What is Your Relationship with Technology?

So what is your relationship with modern technology and the digital “improvements” in our society? How often do you engage in the never ending list of technology enhancements in our modern lifestyle? Do you find yourself trying to resist the inundation of technology updates and frequent invites for “connecting” with others in the social media world? Or are you slowly sliding into a shift of your daily activities that includes frequent phone and email checking, watching the latest video that went “viral”, and getting lost in all the high-tech features that are offered on your appliances?

Whether we like it or not, encourage it or not, fear it or not, the psychological atmosphere of our world is being drastically reconfigured and our experiences of life, relationships and spirituality are being tested in ways that are unique from anything society has experienced before.

Even as God-honoring Christians, our attitudes, beliefs, experiences and life circumstances will place us all across the wide spectrum of technology supporters or resistors. Yet, it is hard to deny that on a daily basis our personal, relational and spiritual walk isn’t being altered or at the very least being challenged to conform and move more towards the default line of “being of this world”.

While there are many different ways to take this discussion, my larger goal is to do just that….open a candid discussion throughout a variety of seasons and contexts of your life on how the modern technology driven world has, is and may continue to affect the spiritual walk you are intending to maintain. I hope to follow up with many more blog posts that will help present and introduce many key topics related to the implications from this modern age of technology. I intend to provide an abundance of literature, research, follow up articles and practical “how to’s” to help individuals, youth, parents, church leaders and educators alike to help better equip you with knowledge, encouragement and fuel for discussion to promote a healthy stewardship in your technology affected spiritual journey.

Keeping in line with Christ’s teachings of “Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be” (Luke 12:34) and “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money…… (or technology in this case) (Matthew 6:24), my hope is to present from a position of advocating spiritual stewardship of technology, not necessarily overreacting to it as an alarmist, while definitely not endorsing a blind use of it without strong considerations of the multifaceted impacts that one may expose themselves to by over engaging in the “pleasures of the world”.

So what words would you use to describe what technology has become in your life, in your family, in your heart?

A source of enjoyment and enhanced entertainment?

An opportunity to stay connected with others? To feel engaged in the larger world around you?

A distraction? An excuse to temporarily check out?

A constant temptation? A source of conflict and tension in your household?

A threat to the safety and integrity of your children and family?

And so on and so on……..


Justin