Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age

by Quentin J. Schultze

The Internet is everywhere. Chat rooms and instant email messages have taken the place of letters and phone calls. The Internet has changed the way we do business, shop, communicate, and even meet people. In many ways our lives are easier and more convenient. But what price do we pay for this convenience?

Habits of the High-Tech Heart addresses the major drawbacks to the network computerization of our society and the growing tendency to substitute technology and innovation for morality and virtue. Quentin Schultze argues that the cyber-revolution is a mythology of progress that is fueled by informationism, a quasi-religious faith that falsely assumes information itself can improve our lives. Cyberculture assumes a technical solution to every problem. It breeds individualism at the cost of community and values speed, efficiency, and convenience over quality, morality, and virtue.

The solution, Schultze argues, is not to dismantle our growing technologies but to pay more attention to the "habits of the heart" as described by Alexis de Tocqueville and made popular by Robert Bellah and his colleagues in Habits of the Heart (discernment, moderation, wisdom, humility, authenticity, and diversity). These habits, which embody the wisdom of the past and the virtue and morality of the Judeo-Christian tradition, must reshape our understanding of digital technology. Greatly influenced by the insights of Václav Havel, Schultze calls for a renewal of community and offers readers ways to live by habits of the heart in the information age.

Habits of the High-Tech Heart is a provocative and engaging book that will foster dialogue among philosophers, theologians, technology experts, and all those concerned with the impact technology has had on our society. And while it is both comprehensive and scholarly, Habits of the High-Tech Heart is engaging and accessible enough for the thoughtful lay reader.

Genres: Technology, Nonfiction, Cultural, Christian, Christian Living

Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Quentin J. Schultze (PhD, University of Illinois) is Arthur H. DeKruyter Chair and professor of communication arts and sciences at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is also distinguished professor at Spring Arbor University. Schultze has been quoted in major media including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, US News & World Report, the New York Times, Fortune, the Chicago Tribune, and USA Today. He has been interviewed by CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, and NPR and is the author of many books including An Essential Guide to Public Speaking.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quentin Schultze's book was recommended to me when I was looking for resources for teaching a youth-age technology and discernment class. I appreciate Schultze's virtue approach to technology, and used the idea of cultivating a virtuous character so that we can use technology appropriately as a major theme for my class.

Schultze's virtues are Christian virtues (as opposed to Aristotelian) and I was greatly aided by having read MacIntyre's After Virtue before reading this book. Schultze calls Christians to practice discernment, practice moderation, cultivate wisdom, cultivate a humble character, practice authenticity when online, strive for diversity, and nurture community.

Schultze is well-read and his work is well-researched, touching on current events and business practices. This book is quite readable for the non-philosopher.

My one critique is that this book was a little tedious to read. This is the kind of tediousness one has when reading chapters 10-31 in Proverbs in one sitting. Schultze's writing is such that it is best digested in 2-3 paragraph chunks.

[Brett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half-way through this book ... and I'm just hoping/wishing it's got a lot of good ground to cover before I'm through and realize I've just wasted my precious time on this.

So far, it happens to be rather dated and mostly focused on questions: how rapidly technology adoption is, how messianic the next great thing seems to be billed as, etc. No earth shattering analysis, thoughts, or philosophies have surfaced yet...

Just finished this book... I would suggest that if you find this book particularly dry at the beginning, skip ahead into Chapter 6 & 7 and get to the meat.

[Kevin Soriano · Rating 4 out of 5]

While it is quite a dense read, I appreciated how Quentin nevertheless formed his grand set of wisdom into organized segments. A personal highlight is how he navigated through the various challenges for cultivating community in the digital world which is strongly inclined towards individualism.

I would have to advise any future readers that this isn't a quick, easy-to-absorb book, though. With the scope of items that Schultze had to go through, it is easier to read this book by several paragraphs at a time, rather than going through a chapter in one sitting.

[Paul Dubuc · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the context in which this book is written may be a little dated, its message is even more relevant today.

[Bryan Kibbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consider this the other shoe to drop amidst a culture that so often praises and exhorts the new technologies coming down the way. Avoiding extremism and empty rhetoric, Schultze offers a provocative account of the failings of modern technology and our obsessions with that technology to afford us with more virtuous or morally robust lives as human persons. Additionally, Schultze draws from an enormous array of sources and points of moral wisdom to invite us back to a life that puts technology in its place. Seen as an entrance into extended thinking on the topic of technology in our daily lives, this book is excellent, offering a myriad of important insights that demand further contemplation and discussion.

[Kaiwin Su · Rating 4 out of 5]

helpful way to diagnose and examine our hearts when it comes to our current fascination with technology. great challenge for those who venerate the latest fads and fashions of Silicon Valley and the internet, exposing the manner in which we fall prey to their seductions and false promises. causes thoughtful reflection on what it means to be virtuous, kind and loving in this day and age, especially in light of everybody's need for true community and the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved.

[Jin Chong · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has given me a macro view of the influence of computers, technology, and the internet on our culture.

[Stephanie]

Using this as a source for research...not sure how much it will help, but we'll see!

[Jasmine · Rating 4 out of 5]

All who work in digital media should read this and reflect on how it's changing your communication and reflection habits.

[Timthast · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice ideas but dense and hard to read.