the online world. Young people have become untethered from the idea of marriage and full-time jobs, and even permanent employment. Digital nomads have chucked all their belongings to travel the world and make a living with episodic digital work.

Some of the author's premises: Each person can curate their own experience of the world by selecting the news sources and organizations they want to follow, rejecting any opinions and input that doesn't match their self-selected vision of the world. Increasingly, we don't want to be around people who disagree with us. Digital natives value internet connectivity and have difficulty unplugging for any substantial amount of time. Experiences, for many people, are now more important than acquisitions. The sharing economy allows people to borrow things rather than own them. An "I want it now" mindset has evolved from being online around the clock. We increasingly live in a customizable world. Millennials defer or avoid marriage altogether, increasing the need to house more single people - certainly contributing to the housing shortage that plagues many areas of the country. Passive, distracted attention is the norm rather than the exception. Play has become virtualized. We spend 93% of our lives indoors, untethered from nature, and the National Parks are experiencing a decline in attendance.

Only the last 9 or 10 pages of the book are dedicated to discussing the upsides of an untethered world, such as mobile phones in remote areas of the world that may never have had a landline phone. Citizen journalism is another upside. About the only take-away that the author leaves us with is "make an effort to unplug from our devices for a bit". It seems rather meager advice given the dire predictions and consequences discussed in the previous 290 pages. Perhaps that's a subject for another book, as it seems that technologists haven't spent nearly enough time thinking about the consequences of the technology that they introduce.

[Anna Ciriani-Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Should have been titled "My Semi-Scientific Rant Against Millennials." Though Albright makes a few interesting observations about the effects of technology on humanity, the premise of this book is off. She starts from the assumption that the American Dream in its past form was a positive contribution to our social structures, and instead of focusing on how the American Dream is shifting, as the title of the book purports, Albright instead forays into loosely connected aspects of today's society, blaming it all on Millennials and their addiction to technology. She clearly has it in for Millennials, barely acknowledges the distinction between Gen Y and Gen Z (who are actually more precisely the kinds of people she is ranting about), and has a severe case of confirmation bias. To support her claims, she often resorts to personal anecdotes, and the language she uses suggests judgment and disgust rather than the objective eye of an experienced researcher.

[Sean H · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book starts strong, with interesting hypothesis on the disconnection of millennials from their communities (including areas of home ownership, marriage and employment) due to the ubiquitousness of technology. However, rather than tie those ideas to other established trends of economics or politics, the second half descends into fear mongering about children not learning how to write in cursive or spending enough time in nature.

Combine this with some out of the blue tech bro worship (the reader is told to make sure to follow some #vanlife pioneers who left their Silicon Valley jobs to ‘experience the world’), this book really misses the mark on what it could have been.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scary but informative read. Makes me think more about my own digital usage and connectivity and absolutely about how my kids will grow up with digital devices. Some of it was repetitive but overall the examples and research included were a good balance of real life situations and the facts behind it. Interesting to see if we can swing back to being less untethered as a culture or if the addiction is already too deep.

[Brad Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written in a story telling fashion and was rich with history. It really outlines how the 24/7 internet world has affected everything from work, relationships, memberships in churches and other groups with lots a great stories to outline the themes. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand how technology is changing our society.

[Karrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned what Streaking was on snapchat.

I'll be sending my students this way for in-depth context surrounding Millennials and the way that digital devices have changed our concepts. (p 126)

Another interesting quote regarding the American Dream, or "untethering" in home, jobs, ideas of family, buying houses or cars (p 109)

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Instead of coming up with solutions, this author chose to bitch about Millennials for most of this book. We all realize what is happening, but we are looking for ways to HELP. The only reason I gave two stars is because it was well-written.

[Thomas Beek · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a citizen, this book is very interesting. If you are a parent, it is a must read. It's refreshing to read a book like this by an academic who does her homework and who has thought deeply about the subject better as opposed to just spitting out opinions.

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

We all know the world is going to hell in a handbasket, but this book explains how. It is eye opening even if we really already think we know this. I really don't see any way out of it. Of course the book doesn't really give us any solutions, only stating the many levels of problems.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a must read. The information is alarming and every parent should read this!

[Judy Gacek · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to know how technology is changing our world this is a good book to read.

[Leilah]

Must read for any parents

[Jason Talbot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reshaping the American dream or destroying it, you be the judge.