Habits of the High-tech Heart

This book addresses the major drawbacks to the network computerization of our society and the growing tendency to substitute technology and innovation for morality and virtue. Quentin Schultze argues that the cyber revolution is a mythology of progress that is fueled by informationism, a quasi-religious faith that falsely assumes information itself can improve our lives. Cyberculture assumes a technical solution to every problem. It breeds individualism at the cost of community and values speed, efficiency, and convenience over quality, morality, and virtue. The solution, Schultze argues, is not to dismantle our growing technologies but to pay more attention to the "habits of the heart" as described by Alexis de Tocqueville and made popular by Robert Bellah and his colleagues in Habits of the Heart (discernment, moderation, wisdom, humility, authenticity, and diversity). These habits, which embody the wisdom of the past and the virtue and morality of the Judeo-Christian tradition, can reshape our understanding of digital technology.