Technological Conversion

 July 16, 2023

Technology can be both bane and blessing. It blesses us when it enables us to stay connected with one another even over great distances. I am grateful to have been able to Facetime with Linda when I was in Cuba. It’s amazing how we were able to not only talk, but see each other in real time. This is what the social media people keep hawking with every new phone feature that comes out.

There is the other side however; the bane of isolation. When I first went to Cuba, no one had cell phones. The government strictly controlled the media; having a satellite dish was a punishable offense, and trying to stay in contact with those back home was almost impossible. I can’t imagine the isolation felt by missionaries of a generation ago who went months between letters. 

Those first few trips to Cuba, I noticed that when people walked down the street together, they talked animatedly, gesturing and making eye contact with each other, in stark contrast to what I saw back home. Smart phones were all the rage. Whole groups of young people could be seen walking together, each one’s nose buried in a phone. If they were sitting around, they weren’t talking with each other; they were scrolling through the apps on their phones. At restaurants, I observed couples sitting opposite each other, not talking. They were on their phones. The contrast between what I was seeing here and what I saw in Cuba was startling.

That contrast has completely disappeared except in the poorest rural communities. In any given city, people are addicted to their phones. That which was advertised as bringing people together was instead erecting walls between them. The blessing became the bane.

This observation highlights a Scripture text for me: “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” —I Timothy 2:5 

When our sin separated us from God, burying our noses in our self-indulgence, God didn’t just leave us in our isolation. He sent his Son Jesus to do what the social media people claim, but are unable to accomplish: he brings us together with himself and with each other. He does this through repentance; changing the way we think and believe, moving us from our self-indulgence to a life centered around himself. God actually brings us together through the mediation of his Son. 

I’m beginning to think that genuine conversion these days will require a re-evaluation of our use of technology, forsaking our addiction to that which separates so we can truly be connected with God and each other.