Acknowledgments

Thank you to Roxanne Stone and David Kinnaman of the Barna Research Group. I’m grateful to you for your research-based honesty about the world we live in and your faith-based hope for life in the midst of it. Thank you as well to Chaz Russo for the fantastic infographics design. And deep thanks to Kathy Helmers and the team at Creative Trust for your consistently perceptive and faithful counsel in the work of writing.

One of the great gifts of my life has been the chance to meet some of my heroes. Among them is the philosopher who first illuminated technology for me, and whose work has indelibly shaped this book—and our family’s life. When I did finally meet him, Albert Borgmann was every bit as wise and courageous as I could have hoped. It was especially delightful that we met in the blissfully cell-phone-free Frio River canyon, thanks to the hospitality of Laity Lodge. Thanks to Stephen Purcell and to the conveners of that meeting, David Wood and Arthur Paul Boers, for providing such a rich environment for going deeper into the best things.

I’m grateful for the many, many friends who have shared the joys, quandaries, and calamities of parenting and family life with us. Among so many I could name, this book especially benefited from conversations with, and simply life with, Elizabeth and Karl, Matt and Kim, Jill and Andy, Caleb and Kathy, and Angie. We love and admire and have learned so much from you.

Most of all, thank you to Catherine, who discovered my excessive fondness for technology early on and has responded with such patient sanity to it (and me) ever since. And to Timothy and Amy—unwitting but willing participants in our fitful family journey toward wisdom and courage—may your lives be far, far better than easy everywhere.