Moan-ifesto about the particular woes of quarantine for an upper-middle-class parent of young children ... I would call [Sax's] new one 'OK,' 'perfectly fine' and 'not a complete waste of your time' ... The author can’t help sounding a little whiny ... The book is not entirely without adventure ... The trouble is that here in the fall of 2022, when most Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted, the revelation that such simple activities warm a digitally chilled soul feels as stale as our sourdough loaves. And some of Sax’s precepts, novel under our shared duress, now seem obvious or under-interrogated ... The Future Is Analog might have been better as that old-new phenomenon, a podcast. A brand extension writ antsy, it also seems to have suffered from an automated spellchecker.
Provocative ... With moving anecdotes...Sax presents a solid case that technology should keep the 'real world front and center.' This up-close look at the costs of digital convenience delivers.
The author relies on (virtual) interviews throughout, synthesizing the views of academics, other authors, and his suburban peers. This creates a pop-psych feel to the text, rendered in an approachable, witty style punctuated with personal asides poking fun at his own relative privilege during the pandemic. Deft, colorful discussion focused more on social prescriptions than on specific, tangible analog things.
