Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Ephesians 5:15-17
Technology in the 21st century is a necessary evil. Some may question whether it’s necessary or evil, but if your experience is like mine, then you would agree with both of those words! I know an older couple who does not have the Internet, and that seems like an attractive option. However, I think for most of us today to survive without the internet would not be doable. Especially if you’re working from home or your children are schooling from home!
Don’t get me wrong, there are some great things about technology, such as connection. You can easily communicate with a friend on the other side of the world. You can learn a foreign language from someone who actually lives in that country talking to you and teaching you. There are medical advancements that we are grateful for today that never would exist without technology. We use technology for cooking, driving, reading, shopping, and nursing our babies! We can even use the Internet for the holy purpose of teaching others about God.
Technology is especially attractive for introverts. Most introverts prefer writing over talking in their communication—emails and text messages are perfect! We have more time to think about what we want to say and we can change the message if the words don’t sound quite right. Technology offers a chance for introverts to show up when they want to and to retreat when they want to. Or does it?
Here is a quote from Adam S. McHugh’s book, Introverts in the Church:
“The ubiquity of personal technology gives others the expectation that we are always available. There just isn’t a closing time anymore, a time to flip the sign on the door, power down, and go home. Our phones demand our immediate attention and distract us from the necessary work of internal reflection, which grounds us and gives us strength. A more subtle danger is that our technology allures us with the illusion of intimacy, but not the reality of it. We may be regularly communicating with others and yet painfully alone.”
There are cons to this connected life we so desire, and there’s research to prove it. The smartphone is relatively new, with the first iPhone released in 2007, so we’re just now seeing the impact of these phones on our lives. It’s especially troubling to read about Generation Z, those born in the mid-90’s through the late 2010’s—they were born after the Internet. They are the most anxious and depressed of any generation. Our children are missing out on the carefree childhood that most of us experienced.
There is a dark side to the lives we live when we’re tied to technology 24/7.
What do sugary foods, slot machines, cigarettes, and apps on your smartphone have in common? They’re addicting, and intentionally so. Tech experts have done their research on what creates addictive behavior, and they’ve filled our apps with those rewards. Just like Hostess wants you addicted to their cupcakes, app makers want you hooked on their apps. That’s how they make money as you come back for more, over and over again. Social acceptance, anticipation, intermittent rewards, and colors and lights all cause chemical reactions in our brains, adding to an app’s addictiveness. You can read more on that in this article, Your Phone Is Designed Like a Slot Machine To Keep You Addicted to it.
Because of technology’s addictive behavior, it causes major distractions. Distractions while driving, while talking to your kids, while visiting with family, while at work, even while you should be resting or sleeping. And when you actually want to get away from it, the pings and buzzes pull you in. Hearing the sounds triggers an automatic reaction in our brains creating an urge to look and see.
Distractions aren’t new to the smartphone age, but our phones make it a lot easier to distract ourselves from the work we don’t want to do and sometimes even from the work we do want to do.
In Crazy Busy, Kevin DeYoung claims, “We are busy with busyness. Rather than figure out what to do with our spare minutes and hours, we are content to swim in the shallows and pass our time with passing the time.”
Another downside to tech-obsessed lives is that it creates a false sense of connection. We can stay in touch with hundreds (or thousands) of friends through Facebook without actually going into any depth with any of them. And when we find out a friend is getting a divorce or suffering with depression we are surprised, because we’ve been in touch! But not really.
In reality, each new tech that comes out drives us further into isolation. Washing machines replaced groups of women communing at the local water source, chatting while doing their family’s labor. Cars allow individuals to travel farther and stay farther away from family members, televisions keep families inside instead of out and about socializing, and social media has replaced in-person interaction. Online shopping has replaced talking to a person and actually asking for help. Even listening to music was a group experience with record players and boom boxes, and now it is mostly private as we put in our ear buds to escape people or our own thoughts.
All of this leads to wireless connection without personal connection. We’ve gone wide in our online friendships without going deep. This is the exact opposite of what we want and crave. After scrolling through Facebook or Instagram for an hour, do you feel better or worse, more connected or less? Most people feel worse! While we choose to use Facebook as a way to stay connected, it actually makes us feel disconnected, lonely, and left out. Research shows that people who spend the most time on Facebook are the most depressed. Does Facebook cause this or is it that those who are already depressed are most likely to click that blue app icon? We use our phones to avoid feelings like anxiety, depression, and loneliness, but all they do is make us feel it even more so.
While we know the downside to staying connected 24/7, we still think the benefits outweigh any negatives. I’m not so sure as we continue to join all the “social” apps to stay in touch with friends and family far away, only to be distracted from the people right in front of us.
Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.
Ephesians 5:14
Have you ever sat down to read or rest and then an hour later you realize you spent the whole hour on your phone? Acedia is a word I’ve only learned recently and it describes this state of not doing what we should be doing. It’s a lack of desire to seek God and His purposes. This can show up in our lives as sloth (physically being lazy) or as busyness—but busy doing the wrong things.
The addiction to smartphones is just a symptom of our addiction to distraction. We prefer to be distracted over dealing with hard things. The listlessness or purposelessness that takes over our days distracts us from seeking God’s face and confronting our own weaknesses. The days are evil, full of hardships and work. If we want to live our lives wisely, then we need to keep our purpose, God’s purpose, at the front of our minds.
“Routines of nothingness. Habits unnecessary to our calling. A hamster wheel of what will never satisfy our souls. [C.S.] Lewis’s warning about the ‘dreary flickering’ in front of our eyes is a loud prophetic alarm to the digital age. We are always busy, but always distracted—diabolically lured away from what is truly essential and truly gratifying. Led by our unchecked digital appetites, we manage to transgress both commands that promise to bring focus to our lives. We fail to enjoy God. We fail to love our neighbor.”
-Tony Reinke, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You
Now that I’ve depressed you, come back next week as we tackle some tips for controlling your smartphone use, instead of letting your phone control you!
PIN THIS IMAGE!
Featured photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Amazon links are affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I will gratefully receive a tiny commission at no extra cost to you!
Leave a Reply