August 2023 MBR The Religion/Spirituality Shelf

The Religion/Spirituality Shelf

Hidden Price Tags
C.J.S. Hayward
C.J.S. Hayward Publications
cjshayward.com
9798366654579, $11.99 Paper/$2.99 ebook

https://cjshayward.com/hpt1

https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Price-Tags-Technologys-Technology/dp/B0C2SG3YVJ

"Hidden Price Tags: An Eastern Orthodox Look at Technology's Dark Side and Its Best Use: Volume One: Start Here..." is not only unlike any prior book that C.J.S. Hayward has written about Orthodoxy, but offers a serious piece of wisdom about technology that outlines a problem many authors have addressed, but resolutions few have proffered.

It comes from one who owns and uses this technology, but has successfully reined in its employment and filled the gap created by its absence with strategies for cultivating a more meaningful grip on life, spiritual reflection, and activities far from technology's allure or grasp.

Following "The Luddite's Guide to Technology" and "How Can I Take my Life Back from my Phone?", this new book both embraces and expands the contentions of both as it reflects further and deeper on the hidden price tags of technology, how to limit and alleviate them, and (perhaps most importantly) how to replace them with approaches to life and spiritual thinking that embrace Orthodoxy beliefs and approaches to better living.

Although much of the material is reflected in the prior books and represents typical Hayward theological inspection, this contribution to the series offers a far richer vein of argument that makes the case for reasoned abstinence and a better utilization of the time and space created by the absence of technological devices.

Discussions refer to C.S. Lewis and others and evolve on levels of historical reference, psychological inspection, social issues, and spiritual impact as they invite thought-provoking responses from readers. From the perils and place of social networking to how human connections are made, Hayward offers an all-inclusive grasp on the nature, impact, and methods of technology as they reflect and extend human nature, often creating the very divisions they were meant to alleviate in the human condition.

Hayward's reflections and connections, scholarly and heavily footnoted as they are, offer much food for thought and ideally will be utilized as fodder for debate and discussion in all kinds of groups, from everyday readers to Orthodoxy followers. His insights on technology offer new, powerful grasps on the finer art of its deployment and unexpected impact: "There are many things whose marketing proposition is escape, and they all peter out and leave us coveting more. They are spiritual poison if they are used for escape. There may be other uses and legitimate reasons - iPhones are, besides being "avoid spiritual work" systems, incredibly useful - but the right use of these things is not found in the marketing proposition they offer you."

Hidden Price Tags contributes to a series heralded by "The Luddite's Guide to Technology" and "How Can I Take my Life Back from my Phone?", both containing and expanding on the initial concepts presented in these books to focus on strategies for injecting meaning and spiritual foundations back into life after the vacuum is created by tempering and limiting technology's allure.

Libraries interested in expanded Eastern Orthodoxy's applications to reading groups of all kinds, from philosophy to spiritual thinkers, will find "Hidden Price Tags: An Eastern Orthodox Look at Technology's Dark Side and Its Best Use: Volume One: Start Here..." encourages many opportunities for debate.

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