Taught Through Tech: Two Books on the Christian and Technology

Image by Tran Mau Tri Tam (Pixabay)

It is easy to find distraction in our world. In fact, I would say the difficulty comes in avoiding distraction rather than obtaining such opportunities. There have been numerous moments, even recently, where a 30-minute window goes by and I have not looked up from a mindless stream of Instagram scrolling. Guilt strikes hard every time and yet, without fail, I find myself far too often in this predictable, pointless cycle.

A couple of years ago, I was reading a book called 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke.  My main reason was my own fatigue and frustration about how much time I spent on social media platforms. I had become a servant to social media, allowing it to not only dictate what I thought about, but even transform what I said and even what I desired.

Every time I would finally set my phone down, the guilt began to swirl because of how much time I had wasted and how little benefit it brought to me. In his book, Reinke asks whether smartphones and similar tech can be appropriately used in the Christian life to contribute to our flourishing. His initial chapter, titled “We are Addicted to Distractions,” exposed a recurring flaw of how we use digital distractions to avoid work, people, and even thoughts of eternity.

In most of our lives, technology is mainly purposed for distraction and passive entertainment.
 
Therefore, as Christians, rather than just accepting social media flippantly, we must engage it rightly and wisely if we want to live faithfully in this present age. That is why I picked up another book called Digital Liturgies by Samuel James.  I hoped James would provide his reader with a glimpse of what faithful engagement with the digital landscape should look like. And he did just that.

Here are a few helpful ways James communicates the significance of our physical reality, encourages the pursuit of wisdom, and emphasizes the need to invest ourselves in the narrative of Scripture rather than the one we are taught through social media.

• “Digital technology has recalibrated our worldviews and reshaped our consciences not to see the good givenness of our bodies.” (30)
• “Technologies, simply by virtue of what they can do, communicate something. They communicate a vision of what life should be like, what human beings and the natural world should be capable of.” (39)
• “Devices and practices that alter our habits of speaking and reading consequently alter our habits of learning and thinking. It is these technologies that tend to have the most power over us.” (53)

James provides a summary of his insights. These are vital takeaways from a book meant to shape how Christians in today’s culture are to interact within a digitalized world.

• “Part of faithfulness to God as embodied humans means living wisely, and this wisdom consists primarily of seeing the world the way God sees it and responding accordingly…. Anything that tilts us away from the givenness of reality – including but not limited to our physical existence as bodied creatures – undermines wisdom.” (65)
• “The internet is an especially powerful technology for creating these new patterns of belief and behavior in us. This is not merely an issue of the kinds of things we find online; it’s an issue of the form of the internet itself.” (66)

This is an ever-important conversation to consider.

Far too often, we settle for a belief that it is only the content on your screen that is capable of spiritual damage. Though content is a crucial category to keep in mind, the form of the digital social internet is also a threat: it trains us to think of our own stories and experiences as authoritative and sources of truth.

Therefore, we can engage this landscape appropriately only if we commit ourselves to meditate on the realities of the gospel of Jesus Christ who is the way, truth, and life. (Jn. 14:6) All of this makes the words of Paul seem a bit more perceptive when he calls his readers to think about certain things in Philippians 4:8-9: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Dear saints, let us appreciate the ascended Incarnate Son of God and pursue what is true, wise, and real by meditating on the beauty of the gospel of Jesus.

Persevere,
Nick Boucher
Pastor of Student Ministries