4 out of 5 stars
A copy of this was provided free of charge from the publisher in return for an honest review.
The modern world is fast and relentless, our connection to the internet that means we have a never-ending stream of notifications, jobs that come with a phone and almost permanent on call. Our nerves are jangled constantly. It feel like you are in a race that you can never win and standing still doesn’t feel like an option. Yet in the world of 24 / 7 connections to family, friends and strangers around the world, people have never been more alone.
In this modern world, can we stay sane?
This is the follow up to his successful and what I consider now an essential book, Reasons to Stay Alive. I that he told us of his journey back from staring into the abyss. In this, he lays out the problems of the modern world that have been caused by the internet as well as the positive benefits that it has brought. He makes it very personal, telling us of the issues that he has had with obsessions with Facebook, Twitter and the slightly unreal world of Instagram and how it has affected his mental health.
Reading isn’t important because it helps to get you a job. It’s important because it gives you room to exist beyond the reality you’re given. It is how humans merge. How minds connect. Dreams. Empathy. Understanding. Escape.
Like his previous book, there are anecdotes, his thoughts on the world we are living in. Woven into this is his own personal story about how his depression and anxiety has ebbed and flowed, often caused by spending way too long on the internet. Listening to the echo chamber is not good for your health, especially in this political climate, and this book is full of practical suggestions on how to cope with the relentlessness of it all, when and how to engage for an affirmative experience and when to turn the computer off, set the phone aside and go and do something else. Probably essential reading for teenagers.
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