Have you ever wondered if we are really in charge of our digital devices, or whether instead they rule our lives? A couple of years ago, I became worried enough about this question to gather some first-hand opinions in a conference session.

I asked a series of questions to see whether the folk present, mostly software developers, thought they were ¡°dependent¡± on these appealing, engaging facets of our intensely mobile, network-driven lives. This superficially amusing analysis included asking whether people became fretful if they suddenly had no available network, if they cursed when they got a ¡°low battery¡± message, or admitted to muttering darkly if someone talked to them while they were ¡°busy¡± with their device? Lastly, and an important question for those seeking a , had they ever stood in the middle of the road while typing a message?

The aggregated show of hands was worryingly large, and enough to convince me that the balance between digital life and real-world life had become seriously skewed for these people. I really wish I¡¯d had a copy of David Levy¡¯s Mindful Tech with me to show to the audience, as a means of addressing their newly realised concerns.

Via a combination of personal narrative, research review and programmed self-help manual, Levy has created a timely guide to building an appropriate equilibrium between our ¡°fast world¡± and ¡°slow world¡± existence. The ¡°fast¡± elements of everyday overload have evolved over the years, he tells us, from merely having too many emails to deal with ¨C a classic source of office angst from the 1990s onwards ¨C to the current harsh reality of a 24-hour, information-immersive culture in which the boundaries of work, leisure, relationships and career seem to blur into a finely diced digital smorgasbord. ¡°Slow¡±, to Levy, encompasses the more practical, tactile, contemplative elements of our lives ¨C which he embodies in his passion for calligraphy.

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Exercises in exploring, and then managing, our digital lives form the bulk of the text. Based on courses the author has given to a variety of audiences ¨C academic and professional ¨C they give a thoughtful framework within which to evolve a personal understanding of our own digital habits. Thus armed, we are led by Levy through a discussion about what limits and craft skills we want to bring to bear in order to fine-tune our relationship with our digital selves.

This book is at once highly personal and intensely practical, and it convinced me ¨C despite my suspicion of anything with the term ¡°mindful¡± in the title ¨C that it can play an important part in helping readers assess and address the extent of imbalance in their relationships with communications technology. If you are in a hurry, and by implication anyone who needs to read this book will be, you can gather a good feel for the material by flicking to the boxed items that summarise the exercises ¨C a tactic that will almost inevitably lead you deeper into the text.

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Like kittens, our endearing digital chums will continue to sucker us in as they make themselves increasingly indispensable and appealing ¨C unless we keep our relationships with them in check and under review. This book provides a valuable, pragmatic template for doing just that.

John Gilbey teaches in the computer science department of Aberystwyth University.

Mindful Tech: How to Bring Balance to Our Digital Lives
By David M. Levy
Yale University Press, 256pp, ?18.99
ISBN 9780300208313
Published 25 February 2016