Ken Myers, the producer of the Mars Hill Audio Journal gave an excellent talk on the need for Christians to evaluate the effect technology has on our ideas and practices. One unintended consequence of our technology is a change in our concept of identity. Our identities on the internet are fluid. In a single day, a person might post comments under two or more identities, play a game online with another identity, and then participate in a "Second Life" on yet another site. We're losing the idea that our identities should remain constant in every area of our lives and viewing our identities as our own creations that can (and even should) fluctuate depending on the situation. Our different lives are divided into different windows on our computer screens. A book discussing this effect quoted a girl who said "RL [i.e., real life] is just one more window, and it's usually not my best one."
Our conceptions of space and time are also shifting due to recent technologies--we're trying to eliminate the effects of both on our lives, and we're missing out on what each of these things, created by God, adds to our lives. Convenience becomes the dominant value; saving time takes precedence over other considerations (like developing relationships).
Another effect is that everyone has come to believe that they should develop all their own ideas about life on their own terms; past authorities on the subject are rarely considered. (When people create their own worldviews from scratch who have little knowledge of the great wisdom of the past, we're in for some superficial times.) Closely related to this is the newfound assumption that new things are always better. We have a belief--a trust--in progress. We've come to assume this simply by watching the progress of technology.
Myers also gave a few ideas on what we can do to try to combat these effects on our own blogs. The
podcasts of all the sessions should be up on Scriptorium Daily soon. I'll link to them when they're available.
I heartily agree with these observations. I teach in a suburban Los Angeles high school, and trying to engage the students in a meaningful dialogue is a daily challenge. I can see the effect overstimulation has had on them viua their constant restlessness.
I believe electronic devices are re-shaping the way people learn and absorb information, and we in education are still using 1950s methods.
Posted by: Perry Shields | September 21, 2008 at 02:13 PM
"via their constant restlessness."
Posted by: Perry Shields | September 21, 2008 at 02:13 PM
Ken's material always provides a thoughtful analysis. As an educator who sees both pluses and minuses to technology, one of biggest drawbacks I've seen is the growing inability of students to sustain a consistent line of reasoning--especially in the humanities. As a result, many of our students tend to think, speak and write in sound-bytes. This doesn't bode well for education, which attempts to train students to explain, articulate, and defend sustained points of view related to their subject areas. Nor does it bode well for Christian educators who want train young people to explain, articulate, and defend the faith.
As for the identity issue, it carries enormous influence on a student's sense of reality, since "their reality" tends to change along with their identity. It's important as Christians to help young people see the philosophical subtleties that their behavior takes on in the "innocent" use of technology. As Christians we tend to evaluate technology on the basis of its content and not on the implications of its use. Some uses of technology, though seemingly innocent, can be harmful--and Ken Meyers, in my opinion, is a master at helping us see this.
Posted by: Jeff Kimble | September 22, 2008 at 01:24 PM
Agreeing with, I think, everything you wrote, a few related thoughts....... I think the Puritans might have admired much of our technological reaching for efficiency as an intensely industrious virtue. Now when the value of the second is soaring and loving God and eachother becomes too expensive, that's a problem. But even then, it's a heart-condition thankfully brought to light by more technologically intensified efficiency:
Do we really believe in the power of prayer enough to invest into it all of that potent time that Judas might have sold used to feed the poor?
What value do we put on Bible study? "Twenty minutes was easy when I was a kid but now I'm a busy man."
And what amidst all that noise online is worth such time's perusal? Perhaps we'll become better info-consumers only settling for the best of the best? One can hope.
Posted by: Ben | November 24, 2008 at 06:47 AM