Navigating the Cyberscape: Evaluating and Improving our Relationship with Smartphones, Social Media, Video Games, and the Internet

The advent of cyberspace and its adoption by the general masses has altered our world in unprecedented ways. It is as if a whole new dimension has exploded into existence in a cyber-big bang. The landscape of our lives has been transformed into a cyberscape, a nearly seamless interweaving pattern between the digital and physical worlds. We have to learn to navigate this new phenomenon as first generation pioneers in a strange, beautiful, and dangerous new realm. Smartphones, social media, video games, and the internet have the power to benefit individuals, families, and societies in many ways. At the same time, they carry a significant risk of making us more socially isolated, developmentally stunted, relationally incompetent, and mentally tranquilized, all without any awareness of the problem on our part. Whether we enjoy the benefits or reap the detriments of this new dimension has to do with how well we learn to navigate the cyberscape. Navigating the Cyberscape: Evaluating and Improving Our Relationship with Smartphones, Social Media, Video Games, and the Internet explores the various dimensions of the cyber-world, how it interacts with our lives in the real world, and the way we as people tend to interact with it. It sheds light on the myths and misunderstandings that so easily lead us into an excessive, obsessive, or addictive relationship with electronics. It also explores what we can do to balance and harmonize our relationships with the cyber-world.