online meanderings: the temptations of technology

An awful lot of words have been written online about how to reduce the number of words written online!

These words have convicted, challenged and encouraged me not to let blogging and technology take over my life.

on technology and relationships

Challies' A great servant an evil master is just a little too close to home. Does this scenario sound familiar to you?

Technology sticks its foot in the door of so many areas of my life. When I sit down to read to my children we may be interrupted by a phone call. As we head outdoors to play, I may do a quick check of my email and spend fifteen minutes typing out a reply that could easily wait until the next day; and then, while I play with the children, I am distracted, mulling over what I might have or should have said.

Trevor Cairney in Writing, communication, technology and relationships warns,

Don’t replace personal conversations with your friends, family and neighbours with SMS messages, Facebook, emails and Blog posts. Yes, they can work well when you’re on the other side of the country or the world but there is no substitute for personal communication.

Trevor shares his personal list of ways to limit the impact of technology on relationships in The Soul in Cyberspace. He quotes Groothius on "absent presence" - what an uncomfortably challenging idea! Tell me you haven't done it:

"People practice an 'absent presence' constantly as they talk on cell phones while checking out at the supermarket or at Starbucks, as they send text messages during classes instead of attending to teachers and students, as they play video games instead of getting to know their spouses and children." Ouch!

Do technology and church mix? See Josh Harris' Should we use Twitter during church? and John Piper's More on not using Twitter during worship services.

on entertainment addiction

I was searching through some old posts for this post when I rediscovered a lovely poem by Dorothy L.Sayers and a great quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the effect of constant entertainment on spirituality.

Mark Driscoll muses on our addiction to noise in Silence:

As I drifted off to sleep, it dawned on me that I had not had one minute of silence during my entire day. It was possible, I realized, that I could live the rest of my life without ever again experiencing silence.

In that moment, God deeply convicted me that I was addicted to the false trinity of our day, the gods known as Noise, Hurry, and Crowds.

John Piper answers the question How do you break free from an addiction to entertainment?

on MP3 sermons and the real thing

You might remember my Sola Panel post to MP3 or not to MP3?

Dan Phillips in Porn and paper pastors writes about the danger of giving your heart to theologians you will never meet and comparing them to your real pastor.

These paper pastors maintain the perfect distance. If you don't want to hear something, they don't press it — or you can instantly shut them up, snap! They never ask you to do something uncomfortable and follow up on you. They never persistently probe an area of sin, in you, in person, eyeball to eyeball... nor will they. Church discipline will not be a threat with them. Ever.

Because they don't know you from Adam.

I've got some more links on the temptations of blogging, but I think I'll save those for next week, when I'd also like to share how I (try to) control my computer use. In the meantime, I've got some reflecting and repenting to do!