Book Club Questions for The Tech-Wise Family

1.Crouch opens by describing a moment of honest family self-assessment — looking around and noticing how many devices are present and how much time is consumed by them. Before reading further, what did you notice when you took stock of your own household this past week?

2.Crouch distinguishes between making good choices *about* technology and making good choices *with* technology. What is the difference, and why does he think the first is so rarely discussed?

3.The book's organizing concern is not simply safety or screen time, but the formation of character, wisdom, and courage. Why do you think Crouch frames the technology conversation in those terms rather than in terms of harm prevention?

1.Crouch presents ten commitments that shaped his family's approach to technology. Which one surprised you most — either because it seemed too demanding or because it seemed too simple?

2.He is honest that his family does not perfectly keep all ten commitments. Why do you think he leads with that admission, and how does it affect the way you receive the list?

3.The commitments are ordered intentionally, starting with the family's purpose and working outward to specific device habits. What logic do you see in that ordering, and why might it matter to start with "why" before getting to "what"?

1.Crouch argues that the layout and "ecology" of our homes shapes our behavior more powerfully than we realize. Walk through your own home mentally: where are devices located, and what does their placement communicate about priorities?

2.He makes the case for keeping certain spaces — particularly bedrooms — free from screens. What is his reasoning, and do you find it convincing? What would be the hardest space in your home to de-screen?

3.Crouch points to the practice of having a single, visible, public charging station for devices — what his family calls a "charging station outside the bedroom." What would change relationally in your household if devices charged in a common area rather than in private rooms?

1.Crouch introduces the idea of "rhythms" — daily, weekly, and annual patterns that create the texture of a family's life. What rhythms currently shape your household, and how many of them were intentionally chosen versus simply absorbed from the culture around you?

2.He makes a strong case for device-free mealtimes. What is his argument, and what do you think is lost — relationally and formatively — when screens are present at the table?

3.Crouch discusses the first hour of the day and the last hour before sleep as especially important times to protect from devices. Do you agree? What happens to your own mind and spirit when a phone is the first and last thing you engage with each day?

1.Crouch argues that the relentless availability of entertainment has made an entire generation afraid of boredom. Do you agree? When did you last feel genuinely bored, and what did you do with that feeling?

2.He distinguishes between "boredom" in the modern sense (needing stimulus) and the older idea of restful stillness that produces creativity and depth. What does he say is born in the space that boredom creates? Have you experienced that in your own life?

3.Crouch describes his children's complaints of boredom and how he and his wife responded — not by providing entertainment, but by nudging them toward creative play. How do parents in your community typically respond when children say they're bored? What message does that response send?

1.Crouch argues that devices are not neutral conduits of information — they are active shapers of desire, attention, and identity. In what specific ways have you noticed a device "teaching" you or your children something you did not choose to learn?

2.He raises the question of who the primary teachers in a child's life ought to be — parents, community, church, Scripture — and how technology has quietly displaced many of them. Do you think parents today are aware of how much formative authority they have ceded? Why or why not?

3.Crouch discusses the particular vulnerability of adolescence — a stage of life when identity is being formed and young people are highly susceptible to the values modeled by whoever (or whatever) has their attention. How does social media function as a kind of peer group on steroids during those years?

1.Crouch addresses the habit many of us have of checking our phones within minutes — sometimes seconds — of waking up. What does this habit do to the first moments of consciousness in the day? What might those moments be for instead?

2.He argues that the bedroom has a unique importance as a place of rest, intimacy, and vulnerability — and that the presence of a phone in the bedroom fundamentally changes its character. Do you agree? What has the phone's presence in your bedroom cost you?

3.Crouch notes that the "last hour before sleep" is neurologically and spiritually significant. What does research suggest about screen use and sleep quality? And what might be lost spiritually when the last thing we process before sleeping is a social media feed?

1.Crouch makes the observation that the car has historically been one of the best places for real parent-child conversation — something about side-by-side seating and the slight discomfort of a confined space loosens people up. Have you found this to be true in your own experience?

2.He laments that screens in cars and earbuds in ears have largely ended this kind of spontaneous conversation. What does the family lose when every transition time — every drive to school or practice — becomes an entertainment buffer?

3.Crouch notes that some of the most significant conversations he has had with his children happened in the car, without planning or agenda. What conditions tend to produce that kind of unguarded, genuine conversation? How do devices destroy those conditions?

1.Crouch grounds his entire argument in a theology of image-bearing — humans are made in the image of a Creator God, which means we are fundamentally creative and purposeful beings. How does this theological foundation change the nature of the critique he is making? Is it a different kind of critique than you typically hear about technology?

2.He distinguishes between "making" and "consuming" — between using our hands and minds to create something and passively receiving what others have made. How much of your typical week is spent in each mode? What does the balance reveal?

3.Crouch argues that one of technology's subtlest harms is turning us from makers into consumers — that we watch others cook instead of cooking, watch others play music instead of playing, watch others do creative work instead of doing it ourselves. Where do you see this in your own life or in your children's lives?

1.Looking back at the whole book: which chapter or idea hit you hardest, and why? What was it about that chapter that got past your defenses in a way the others may not have?

2.Crouch's central thesis is that the problem with technology is not primarily that it is dangerous, but that it is displacing better things — wisdom, courage, creativity, deep relationship, and the knowledge of God. Has your understanding of the problem shifted over the course of this study? How would you now describe the core issue to someone who hasn't read the book?

3.The book is honest that Crouch's own family does not perfectly live out the ten commitments. How has that honesty shaped the way you have received his vision? Did it make it more or less accessible to you?