Just the other day, my daughter asked me which achievements of humanity I consider the most important and significant. I thought about it, and then I said the Internet. It has truly transformed our lives.
The book The End of Absence piqued my interest primarily because of its subtitle: “Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection.” And indeed, our children don’t understand how we lived without all of this.
However, the book turned out to be quite strange. At first, it draws you in when the author starts talking about how things used to be one way, but now they are another. I’m exaggerating, but that’s the essence: the author shows how the Internet and related services have changed our habits, our pace of life, and so on.
Then, the focus shifts to the author’s nephew, who sees the world through the lens of modern gadgets and doesn’t understand why he can’t zoom in on a picture in a regular paper magazine.
But instead of the analysis I was expecting—about what has changed, what benefits and losses these changes have brought us, and how we ourselves have transformed—the author jumps into horror stories, persistently showing only the negative side of modern technology (like social media addiction, for example). This is interspersed with occasionally disjointed reflections on life and other people.
He goes on to show how he himself became addicted to these technologies, warning that our children are practically doomed. Then, he recounts his personal attempt to escape this dependency. Although it’s more of an attempt than an actual escape. And in the end, it doesn’t really lead to much of a conclusion.
If I were to sum up the book’s message, it would be: “A monkey was given a magic wand, and it turned it into a grenade and started scaring everyone.” After all, a tool is just a tool, and it depends on the person how it will be used. But you can’t deny how much the creation of the Internet has given to the modern world.
As for our pre-Internet generation, the author ultimately didn’t say anything substantial.
My rating: 2/5
 | Michael Harris “The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection” | buy |
