The Center for Social Leadership

From Anthony Silard, Ph.D. (Bio ):

Would you like to be one of the first people to read my new book, Screened In: The Art of Living Free in the Digital Age? (Table of Contents below.) Please consider helping me to launch this new initiative aimed at helping people to regulate the use of their phones/screens and reclaim their time, attention and lives by donating to this campaign today!

Your donation will assist in book publishing and printing to help Screened In take flight. You will receive your copy of Screened In before it hits Amazon and bookstores on January 15 as a thank you for your generous contribution.

I will donate 100 percent of the proceeds from the published book to nonprofit education programs in low-income communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. (This three-part, 28-minute PBS documentary of my life explains the cost-sharing model of these educational partnerships that your donation would support: Part I , Part II and Part III .)

I have been researching and writing Screened In: The Art of Living Free in the Digital Age for the past ten years. It’s been a challenge to write as our digital etiquette and relationship to our devices have been changing so rapidly. There is no more pressing time to influence how we direct our use of technology—rather than it directing us—than the current moment.

Studies have shown that increased screen time contributes to loneliness, depression, anxiety and less emotional connection with others. These startling statistics are paired with the fact that we spend more time in front of our screens than at any point in human history. (On average, we touch our phones over 2,500 times per day.) Yet throwing our phones under a bus is not a realistic solution: we need useful, practice-able strategies to regulate how we use our devices so we don’t lose our experience of life under their radiant allure.

Here are a few of the reasons I need your support in getting this book published so we can influence how people approach using their screens (just a few of the studies I cite in Screened In):

1) The teen suicide rate in the US, for the first time in history, is higher than the teen homicide rate. In fact, it’s 32 percent higher. This statistic stems from the fact that teens are spending less time together in person and more time behind their screens.

2) A Cigna study released in April 2018 found that, based on the UCLA Revised Loneliness Scale, almost 50 percent of Americans are currently lonely, the highest percentage since such data was recorded. 43 percent of Americans acknowledge that they feel isolated from others and that their relationships aren’t always or are rarely meaningful.

3) The number of close friends of the average American adult has decreased from three to two from 1985 to 2004 (nine years after the mass penetration of the Internet in 1995 and a few years after the advent of Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites). 25 percent of Americans polled reported having no close friends whatsoever.

4) A recent study found that a 24-hour period without social media bears a striking resemblance to the symptoms of substance withdrawal: many people showed signs of craving, anxiety and inability to function without access to their social networks.

5) A Kaiser study found that the average use of electronic media in children is 10 hours per day – and that number increases to 11.5 hours per day for children from low-income families.

What am I asking of you? You can support us by donating today and receiving your copy of Screened In.  If you find Screened In to be useful for you and how you regulate the use of your screens as much as I deeply hope you will, you can then recommend it to family and friends. 

All amounts over $25 will land you a copy of the book and the profits will be allocated as direct support for community-based partnerships (CBPs). These CBPs directly support education, health and other projects initiated by schools, health centers and local community-based organizations in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Donations given in addition to the price of the book are tax deductible. Along with your copy of Screened In you will receive a tax-deduction letter from the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization The Center for Social Leadership (socialleaders.org) for the donated amount (your contribution minus $14, which is the discounted price of the book from its cover price of $17). Please note that all contributions of $25 and higher will receive Screened In with free shipping and handling.

Your donation will be categorized into one of the following levels as a thank you for your generous contribution!
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Level 1: $25 - $99 | You will receive one copy of Screened In and receive a tax-deduction letter from The Center for Social Leadership for your donation minus the discounted price of the book ($14).

Level 2: $100 - $249 | In addition to the book and the tax-deduction letter, you will be listed on our website as a Donor who helped launch Screened In.

Level 3: $250 - $499 | In addition to the book and the tax-deduction letter, you will be listed on our website and in the book’s acknowledgements as a Donor who helped launch Screened In.

Level 4: $500 or higher | In addition to the book and the tax-deduction letter, you will be listed on our website and in the book’s acknowledgements as a Premium Donor who helped launch Screened In. 
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I hope you will join us in helping people regain the control of their lives that they’ve ceded to their screens by making a contribution today. All donations will support two vital, urgent causes: (1) spreading the useful, practical strategies contained in Screened In so we and the people around us in our society can reclaim freedom and meaning in our lives in the digital age; and (2) making a social  impact through educational partnerships with low-income communities worldwide.

Sincerely,

Anthony Silard


Screened In: The Art of Living Free in the Digital Age

Table of Contents

PART ONE: DISCONNECTED
1 | A History of Praising and Criticizing a New Technology
2 | The Bait-and-Switch of the Internet
3 | Social Information versus Social Connection
4 | The Brogrammer Brigade
5 | You Are the Crash Test Dummy
6 | Your Digital Identity
7 | The Kids Are Not Alright
8 | Digital Drift

PART TWO: THE NEW WORLD ORDER
9 | The Meta-Democratization
10 | The Brand is You
11 | Convenience over Enjoyment
12 | Your Netflix Time
13 | So Much Information, So Little Wisdom

PART THREE: RECONNECTED
14 | Direct Your Use of Technology, Not the Other Way Around
15 | Downgrade Social Media, Upgrade Your Relationships
16 | Digital Limiting Strategies
17 | The Heart of Darkness
18 | Contain Your Phone, Expand Your Life
Commencement
Appendix: Heart of Darkness Challenge Journals