Does digital communication cost us something? Beyond the price of the latest iPhone, what are we paying when we opt for more convenient ways of communicating? And if we could see these costs before our eyes and weigh them in advance, would we still knowingly pay them?
I recently read Cal Newport’s newest book, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Newport discusses the impact of technology on people’s personal lives. He points out that we live in a hyper-connected world and that our relationship with the tools that make this connectivity possible is unsustainable.[1]
It’s clear that technology has drastically changed our relationships and our communication. Unfortunately, the advancement of technology has brought with it the degradation of things like meaningful conversation and quality time spent with others. For example, in times past, if one wished to communicate with someone, they had to have either a face-to-face conversation or write a letter for less urgent communication. For a while, phone calls were the convenient way of reaching people. It was slightly more convenient since you could talk to someone without physically seeing them. Nowadays, instead of having face-to-face interaction, or even conversation over a phone, many opt for communicating through screens using either messaging or social media.
The advancement of technology is certainly not a bad thing. When I lived in England, technology allowed me to communicate with family at home. We could send messages back and forth. I could call them and hear their voices, and I could even video chat with them and see their facial expressions as we talked. I was grateful that I did not have to send a letter across the ocean and wait weeks before hearing back from them. Thus the ability to communicate quickly and conveniently is helpful in many situations. But I’m afraid that many people today do not use this communication technology only when it is necessary. Instead, it often replaces richer means of communication like face-to-face conversation.
The Degradation of Meaningful Conversation
In one chapter of Digital Minimalism entitled “Don’t Click ‘Like,’” Newport explains that our brains naturally crave rich social interaction and that issues arise when “we displace this interaction with highly appealing, but much less substantial, electronic pings.”[2] One of the most popular excuses for people’s having social media accounts is that it allows them to “stay in touch” with friends and relatives. While some of this is certainly happening on social media platforms, the problem is that people think that they are maintaining relationships with others simply by liking their posts. Meanwhile they have stopped planning visits to see one another physically and/or calling the individual.
Newport points out that the more time people use social media to interact with their friends, the less time they dedicate to offline communication. The instant availability of status updates at our fingertips de-incentivizes meaningful interpersonal engagement. The depth of the relationship strictly cultivated by online communication is far less than that of a relationship where live interaction is prioritized. Newport says, “The small boosts you receive from posting on a friend’s wall or liking their latest Instagram photo can’t come close to compensating for the large loss experienced by no longer spending real-world time with that same friend.”[3] He later notes that we as humans are complex beings who thrive in face-to-face interactions. If we replace these with something as simple as a “like” button, we fail to enjoy quality relationships with those we care about. He says, “To say it’s like driving a Ferrari under the speed limit is an understatement; the better simile is towing a Ferrari behind a mule.”[4]
The problem that Newport identifies is not with the technology itself but with technology taking place of real human interactions.[5] It’s an important issue we must consider if we want develop and maintain healthy relationships in our lives. We need to reflect on what we are missing if we see digital communication as an alternative for live interaction. It has major ramifications on our human nature.
The Social Aspect of Our Humanity
The reason that Newport gives for digital communication being unsatisfying to us is that our brains “evolved over millions of years in environments where interactions were always rich, face-to-face encounters, and social groups were small and tribal,” whereas communication in the past two decades has been characterized by digital communication tools.[6] He proceeds to say that the clash of our old neural systems with modern innovations has caused problems.
From a Christian perspective, a better explanation is that humans are social beings made in the image of God. Leroy Forlines suggests that we as image bearers have four basic relationships: with God, others, self, and the created order. If someone neglects or distorts one of the four, “a person will die, suffer malfunction, or be less than human according to what relationship (relationships) is involved and depending upon the extent he or she is deprived or deprives himself of these relationships.”[7]
In one way or another, the overuse of digital technology threatens each of these basic relationships. First, we threaten our relationship with God. Tony Reinke surveyed eight thousand Christians about their social media routines and found that seventy-three percent of Christians admit to checking email and social media before they perform their spiritual disciplines.[8] Websites and apps do not have our well-being in mind, much less our spirituality. The longer we stay on their sites, the more money these website and app developers make; therefore, their services are designed to keep users coming back. We do not need to allow things like social media and email to take precedent over our relationship with God. We need to develop the discipline to use available digital tools without letting them use us.
Second, we threaten our relationship with others when we overuse technology. As noted above, many tend to replace rich face-to-face interaction with cheap digital communication. However, doing so results in relationship with others that are less than healthy. The next time you eat out, take a look at the people in the restaurant. Many of them will be there with their families but more interested in scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, or perhaps checking their email inbox. If they aren’t looking at their phones, then they have likely placed the phone on the table ready to check it the second the next notification steals their attention.
Third, we threaten our relationship with creation. Forlines points out that God has given humans the responsibility of exercising dominion over the earth.[9] Our Creator has created us to work, think, and fashion. Because of the addictive nature of technology, our devices often make us lazy and distract us from our work (and keep us indoors!).
Finally, we threaten our self-concept and self-understanding. Newport points out that, although people barely spend time alone in our digital age, they need regular doses of solitude to flourish as human beings.[10] He also notes that the smartphone has allowed us to banish solitude from our lives completely. At any free moment, instead of spending time alone with his or her thoughts, a person can glance at a phone and find something to fill the empty space.
Application
We need regularly to evaluate our use of technology and to demonstrate courage to do what’s necessary to flourish as humans created in God’s image. When we evaluate the technology we are using, we should ask ourselves the right questions. For example, asking if any benefit results from having a social media account, an email address, or even a smartphone in general are the wrong questions. Instead, we should ask if we would be better off without them. We especially need to have this mindset when considering the ways that technology impacts our relationship with God. We shouldn’t just ask ourselves if our current use of technology is preventing growth in Christ. Instead, we should ask if we could grow more in Christ if these patterns of technology use weren’t in our lives.
We must never allow the
prevalence of digital technology to keep us from recognizing its effects on
human relationships. We must submit everything in our lives, even our
communication habits, to the lordship of Christ. Only by doing this will we
will find the ability to flourish, not only as human beings but also as
disciples.
[1]Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2019), xviii.
[2]Ibid., 130.
[3]Ibid., 141.
[4]Ibid., 153.
[5]Ibid., 160.
[6]Ibid., 136.
[7]F. Leroy Forlines, The Quest for Truth: Theology for Postmodern Times (Nashville: Randall House, 2001), 140.
[8]Tony Reinke, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017), 42.
[9]Forlines, 141.
[10]Newport, 99.
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