"In one of the most thoughtful of the recent spate of books on the disheartening relationship between technology, consumerism and community, Boston Globe journalist Pappano examines our market-driven desire to have it allfaster, bigger and better. Among her central observations: that people are encouraged to be consumers above all, developing relationships with familiar brands, and that we have learned to evaluate our personal lives in terms of cost-benefit analysisthinking about friendships in light of what weve invested and earned, looking for love in the classified ads. What separates this book from the pack is Pappanos careful examination of our changing feelings about technology and emotional connection. . . . Pappanos book will appeal to readers interested in an engaging and intelligent rant against the unnecessary necessities of modern life."Publishers Weekly

"Pappanos book exhibits both genuine concern and brave vulnerability in the face of Americas waning civic engagement. . . . The Connection Gap has a voice of fresh honesty, fallibility and humanness that bear witness to cultural changes that affect a very visible and important segment of the American population."The American Prospect

"Pappano makes a convincing case that Americans are losing touch with one another. She speaks, often eloquently, about her own and other peoples sense of isolation; she gives examples from popular culture, mostly in the form of magazine, such as Good Housekeeping or Seventeen. She shows how we have shifted from a culture focused on taking care of others to one of taking care of me first."Boston Globe

"Knowing, disturbing, funny, and elegantly written, this book explores the causes and consequences of the growing inability of Americans to establish and maintain meaningful connections to families, spouses, relationship partners, children, friends, communities, and physical environment. Drawing on a rich mix of sociological and economic surveys, census data, interviews with people . . . and her own clever and insightful reading of decades of print and broadcast advertisements, Pappano builds a strong case that Americans have been slowly growing apart from one another and have had increasing difficulty connecting with others because of choices they have made and choices made for them. . . . Anyone interested in the state of the family or close relationships in US life will find this a provocative read."Choice

"[Pappano] takes a refreshingly sane look at the whole debate. She makes the case that the junk of the culture may tell us more about the state of our society than the big issues argued on editorial pages. . . . Pappano is dead-on when she says that weve gone from keeping up with the Joneses to fretting that our homes dont measure up to Architectural Digest. . . . The Connection Gap is a wide-ranging and clear-headed look at the whole civic disintegration controversy."CommonWealth

"In The Connection Gap, Laura Pappano has written a wake-up call to the cell-phone chatting, online shopping, gadget-consuming and TV-watching upwardly mobile middle-class suburbanites who are cutting themselves off from their fellow human beings. . . . [She] provides a readable, accessible picture of the high price we pay for all our conveniences and entertainment. She is right, certainly, that the bonds of our communities have withered and that this transformation has very real costs. Her book will add to a growing communitarian movement. Armed with the authors passionate look at the problem, perhaps more Americans will learn their neighbors names, take a break from the TV set to talk more to their children and join a social action group."The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ)

"Pappano forces us to take a good look at how far weve come, to the lonely place that technological progress has brought us. Life is so much easier, and so much more impersonal that weve forgotten what its like to know the next door neighbors. . . . While some may feel Pappano is a bit alarmist in her views, one cannot deny the truth of her observations."Provident Book Finder

"What makes the book appealing, however, is Pappanos clear and earnest appeal to people who kvetch about being overwhelmed: Turn off the cell phone and pay attention to where you are. Talk to your fellow shoppers at the supermarket. Sit in your front yard once in a while so you can say hello to people who pass by. These alleged timewasters, argues Pappano, m be the very things that make us feel truly alive."Rutgers Magazine

"By loneliness, Pappano says she does not intend to conjure images of wan, forlorn individuals; rather, loneliness in The Connection Gap is a symptom of the void created by the lack of human interaction and warmth. Its the feeling you get when your cell phone promises to put you in touch with everyone, but that touch feels cold and mechanical. Its the suspicion that all day, instead of looking at human faces, you look at screens: the computer, the TV, the touch-interface ATM."Newton (MA) Tab

"An important human message for the 21st Century, compellingly presented."Desmond Morris, author of The Naked Ape

"Human relationships are vital to our individual and collective happiness. We need to engage and connect. We need to be inconvenienced, dropped in on, surprised, and called upon. . . . As a people, we must realize that the craze for perfection, the instinct to pay experts, and the eagerness to delegate the chores of our lives are not making living better—just thinner. As we reap what we feel are the benefits of this age of affluence, we are narrowing our experiences and cutting out interactions and opportunities for connection. It's time to reverse our collective retreat and to reinvolve ourselves in each other's lives. Certainly that's tough, especially when we are constantly presented with the tantalizing opportunity to do more while doing less. But there is good news: The Connection Gap is here not because we invited it but because we have not pushed it away. The challenge seems daunting, and yet the solution is straightforward: Only connect."--fromThe Connection Gap