Digital Dominion

I am slow to put up Christmas lights. This year it happened on a Saturday night before friends were coming over Sunday night. My wife and I started when I was finally free, which was around midnight. It was crazy. I wondered what our neighbors thought. (Probably nothing since I put up a mailbox at 1:30 a.m. a few weeks before.) So, we ran garland and strings of little white lights all the way down the right side of the white, waist-high porch rail, up and over the archway, down the other side, and down the length of the left rail. Instead of threading the strings of lights and garland through every spindle, we just tied the garland and lights on top of the rail with plastic ties so we could take them down more rapidly. Anyway, I was disappointed because, although we got our Christmas lights up in time for our gathering, our porch light decided to stop working before our group came over. I thought, “What are the chances? You accomplish one thing, and then a new problem arises.” The silly porch light would not work all through the holidays. I tried to screw a new light bulb in only to find out it was not that kind of traditional light. There was nothing to screw a light bulb into. My wife had purchased the light and had it installed. There is no bulb replacement; it was another product with built-in obsolescence. When it burns out, you throw it away and buy a new one. Aggravating. So, we went all through the holidays with a porch beautifully lit for the season, but without the normal illumination to the right of the front door. The shadows made using our front door key a bit of a challenge. We kept the lights up into the new year, and not only because we procrastinated; we were the last ones to take down our lights because we simply wanted the holidays to last longer for us. Finally, exactly two weeks after the new year began, we unplugged the white Christmas lights, and the railing and entryway of the porch went dim… And our porch light came on. Yes, we were surprised. Yes, it was a dusk to dawn light that was confused by the white Christmas lights and assumed the sun was out every single night. Yes, we felt less than intelligent in that moment. And, yes, we laughed for a good while. I want to address the missing porch light in this book. Scholars, commentators, and a variety of individuals have written about communication technology and social media; some helpful, some not so much. Today the lights of Big Tech are drowning out just about everything else. We have also experienced illumination from other places and other disciplines. Many works approach the subject at the intersection of sociology and technology. Questions arise regarding how, as people, we will respond to technology, and specifically how we will handle the rapid changes in how we communicate (or do not communicate). What is the missing porch light? Well, as a Christian, the sociological questions regarding technology are inadequate, taken alone. The missing porch light is theology. This book endeavors to have the conversation regarding new developments in the areas of digital communication at the intersection of sociology, technology, and theology. In Cal Newport’s recent work, he refers to a philosophy of technology use and proposes digital minimalism as a lifestyle. Sherry Turkle famously argues for reclaiming conversation from a socio-psychological viewpoint and a desire to recover empathy in an age of emojis. However, the source with the most enduring and timeless principles is, of course, the Bible. So, what does God think about smartphones and social media? What is God’s opinion about your Instagram account, your most recent tweet, the selfie you just took, or the time you spend on your smartphone? He actually has much to say on the subject. This book will look at other practical positions and opinions on communication technology and social platforms, but the goal is to assist all of us in a reevaluation and recalibration of our digital communication with a goal of pleasing Jesus Christ. As Christians we want to avoid “the twin errors of syncretism and irrelevance.” We do not want to blindly and uncritically adopt all our culture produces, nor do we want to isolate ourselves in a spiritual or sociological bunker without enough proximity to be salt and light. The answer is insulation, not isolation. We must put on the whole armor of God and fight the true enemy, which, Paul reminds us, is not flesh and blood. Back in 1949 Martin Heidegger warned, “We are delivered over to [technology] in the worst possible way when we regard it as something neutral.” ⁠ It is this blind acceptance that has the potential to produce harm. If we passively disregard the effects and intentionality of technology, we surrender our freedom. As believers, it is important that we ask ourselves the question “How can I honor God in my digital lifestyle?” The Bible directs us in Paul’s letter to the Colossian Christians with these words: “whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus…” When we text, post, tweet or update, aren’t those both words and deeds?