Tag: technology and modern man

September 4, 2013

Technology and Modern Man: Delivering News

It was not always horses doing the carrying, however. The Arabs later pioneered the use of pigeons. The Greek city-states reserved some of their loftiest poetry for the mind-boggling feats of their athlete-runners. They were known as Hemerodromes and were often called into service when a very important message was to delivered. Philonides, the courier and surveyor for Alexander the Great, once ran from Sicyon to Elis – 148 miles – in a day.

-John Freeman, The Tyranny of E-mail, p. 27

The way we give and receive news has changed drastically in the past 100 years – even the past 20 years. Have we now come to the point that we should say,

How beautiful are the fingers of him at his desk who types good news, who texts peace, who blogs salvation, who tweets to Zion, ‘your God reigns’? (see Isaiah 52:7).

And if so, what are the implications? Is there no place left for the runner? For the herald?

Perhaps our love for the preached Word will make us all the more different. Perhaps our desire for face-to-face conversation and engagement will make us stand out in a new way. Perhaps our desire to continue holding hymnbooks made out of real paper will make us counter-cultural. Perhaps our desire to enter a sanctuary with no plasma will set us apart. Perhaps real messengers will indeed stand out as beautiful again in the midst of a sea of machinery and media.

How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”

August 30, 2013

Technology and Modern Man: Writing, Reading, and Distraction

In the twenty-first century, writing and ‘publishing’ have become easier than ever – and reading, due to the amount of material available to read and the rate at which we are communicating, has become harder than ever.

– John Freeman, The Tyranny of Email, p. 18

This line reminded me of the famous words of Neil Postman from Amusing Ourselves to Death:

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us.

As a society we have become flooded with images and words. Why then would we want to read? We read all the time anyway – emails, blogs, text messages, tweets, Facebook statuses, etc. If you live in words, if everything is words, then nothing is words. It has become the air you breathe. Why choose one type of air over another? Who has time anyway? I took a shot at expressing this poetically HERE and HERE.

There is so much to give attention to these days that, giving our attention to everything, we can hardly give our attention to anything. Reading demands attention – deliberate, intentional, careful, self-forgetful attention. It demands an ‘abiding.’ Can you pull yourself out of this world inundated with words and images in order to focus on specific words and images that are vital to your well-being? That’s the issue. Can you fight off distraction and find focus without your ADHD meds? The problem is not simply that you have a short attention span, but that the world is yelling really loudly. Look over here! It’s always making noise. How could you not look?

Remember Lot’s wife.

Even when there are explosions in the background – hellfire and brimstone even. This is learning to find the ocean when there is water all around. Skipping past the pools, jumping into the water that matters, and closing your ears while you swim. It’s tough, but it’s an issue our modern technology forces us to address. Are you addressing it? How?

Fight boredom. This world is not boring. Men’s imaginations are boring. Books are not boring. Men’s reading habits are boring. ‘Bored’ and ‘boring’ are on the ‘no, no’ list in my house. You are bored because you are inundated with things to do. The problem is that you refuse to pick one – one. Can you be intentional? Can you decide, ‘I am going to read this book from cover to cover,’ and stick with it? The book probably isn’t nearly as boring as your wondering thoughts about yourself.

In one sense boredom is a good thing – it reminds us that we cannot be satisfied with the things of this world. In another sense it is a terrible thing. It’s like looking in the mirror and seeing something ugly. You can blame the mirror, like the wicked queen in Snow White, or you can realize that the ugliness is only a reflection of yourself. If you’re bored in your room, little one, it may not be because your room is boring. It may be that you have no imagination. What are you going to do about that? Start playing pretend until you get good at it. Set a goal: ‘I will play pretend today until I begin to enjoy it. I will not blame my room for my lack of joy.’

I’m bored. There are toys all around. This is boring. There’s the TV. Boring. There’s a bookshelf with lots of books. And they’re what’s boring? Imagine what they think of you?

Again, this all boils down to deliberateness. In a world of stuff you must teach yourself to find contentment with one article of that stuff. In this case, we are talking about books. In a world of words you must let your eyes rest on particular words at a particular time. The more you do so, the more you will want to do so. For the more you do so, the more your imagination will be furnished with garnishing that will make the next book more exciting. The less boring you become, the more exciting the next book will become. But you have to start somewhere. Dare I even say it? You could start by closing your browser, and this blog, and picking up a book you’ve wanted to read for a long time – and giving a barbaric yawp at anything that would dare distract you (except perhaps your spouse or children).

August 30, 2013

Inundated by Liquid

A fish sat in his little bowl.
And suddenly another appeared.
‘I have discovered a water hole,’
He said, with an element of cheer.

‘I already have water all around’
Said the first, as he gave a twirl in his tank.
‘But you don’t understand the sound,’
Said the second, ‘this water makes on its bank.’

‘I don’t know what a bank is,’ said the first.
‘Well, that’s because you have never seen
The great water that is filled to burst,’
(spoke the second) that men call the ocean.’

The first replied, ‘With water all around, why should I look for more?
And besides if everything’s water, then nothing’s water. It all splatters.
I don’t even really know what water is, or this thing you call a shore.
What’s water to a fish? It’s like air to a man, molecules to matter.’

He continued his speech: ‘I don’t need your ocean, friend.
I’m surrounded by water on every side.
I have enough to keep me busy and tend
In my tank until the day that I die.’

And die he did, inundated by liquid
All around in his little pen.
To him, water was water, but for his friend it was another matter,
So he went to the ocean to swim.

‘Didn’t the second die as well?’ you ask.
Of course he did, and so will we.
Yet he died not in a cask,
But in the freedom of the sea.

August 30, 2013

Distraction

If I could just read for a minute or two.
Wait, an email just came through.
Here’s a nice blog, maybe that will do.
There sure are a lot of comments to go through.

Now, if I could just read for a minute or two.
I’ve been meaning to read some movie reviews.
Wait, I’ll look at Facebook for a few.
I have a profile picture I want to debut.
And some texting I need to do.

Now, if I could just read for a minute or two.
Wait, a twitter conversation just ensued.
Look at that funny ad for shampoo.
I have an electronic reader, do you?
Have you seen my Goodreads queue?

Now, if I could just read for a minute or two.
Wait, I’m too tired, good night to you.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll try anew,
If I can catch up with my Netflix queue.

August 28, 2013

Technology and Modern Man: Taking Pictures

As Susan Sontag noted in On Photography, we cannot travel and be tourists without ferrying home images of the place we have visited – as if the purpose of the trip were of the collection of the images, not the being there.

-John Freeman, The Tyranny of E-mail, p. 16

It is hard to imagine that people lived for thousands of years without photography. If you wanted a picture you had to do it the good old fashioned way – draw it, paint it, or sculpt it. Yes, people actually lived quite contentedly without photos. But could we?

Freeman’s words ring true. We’re constantly clicking buttons along the way, taking pictures. My wife and I have had the discussion on more than one occasion about our children, especially on special occasions – believe it or not, it is actually more important to participate in, and enjoy, the moment, than capture the moment. Does anyone still believe that?

Hardly anyone considers these days the implications of the second commandment for our picture taking:

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them… (Exodus 20:4-5a)

We, at least we Reformed folk for the most part, tend to focus on the command’s prohibition against visual representations of God made by the hands of men. But the command is actually broader. Any physical object representing something else in connection with worship is prohibited. But could it go even farther than that?

I won’t press it too hard, though I wonder about the second commandment’s implications for photography in general. God knows perfectly well man’s tendency to exalt objects of his (man’s) own creation. A physical object can store all sorts of hidden meanings. Physical objects, and especially pictures, can hold all kinds of memories that lay dormant, only to be evoked by the picture. Behold a picture, and feel time crawl backwards, smell an old aroma, sense an old feeling that you haven’t felt in a while. Those were the good old days. Days worthy of reverence. If only I looked and felt like I did back then. If only that old flame were still in my life. And boom, the second commandment is in full force. Don’t bow down. Put the picture away. Live in the now. Now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation, not yesterday. Remember the past, but do not wax nostalgic, or your now will become enslaved to it. You will become the servant of the picture, and you probably won’t even realize it.

Hence the need to reflect on our propensity to take pictures.

As Christians in an age in which photography is so simple, easy, and accessible, when we spend too much time on websites that flood our souls with images, we must stop and think, we must remember our ever-present God who forbids us to make images of him lest we think that he is a thing of the past. Even when he took on flesh, and the image of God was revealed perfectly in a Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, no pictures were taken. We are to behold his glory through words. We see with our ears. We hear through our hearts.

As you take aim with your phone, or break out your high-dollar camera, consider whether or not you are storing up little idols to place in the shrine of Me. My family. My memories. Remember when they were little children, wasn’t that great. They’re all grown up now. But we’ll take plenty of pictures of the grandkids. I hear Robin Williams’ voice in my head, in that great scene in Dead Poets Society, whispering ‘Carpe…Carpe…Carpe Diem. Seize the day boys.’

I’m sure not everyone has experienced this, but some have. Do you know that powerfully symbolic moment after a breakup when you toss all those old pictures of your ex? What is powerful and symbolic about it? It means you’ve moved on. You’ll no longer be enslaved to the past. I hear Robin Williams again: ‘Carpe…Diem.’

We refuse to let ‘time like an ever rolling stream’ bear its sons away. We would immortalize the moments when it is man, not moments, persons, not pictures, that God would have be immortal. How’s your soul these days? I know you are smiling in your profile picture, that’s not what I’m talking about.

Maybe I have pressed this too far, I don’t know. Pictures can certainly serve positive purposes. I don’t know that anyone has ever said that taking pictures violates the second commandment. My point is that you must be careful how you use them. Look away from the pictures and see real faces, made in the image of God. Look away from the screen and see the stars. Look away from the snapshot and see the sky. Put down the camera and drink it in, right now. Be there.

Use the pictures to reflect. Tell stories. But don’t dwell too long. Make new stories. Go to new places and try to appreciate the actual being there.

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying (Robert Herrick)