How Can We Evaluate The Effects of Technology On Our Spiritual Lives?
I’m interested in helping people think about how technology impacts their spiritual lives.
One way to do that is by helping people reflect more deeply on the role of technology in their lives through questions. There can’t be a one-size-fits-all approach to technology use, as different people will have different strengths and temptations, different life circumstances, etc. So, while advice can be useful, a series of questions can help someone identify what is right for them, their family, their church, etc.1
Here’s a list of questions that I think might serve as a good starting point:
- How does this technology shift my relationship with God, with my family, with my community, with my enemies, and with creation?
- Where does this technology enable New Creation dynamics? Where does it enable Old Creation dynamics? And how?2
- How does this technology form my thoughts, my memory, my body, my feelings, my desires, my attention, my values etc.? (positively and negatively)
- What vision of the “good life” does this technology ask me to adopt?3
- What does this technology ask me to hope in?
- How does this technology shift my definitions of certain key concepts (and therefore my reality)? (love, community, presence, help, etc.)4
Use these questions to jumpstart your thinking about this. And let me know: What do you think? What did I miss?
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Mike Erre (Voxology Podcast) uses “Old Creation dynamics” and “New Creation dynamics.” I find this to be helpful phrasing. Here are a few episodes that discuss these concepts.↩︎
This question is inspired by Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation by James K. A. Smith. I’ve written more about his work here.↩︎
Here is a fantastic reflection on how our definition of community has shifted with the rise of the Internet.↩︎