I think understanding technology’s effect on our lives & spirituality is one of THE issues of our day.
How does the constant stream of new, late-breaking information affect our pursuit of eternal things?
To that end I picked up Tim Challies’ book The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
In his analysis of technology’s effect on us, Challies seems to pull heavily from Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death. But he takes it a step further in forming a distinctly Christian perspective on technology.
“We are looking for that sweet spot where our use of technology is not just thoughtful and informed, but it is informed by the Bible, by an understanding of God’s purpose for technology.”
“Our task is not to avoid technology but to carefully evaluate it, redeem it, and ensure that we are using it with the right motives and for the right goals.”
Challies points out that the benefits of a new technology are “always far easier to see than the inevitable costs” and that it often takes decades before those costs are fully understood.
He quotes Neil Postman’s warning: “the consequences of technological change are always vast, often unpredictable and largely irreversible.”
If that’s true, “We would do well to think very carefully before jumping in headfirst. And yet for some reason we are prone to be quite lazy in our thinking about technology”
There is so much good content to chew on, I will definitely be posting more from The Next Story.
On a side note, I got the audiobook free but bought the book on Kindle yesterday (because I needed to underline and re-read!) and am now reading it on my Mac and iPad. I’m thoroughly enjoying the Kindle app and the ease of both highlighting and quickly scanning back through my highlighted sections.
In reading the Next Story, I’m reminded of this insightful comic:
Originally posted on RecombinantRecords.net