Our unrestrained embrace of technology. . .

Only a fool would insist that all technology is bad or that it has had a unhealthy influence upon us and our society.  Like anything and everything, technology must be judged on its merits.  That might even be a universal statement except that the merits are precisely that which is in dispute.  What are the good things and what are the not so good things that technology has provided us?  I suspect that we might have great disagreement over the lists written of that which has been salutary and that which has not. 

Christians have also been divided in their embrace of technology.  Some believe that technology is indifferent, it is what you make it.  Some insist that technology has brought nothing but good and mark the success of their churches over their full use of all that technology affords.  Some are not so sure the good outweighs the bad and others are absolutely sure that the fruits of our digital world, social media, and screen absorbed lives is downright evil.  It depends on the day where I fall in this but I am more suspect than excited over what technology and our unrestrained use of it have wrought on us as individuals and as a people together.  With respect to the Church, I am more than suspect but fear that our unwitting acceptance and embrace have worked against our very purpose and life,

Some would complain that we cannot stand outside modernity and its technological world of invention.  We cannot be Amish, they might say with a snicker.  While it might seem that the Amish simply reject all technology, their relationship with technology is more nuanced.  It would not be fair to say that they have chosen one era and planted their flag there.  The Amish are not governed primarily by their rejection of all the things we routinely take for granted but but their Ordnung, the set of unwritten rules guiding their  daily life and not without its local flavor. That is why you see some variance among the Amish about how much technology to use and how deeply they set their foot into modern life.  When it comes to medicine, for example, the Amish may not subscribe to health insurance but they do not disdain doctors or hospitals or modern therapeutic medicine.  Sometimes they avail themselves of the kind of transportation they refuse to own and operate.  When deciding on new technology and its application to their life, the Amish communities are less concerned with the technology itself than how it affects the life of the family, the shape of their community, individualism, and their lives of faith.  Technology is judged by these criteria and, if it is found wanting, it can have more to do with the effects of technology on their lives than the specific technology or devices themselves. 

Sadly, the overall Christian community does not seem to give much consideration to the effects of technology upon people or churches or the values promoted by the Scriptures.  It would seem that we are too busy scrambling to get ahead of each other in adopting and adapting to the changing landscape technology provides.  Think, for example, how quickly we settled into screens and digital worship as a fitting substitute for in person worship.  Covid may have hastened the embrace or even appeared to have necessitated it but we were clearly headed in that direction long before the first person in the US showed symptoms.  I wish that we spent more time actually evaluating the salutary or not so salutary effects of technology on our lives as people, our faith, and the church and its work.  I wish that we gave more consideration to what our rapidly changing technology is doing to us as people than how we might employ it to serve our mission.  Technology is not neutral and it has ramifications well beyond what we can predict.  If anyone is concerned about the morality of our embrace of technology and the digital world, it ought to be the Church and the Scriptures should say something about the good or bad which is the fruit of it all.

Have screens and our culture of screens helped or hurt us as a community in Christ or as individuals within that community?  More than placing a warning label on something, we need to give our people sound counsel so that they can implement technology in their lives in ways that will not compete with or undercut the faith and the work of the Kingdom.  It is one thing to sit on the sidelights and complain that this is not the way it used to be.  It is a far different thing to weigh through the issues and help people decide how much and how far technology should go -- this is true of the Christian faith but it is no less true of the fellowship and community outside the Church.  A sinful people need to admit that as much as something might be used for good, it will by those sinful people surely be used for bad purposes. Artificial intelligence is without doubt a powerful tool for productivity; its benefit to humanity as a whole may not be helpful at all.  In any case, this benefit to humanity should not be treated as a secondary concern. Do we really think that the internet, social media, the ever present screen, and now AI have had no influence upon the loneliness, isolation, division, burnout, and dopamine addiction suffered by our people in greater numbers than ever before?  I am hearing some churches voice some concerns but not enough of us and not urgently enough to keep up with the rapid change of our digital world.  That is sad and our failure as the Church to address this.  Why is it we can talk about nearly every subject known to man as experts but when it comes to giving a critical look at technology we are largely silent?