Ryan J. Anderson - Screen Savvy: Creating Balance in a Digital World

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A thought unspoken doesnt go very far to benefit the world. A thought unwritten has no greater reach than the strength of the speakers voice. Thus, I would like to thank Dr. Tim Thayne for encouraging me to go beyond thinking and talking about these ideas with small groups of people to writing them for a larger audience. Hopefully my thoughts can be of help to some who read them, and hopefully my thoughts will stir ideas far greater than those contained in these pages in the hearts and minds of others.

Every soul needs something to commit to. I am lucky enough that the woman of my dreams decided to commit to sharing her life and her heart with me, just as I am committed to her. There is nothing I accomplish that is not equally her accomplishment. There is no mind that strengthens mine like hers does.

Every heart needs a dream for the future. My dream has taken human form in two bright, intelligent, and energetic sons. The challenges they face inspired me to write these words so that I may be of service to them and to their future children, that while they enjoy the amazing cyberworld of their future, they may be firmly rooted in the physical world of their past and present.

Every man needs an anchor. I am blessed to have parents who have nurtured me and believed in me all my life. I could not ask for a better foundation than what they have provided me. The only gratitude I know how to express is to humbly and bravely build upon all they have given me.

Every person needs friends. I am blessed to work with the most intelligent and dynamic collection of friends I could imagine having at Telos. Their excellence inspires me to stretch myself. To all of you, thank you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

RYAN J. ANDERSON received his BS degree in marriage, family, and human development and his MS degree in marriage and family therapy from Brigham Young University. He received his PhD in medical family therapy from East Carolina University and completed his internship at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has worked as a family therapist in outpatient practice, inpatient psychiatric settings, cancer care, and several other medical settings. He has also been a wilderness therapist, the assistant clinical director at Outback Therapeutic Expeditions, and a therapist at Telos Residential Treatment. His teaching experience includes undergraduate university courses, first-year medical students, and community outreach and education programs. He has also been a speaker at various conferences and continuing education events.

In addition to his work in the social sciences, Ryan spent nearly a decade dabbling to various degrees in video game design and production, working as a voice actor, writer, and designer for numerous mods and several independent games. He is also excited to be a part of the development team and the clinical director for Telos U, an upcoming treatment program designed to help young adults in the failure to launch category. Ryan has a variety of other interests including martial arts, history, cooking, music, language, physics, astronomy, hiking, and European board games. Most of all, Ryan enjoys spending time with his family.

CHAPTER 1

THE LOTUS EATERS

To begin the process of critical thinking about the world of computers, lets examine what an ancient Greek tale can teach us about the cyberworld and our complex relationship with it.

One of the most famous and long-lived of the ancient stories is the tale of Odysseus, a Greek hero from the city of Ithaca whose adventures are told in Homers epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey. Odysseus was a reluctant warrior, pressed into military service and forced to leave behind his family and home. While he was loyal to his country, family was his greatest priority, and it was with a heavy heart that he left them to answer the call of duty.

Odysseus and his men had fought in the long and devastating Trojan War. It was Odysseus who made the plan for designing and using the famous Trojan Horse to infiltrate the city of Troy and end the war, thus freeing him to pursue his hearts desire of returning home to his beloved wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. At the wars end, Odysseus and his crew set sail immediately for home, intending to make a speedy journey to be reunited with their families.

However, his journey home became extremely complicated. Men, monsters, and gods conspired against him, and he and his crew faced unimaginable challenges and obstacles to their goal of returning to their homes and families. What should have been a relatively short journey after a decade-long war was stretched out into a ten-year ordeal because of these trials and challenges. Through it all, Odysseus never lost sight of his ultimate goal: to return home to his family.

Some of the challenges Odysseus and his crew faced were obvious dangers, such as their encounter with the giant man-eating Cyclops Polyphemus, or being forced to attempt to navigate their ship between the deadly whirlpool monster Charybdis and the six-headed monster Scylla. These were dangers that anyone would know instinctively and reflexively to avoid, to fight against, and to escape at all costs. The threat of these beasts and monsters was undeniable; each of them could be the reason that Odysseus and his crew would never return home and see their families again.

Among the challenges they faced, however, a few were far more subtle. One of these was their visit to the Island of the Lotus Eaters. After a long time on the sea, Odysseus and his crew found an island. They landed there, hoping to find food and other supplies. Odysseus sent a scouting party of three men to explore the island and report back with what they found.

The three men had not traveled far when they came across a quiet settlement filled with friendly people. The people all seemed extremely relaxed. No one was working. No one was stressed out. In fact, there was nothing much going on at alla stark contrast to the years of backbreaking labor and fighting that Odysseus and his men had suffered through. The scouting party explained that they were looking for food and supplies. The people of the settlement revealed that they all survived by eating the lotus flowers that grew naturally and abundantly on the island. They offered the lotus to the hungry scouts, who were happy to have something other than fish and preserved rations to eat.

Upon eating the lotus, the scouts became extremely relaxed. Imagine how pronounced that contrast must have felt, going from fending off the desperation of a doomed journey to feeling suddenly, finally, blissfully empty of worry and care. As the effects of the lotus took hold, the scouts focus on returning home began to fade. They became sleepy and still. They found that they cared less and less about returning homethe home they had been sad to leave and had not seen for a decades worth of brutal conflict. Their memories of the things and people they loved at home diminished as they experienced the calming and enticing effects of the lotus. Soon, all they cared about was staying on the island and eating the lotus. The thought of home, with fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives, and children that they had not seen in so long was overpowered by the desire to have the lotus and its immediate pleasant effects. After all, why work for happiness later when you can enjoy the hazy glow of immediate pleasure now?

When the scouts did not return, Odysseus went in search of them. He found them lounging in the grass with the other Lotus Eaters, consuming the lotus and deeply enjoying the release and pleasure it gave them. Nothing Odysseus said could motivate them to get up and return to the ship. Odysseus realized that as long as they were under the influence of the lotus, any reminders of their duties and responsibilities were useless to motivate them. Even memories of their loved ones, who they fought so hard to return to, were not enough to spark a recollection of their course. Realizing that he had no other choice, Odysseus decided to take the scouts back to the ship against their will. Even though they could not remember what their priorities were while under the influence of the lotus, Odysseus could, and he knew he had to act to help them do what they would do if they could see clearly.