I upgraded my mobile phone recently and realised that I may be older than my years when I said ‘I just want something that calls people and sends texts’. The only ones available to me were all singing all dancing internet accessing music playing calendar diary voice recognition wide screen touch pad gadgets. For the same price I had the choice between a very basic phone which indeed just made calls and texts and was very similar to the one I had nearly ten years ago… or one of the fancier models which quite honestly just looked nicer. I was sucked in by the sexy mini computer phone… and now I can’t work out how to use it.
Technology has changed the way we communicate, work, study and worship. I can see via Facebook what nearly 500 people I’ve met at some point are doing and feeling without even talking to them. Teenagers in Uganda gave me their email and mobile phone numbers to stay in touch when they’d saved up enough shillings for a slot at the town’s internet café. It’s safe to say the world has got a lot smaller, and yet a lot less personal. Can anything really replace face to face contact?
The changing landscape of communication and technology offers us some valuable opportunities to connect with a wider group of people, to be efficient and be creative in new ways. However some of the greatest human achievements have been realised when people stand face to face. We cannot forget, amongst the impersonal connections and faceless cyberworld that we are all created as unique, named individuals with the inbuilt need for relationship. So while modern technology offers a level of networking, we need to work hard to invest in personal relationships which go deeper than a profile picture or status update.
The church is challenged to keep up and adapt to a rapidly changing world. But as well as technology being a great resource we can use, we are already equipped with just the tool for the job. We are good at loving people.
No comments:
Post a Comment