April 29 2014 -- Every now and again one comes across a book that takes one forward - and even just a step forward in today's complicated world can be helpful. My feeling is that this book takes us forward several steps - perhaps at least three: in Identity, Intimacy and Imagination. What I do feel sure about is that it speaks to so many issues we face in Salesian formation (be that personal, ongoing, or initial) and education where young people - and this includes the 'forever young' - are concerned.

As a sample of some of the more interesting statements in this book by Howard Gardner (of multiple intelligences fame) and Katie Davis, consider these:

"It's our argument that young people growing up in our time are not only immersed in apps: they've come to think of the world as an ensemble of apps, to see their lives as a string of ordered apps, or perhaps, in many cases, a single, extended, cradle-to-grave app. (We've labeled this overarching app a "super-app".) Whatever human beings might want should be provided by apps; if the desired app doesn't yet exist, it should be devised right away by someone (perhaps the seeker); and if no app can be imagined or devised, then the desire (or fear or conundrum) simply does not (or at least should not) matter."

"We argue that the emergence of an app culture allows individuals readily to enact superficial aspects of identity, intimacy, imagination. Whether we can go on to fulfil our full potential in these spheres, to take advantage of apps ("enabling") without being programmed by them ("dependent"), remains a formidable challenge."

"From one reading of it, it may seem that we see apps and the App Generation as moving inexorably in the direction of ready-made solutions to existing problems. It is an unappealing scenario: identities more superficial, packaged, intimacy superficial and tenuous - leaning to dependence not enablement. But the App Generation need not accept these trends. People can decide to disengage, explore paths on their own, achieve degrees and forms of intimacy, and forge creative directions that had never been anticipated before. ... Apps are not going to disappear and there is no reason why they should. The question is whether we are going to become increasingly app-dependent .... or will we become app-enabled ... or even, on rare occasions, tossing technology to the winds, app-transcendent?"

One important reviewer in this field, who is always worth listening to (Sherry Turkle) has the following to say:

“Here we have a serious consideration that a generation has grown up with an emotional aesthetic as instrumental as their technology. That is, this generation approaches intimacy, identity, and imagination through the prism of the apps that have surrounded them. Gardner and Davis further consider the proposition that ’What can’t be an app doesn’t matter.’ But the authors do more than this. They approach their subject in a constructive spirit, providing analytical tools to distinguish among apps, the ones that will stifle and the ones that will nurture. In the end, they see a way forward: We are responsible, individually and in our communities and families to use technology in ways that open up the world rather than close it down. The App Generation is not anti-technology; it simply puts technology in its place.”—Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

Reading this book as a Salesian, however, and someone who has had a degree of experience in both the technical aspects (including app-making) and in communications aspects of Salesian formation around the world, there is hardly a page which does not strike a chord somewhere. Gardner and Davies tackle the religious aspect, which they claim is  "easily described in 'app' terms" especially where ritual and prayer are concerned. They look at religious life as possibly a kind of super-app for many young people. "Yet paradoxically the app world is antipathetic to religion ... The diversity of apps may push us to defining our own religious practice, in our own way, our own brand of spirituality."  They even look at the laudable phenomenon of volunteerism, but in the light of the 'packaged' personality, consider that a hidden motivation  "may stem more from a desire to pad their resumes than give back to society." That sounds negative - but in the end, this book is balanced. It sees the dangers but goes beyond  them with statements like this:  "Adults can indicate that apps are the latest and greatest to master knowledge or a new avenue to explore different pathways.  We look to the mindful adults to furnish the settings within which apps will be encountered and used. It's in our hands to provide nudges in the direction of flexible use of apps; to offer initial scaffolds in the form or use of apps but then remove them as soon as feasible."

Very often we (I mean Salesians) struggle to get beyond comments on the dangers (or possibilities) of personalised media. GC27 (it seems to me) was even struggling to say anything different or brave or even new about media, the digital world and its implications for education and, yes, faith too.  So one of the benefits of 'The App Generation' is precisely this in my view - it does go beyond simple platitudes and strikes out bravely, by pointing out both the dangers and indicating what 'mindful adults' can do about it. It also has implications for what apps we Salesians might produce - and why.