You, Your Family and the Internet: What Every Christian in the Digital Age Ought to Know
David Clark
Day One Publications, 2012, 128 pp., $11

iPod, YouTube, Wii Play: Theological Engagements with Entertainment
D. Brent Laytham
Cascade Books, 2012, 220 pp., $24

A short seven years ago, YouTube was being invented and the iPhone was Steve Jobs’ pipe dream. Now, the video streaming channel is the third most popular website in the world, and the iconic phone has changed the way technology is made and entertainment is consumed. Surely there is a need for books about how to navigate these rapidly changing times and the technologies that shape them, and both Clark’s You, Your Family and the Internet and Laytham’s iPod, YouTube, Wii Play offer unique perspectives and strengths in helping us along the way.

In You, Your Family and the Internet, readers are given an insightful and practical overview of the dangers and opportunities presented by the Internet. I found this balanced approach refreshing. On the one hand, Clark identifies key Internet technologies (e.g., social networking sites and online gaming), explains them and explores how they impact our lives. What I really like is that after explaining the technology, Clark draws out biblical principles to apply to how we deal with these technologies in the context of our families and churches. On the other hand, Clark does not shy away from the dangers associated with these technologies.

Thankfully, Clark is aware that Internet scaremongers abound in the Christian publishing world, and he strives to look at the Internet objectively. Although he’s straightforward about the dangers, he seems especially gifted at making the most of the opportunities afforded by the Internet and in using them in a wise and productive manner.

While You, Your Family, and the Internet is written with a layman in mind, Laytham’s iPod, YouTube, Wii Play is geared toward the intellectual theologian. The books also differ in focus: Clark’s book focuses on the Internet; Laytham’s addresses entertainment in general.

I appreciate Laytham’s deep thinking on entertainment. Like Clark, he is able to evaluate the negatives and positives of this all-pervading force in modern society. I couldn’t put this book down—whether discussing iPods as life-changing devices, YouTube and the U2charist, video games, Oprah, magazines or the nature of entertainment itself, Laytham’s writing is provocative and deeply theological. Though neither he nor Clark are scaremongers, Laytham is quick to point out the ways in which entertainment robs us of experiencing of God. Thoughtful readers will appreciate Laytham’s ability to examine how today’s entertainment is patterned and how it shapes our very beings.

For the practical youth worker or parent, You, Your Family and the Internet is the way to go; for the deeper thinker, you won’t regret reading iPod, YouTube, Wii Play.