Six Dangers of Technology … (continued)
6. Reduced Relationships. Observation: Technology tends to draw you closer to those you are far away from and farther away from those you are close to. Illustration: A married couple might spend many evenings in the same room—she checking the Facebook pages of people who live on other continents, and he in a theological chat room debating with opinionated people from around the world. That husband and wife are physically close to each other, but their technology is drawing them dangerously far apart, offering superficial electronic relationships in the place of their meaningful face-to-face marriage relationship. Technology’s threat to face-to-face relationships:
Challies: A study from the University of Stanford found that for every hour we spend on our computers, traditional face-to-face interaction falls by nearly thirty minutes. (76)
Studies now show that many young people are actually losing their ability to relate to one another in 
an offline context …. It is not unusual to observe two girls sitting in the same room, mere feet from one another, texting back and forth. …. In a strange way, we now find that more communication actually leads to less communication …. Many of our new media technologies are designed for speed and urgency …. They are designed, not to encourage depth in existing relationships, but to widen our network and our ability to say less that is of real substance. (77)
Mediated communication gives us the ability to dedicate less of ourselves to more people. (112)
The cell phone . . . can increase my ability to communicate with those who are far from me, often at the cost of communication with my own wife and children—those who are closest to me.
(116) Point: Beware of the way your time-saving communication devices intrude on your family time and reduce your face-to-face relationships.
Taking the Initiative to Manage Your Technology
Technology is here to stay; we need to take control of it, using it, but wisely curbing its negative influences. Eight suggestions to master your technology (mostly taken from Challies, The Next Story)
- Ask questions before you purchase the newest iGadget:
a) What problem does this technology solve? Challies: It may be that a great new device does not solve any problem in my life, but my purchase does solve the manufacturer’s falling annual profit. (The Next Story, 63).
b) What problems will this new technology create? Example: Cell phones and their constant interruptions.
c) Why do I really want this device? There are sinful reasons to invest in the newest technological widget: love of the new, the pride of being the first person in your circles to own it, buying it simply because it exists.
d) What idols of my heart is my technology enabling? Think twice before bringing into your life something that will encourage an entangling sin.
e) How soon will this device be obsolete?
2. Use email and texting to supplement personal communication, not to replace it. Challies: E-mail and text messaging are inevitable aspects of life, and there is no reason to forsake them altogether. But let’s keep them in their proper context as supplemental and lesser forms of communication. (110) Point: Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call someone or to meet him or her face to face.
3. Eliminate the beeps. Click the Disable button to cut down on the unnecessary interruptions forced upon you by your digital gadgets. A robot that is programmed to interrupt you can be reprogrammed not to interrupt you.
4. Delete and unsubscribe. You’ll soon learn how much information you can live just fine without. 
5. Focus on substance. Use your reading time to read things of significance.
6. Cultivate concentration. Yes, you practiced being distracted, and you managed to get better and better at it (congratulations!). Eventually you rewired your brain in such a way that it craves distraction and fights against concentration. (133).
7. Exercise self-control and legitimate self-denial. Do not be in a hurry to begin your day with the digital …. determine that you will not turn on your computer or look
at your cell phone until you have read the Bible and spent time in prayer. When you have completed your work for the day, stay away from your computer. (134)
8. Dedicate more time to fewer things. Technology allows you to do more things, less well. Consciously resist spreading yourself too thin, even though your technology both allows you and encourages you to do so.
Adapted from Joel James The Preacher and His Technology, Tim Challies, The Next Story
– David De Bruyn, Professor of Church History, Shepherds’ Seminary Africa