Sunday Snippet: You, Your Family and the Internet – A Review And GiveAway…

We are a family with se7en + 1 kids… we blog, we are on the internet a lot. Generally the internet has become so very much intertwined with our world and folks lives, that the more we know about it the better. A book that addresses how we should approach the internet is indeed one that I am really happy to read. In fact I have written about our approach to the internet before “Se7en Life Skills Lurking on the Internet” and I was curious to see what the book: You, Your Family and the Internet, by David Clark, had to say about it.

There are two approaches to anything new: We can stick our head in the sand and pretend it isn’t there or we can embrace it and learn all we can about it. Unfortunately, while the internet is something new for us, it is nothing new to our kids, who have nearly all been born during the internet era. You have two choices: To pretend it isn’t there and hope your kids are okay out there in the big wide world… or you can embrace it and learn what the internet has to offer, why it is so appealing and how to use it appropriately. Honestly, when it comes to the internet, for your own sake and your kids… it is not the time to look away. In fact it is the time to get informed!!! Books like this one are a great way for folk, who make use of the internet to make use of it wisely.

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This book begins with a brief history of the internet… the rapid expansion and the way that the technology has raced along from really chunky slow machines that were too heavy to transport, to what we know as the internet today. Today almost everyone has instant access to information and connectivity, quite literally at their fingertips, either with their mobile phone or laptop. The internet has become available to us, right in our pockets. Basically, the internet has permeated our lives in every way… the way we bank, the way we read the news, the way we stay in touch with friends, not to mention a great resource packed with information.

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After the introductory chapters, the author goes on to provide a snapshot of the internet as it stands… and he looks at some of the ever present threats like: games and gambling. In fact, all sorts of topics that are readily available to us, not just our kids on the internet. There is a lot of food for thought in these chapters… for instance the chapter: “If it’s Free then you are the Product…” Free is just a euphemism for an exchange of your personal information. The fact that, and the reason why our kids are not yet on social media… whatever is out there, will always be out there – there is no delete button on the internet – despite what your friends say. Of course this doesn’t help your kids when it comes to what their friends might put on the internet… really it is not time to get legalistic, but as this book suggests – some firm guidelines and principles need to be in place for all of us. The middle of the book is definitely not the time to stop reading… while the author takes the time to illustrate and demonstrate some of the tricks and traps waiting for us on the internet, you may be a little wary of ever stepping out there again and certainly never letting your kids out there… But there is an upside and yes the internet is a place full of good… support groups that help folk, friends that are connected around the world, and so on.

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The book ends with some hope for all of us, the internet has good and bad components, be aware of the bad and make use of the good… In the last two chapters of the book he provides Biblical Principles to Guide us as we use the internet. And he ends the book by saying that the Apostle Paul had a network of Roman roads to help him spread the gospel throughout the world as he knew it. Imagine how much more we could do with the network we have available to us. We can connect instantly with missionaries overseas to support and encourage them, we can find out about folk living in faraway places. Really there are a heap of ideas, of the good things that are available to do and explore on the internet. The book is published by Day One publishers and is a fairly short and concise book to read. It is only about 80 pages long, but their is quite a lot of information shared on those pages… so not a quick read. At the end of each chapter there is a list of references that are well worth perusing. This is definitely a book that needed to be written, remove the fear of the unknown and find out what “living with the internet” really means.

There has been quite a lot of media coverage of this newly released book and you can listen to an interview with the author over here…

Meanwhile, I have a copy of this book to giveaway…

This GiveAway works in the usual way, comment before the end of Sunday, 6 January 2013, and we will draw and publish the winner after that. I won’t respond to your comments as I do on our other posts because I don’t want to be included in our own giveaway.

As usual I have to thank Christian Book Discounters, our GiveAway book suppliers of more great books.

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Our GiveAways are open to everyone: If you have won a GiveAway before never fear – enter away. If you live on the far side of the world – enter away. Postage takes forever from here but eventually it should get to you! Good luck and get commenting!!!

I received a e-pub copy of this book for free from Cross Focused Reviews, in exchange for an honest review. I was not paid in any way and the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

10 Replies to “Sunday Snippet: You, Your Family and the Internet – A Review And GiveAway…”

  1. Thanks for being a part of the You, Your Family and the internet blog tour. This is one of those books every Christian would do well to consider. My wife and I really appreciated it.

    Shaun Tabatt
    Cross Focused Reviews

  2. I also read several reviews of this book on Amazon, and wish that everyone could read this book. (I haven’t read it – just the reviews.) I don’t think people understand that there is nothing private on the internet, even though they are assured that others don’t have access to what they write.

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