Brothers and sisters,
“The feeling that ‘no one is listening to me’ make us want to spend time with machines that seem to care about us… We’re letting (technology) take us places we don’t want to go…”
“..(O)ur fantasies of substitution have cost us…What technology makes easy is not always what nurtures the human spirit.”
The video is right below this short introduction.
And so cultural analyst and professor Sherry Turkle makes the effective case that we’re losing it…what is “it?” The fabric of human connection and the solitude needed to develop this God ordained holy activity that is the way He prescribed the advancement and completion of His Kingdom through His Lord Jesus.
Emails. Texts. Social Media. Avatars. Robot companions. Virtual reality. Customized lives. Rush. Rush. Rush. Hide. Hide. Hide.
This is not what God intended. As I say often, if Jesus Christ needed captured electricity to advance and complete His Kingdom, He would have come now.
There’s no indication Turkle is a Christian from this short 18 minute video presentation. Perhaps she is…but I do not in the least share her optimism at the end that this road has a silver lining. The Pandora’s box is fully open, and there’s no going back to smoke signals and the pony express…or even mitigating the onslaught of the new-newer-newest ways in diverting our attention from more eternal things.
Notice the four young children above in the picture are outside at a campground with God’s inviting and mighty creation surrounding them…it reminds me of the story of the young people in the beautiful mountains of Colorado at a ski resort and watching skiing on the cable TV.
Our arch enemy and nemesis Satan is having a field day. He is, we must remember, and by God’s decree, the prince of the power of the air. He’s a supernatural genius, and knows exactly what he’s doing as he roams the earth seeking whom to devour. Will you, your kids, your family be one of his victims? No? Then what strategies are you employing on a daily basis to both expose and counteract his schemes?
This is a message for all of us in the world of affluence that affords digital connection. We can’t afford to ignore this. There’s way too much at stake.
Some of her quotes from this message follow on this post below the video screen, then her bio, and finally the full transcript.
So, after watching this and reflecting, what will you do to stem this tsunami? Let me know so we can collaborate.
And now, Sherry Turkle’s cryptic and marvelous expose of being “connected, but alone”… Read the rest of this entry »
