Words of wisdom — afterthought
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One last tidbit about social media before I move on: I suppose I wonder what happens to us if we keep up at this pace. And by ‘us,’ do I mean Christians, or all of humanity? I’m not sure — maybe both?That makes me feel like quite the fuddy-duddy. A hundred years ago, would I have been the one saying that if the good Lord had intended us to fly, He would have given us wings? Human beings have certainly proved to be resourceful and adaptive enough to handle advances in technology that our ancestors never could’ve foreseen.
But if there’s one thing that just makes me anxious when I consider the rate at which technology is expanding, it’s that we seem to assume that anything we CAN do is something that we SHOULD do. In the case of social media, we assume that flindering our attention and our ability to relate to one another isn’t going to impact our humanity. But how could it not? Dividing my attention a thousand times doesn’t mean I have multiplied my patience, friendliness or intelligence; probably just the opposite. The only way to survive such a reality is to get in the habit of giving less and less, while still giving lip service to words like ‘friend’ and ‘like’ and ‘share.’
We haven’t changed ourselves into gods and goddesses that can intimately know, empathize, connect and relate to hundreds and thousands and millions of people. We’ve just painted ourselves into a corner where that’s what we need to be. And if we can’t grow into the role, or don’t want to, then probably we’ll just devalue that kind of human connection, rather than admit to ourselves that we have gotten shallower and more superficial.
That’s the human end of the problem. The Christian end of it is that there is something mystical and transcendent about how we interact with each other and with God. Through humble means of communication — words, letters, little acts of kindness — wisdom is communicated from one generation to the next and with it, epiphany, beauty, truth. In an increasingly toxic and hostile environment, the Gospel is spread and affirmed every day. When our entire culture starts to alter that, what will happen? What will things look like in 40 years or 80?I worry about things like this all the time. (Greg is good about letting me vent my opinions, but he calls it ‘going meta,’ and it usually elicits a patient look.) Do I really think that some kind of crisis point is looming? I don’t know. I don’t think so. I suppose I have the tense feeling of someone watching a person blow up a very old balloon. But I can’t point to any empirical evidence that says that this particular balloon will blow soon, because until now we haven’t had a balloon like this.
I suppose that’s another reason I wish we could proceed with caution. But in any case, that’s enough alarmism for one day.
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See. This is exactly the type of post that I come here for! Thoughtful and thought provoking. You don't get that on facebook. (I tweet or pin, so maybe those would work, but I doubt it.)
Many thanks for the kind words. I think it's obvious that even with all the dire thoughts about what social media might do to us, I still count myself a fan. And I like Twitter and Pinterest as well. They're all different — they all come in handy for certain kinds of quick-but-global expression.
I think I'm just weird enough to be more worried about what it'll do to people under the age of about 40. It seems to me that this hyper-abbreviated way of chatting to a large audience is one thing after you already know how to communicate effectively. When you're still cutting your teeth, what will it mean that you can pretend you're talking to the whole world when you've never left your living room? There are some things about it that seem destined to make disconnected people get even more disconnected. But if so, the worst of it probably won't be felt for decades yet. And of course, if people just adapt to the new paradigm, then it'll all be fine (except that old fogies like me probably won't be able to keep up.)
Yikes! My comment should have been "I DON'T tweet or pin!"
Ohhh. Well, I like 'em both, in their little ways. But I'm not really surprised that they're not all that popular with us Orthodox. I think it's a combination of us being okay with more traditional kinds of sharing and also, quite frankly, having a life. In my case, I'm just interested in the changing landscape out there (even though I've got the misgivings about it I have mentioned here). Oh, and I have no life … so there you go.
Funny… this is exactly part of the conversation I had with Fr. Joseph Hunneycutt and how disembodied media impacts "Orthodoxy" and our "INCARNATIONAL" faith.
That sounds all thinky and stuff. Was it an online conversation or one of those old-fashioned, low-tech ones? (I'd actually prefer if it was online, because I could go find it. I suppose I should put that in the plus column for social media.)
Actually it was in person! He flew to Phoenix so we could talk in person instead of email back and forth. What???!!!
Holy moley! I'm trying to think of the last time someone hopped a plane rather than email me, annnnd … yep. Never.
Kind of sorry I've never gotten to meet Fr. Joseph in person. Hey, do you think if I tell him that I don't like emailing …? Naah.