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Scientific Progress Isn’t Morally Neutral
Most youth pastors primarily view technology as a tool to help us communicate our messages, connect with our kids, and create our programmatic elements. But what if we dug deeper, looking beyond what technology can do and tried to understand why we create the technology we do?
A bit of cultural exegesis of technology’s deeper layers could give us some insight into our students’ lives, their worlds, and the best responses and approaches for applying the teachings of Christ in order to foster their spiritual formation.
Not Morally Neutral
As an expression of culture, technology isn’t morally neutral. Why? Because technology is created as a response to the cultural values of its creators. And what do we value in the United States? For one thing, we value efficiency; for another, comfort. These values drive our love and need for technology.
Comfort and efficiency aren’t morally neutral values, either. In fact, they’re often in direct opposition to the Kingdom values we should hold as followers of Christ.
For instance, we love efficiency so much that we’re willing to create technology that renders human beings unnecessary in the workplace, as they’re switched out in favor of tireless machines that line the pockets of the company’s owners. Other cultures with different values wouldn’t consider this progress. (Listen to—or at least look up the lyrics to—the Johnny Cash song, “The Legend of John Henry’s Hammer” for further insight.)
We love comfort so much that rather than walking to the store or taking public transportation, we opt instead to drive alone, isolated from the people we might meet along the way. Other cultures with different values wouldn’t consider this progress. (Listen to—or at least look up the lyrics to—the Gary Neuman song, “Cars” for further insight.)
Progress?
Consider the golden age of science and the promises it made in the 1950s. Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury had romantic visions of the future with technology making life simpler; Disneyland’s Carousel of Progress in “Tomorrowland” displayed visions of future technology improving our quality of life. In the early 1970s there was talk of four-day work weeks coinciding with technology making our jobs less time consuming.
But the opposite came true, didn’t it? We’re working harder than ever these days. Stores are open seven days a week, many 24 hours a day. Nomenclature such as 24/7 has become part of our vernacular. The golden ideal of the future was replaced by apocalyptic visions of the world (e.g., Mad Max and The Terminator) and played out in the cyberpunk literature of William Gibson.
Flipping the Switch on Technology
Eric Brende, a graduate of M.I.T., became disillusioned with the way technology has taken over all facets of our lives. He noticed we work long hours so we can pay for our transportation to our jobs, purchase groceries, and obtain “time-saving” devices—except that they don’t seem to actually give us any more time. (If they did, everyone would own them!)
Instead we’re still rushing, always too busy to talk to neighbors, pray, cook a meal from scratch, or settle down with a good book.
So what would happen if we left behind modern, technologically saturated life for an 18-month experiment without electricity? Brende’s book, Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology, is about such an experiment; and along with it he seeks to answer the question, How much technology is needed for human comfort and leisure?
Instead we’re still rushing, always too busy to talk to neighbors, pray, cook a meal from scratch, or settle down with a good book.
What would happen if you asked your students the same question?
What would happen if you asked your church the same question? (Okay, maybe that’s a bit risky.)
But if you did, would you find that technology provides enhancements to family, spiritual, and relational health? Or would you find that technology has made the church a threat to relationships, especially with its efficiently programmed services, relaxed requirements for community membership, and lowered accountability in discipleship?
On the Other Hand…
Ask any employer over the age of 50 what she thinks about the “twentysomethings” in the workforce, and she’ll likely express frustration over their “people values.” They’ll volunteer their time for a good cause but leave the office promptly when their time is done. Rather than meet with an important client in town, they’ll go to their kids’ ballet recitals.
It isn’t that people 50 years old and older love people or their children any less, but they wouldn’t have dreamed of behaving this way in light of demanding careers. Values are shifting, and some emerging applications of technology reflect this.
YouTube and MySpace
For instance, YouTube has provided a way for everyone with computers and video cameras to share their creativity with others—millions of others, in fact. It’s no surprise: God created us to be creative. And in an age of ultra-manufactured goods and polished performances, it seems this generation of youth is settling for less polish in exchange for total freedom of expression.
MySpace has given people new ways to connect. Many of us older (30+) folk wrongly believe that students can’t maintain real relationships online without face-to-face contact—but that’s simply not true. Meaningful relationships can and do exist online.
Consider how many of our grandparents maintained relationships via letters during wars or times of separation. During the courting/dating period in a relationship, written expression of the interior life is often very intimate, particularly in a world so heavily influenced by exterior manifestations.
Our Response
Youth workers should give their students the opportunity to be creative and be “part of the program.” Our cultural values of comfort and efficiency—often defined by words such as excellence and progress
In an age of ultra-manufactured goods and polished performances, it seems this generation of youth is settling for less polish in exchange for total freedom of expression.
—run counter to the emerging value of average people expressing themselves creatively.
We must ask ourselves, Do we spend too much time and energy making our programs perfectly polished? Do we allow only the “best” kids to share or lead? Have we taken away the opportunity for everyone to participate and grow?
Youth workers should correct shortcomings in this area. The church (and by extension, the youth ministry) hasn’t been a place where students (or anyone, for that matter) can be their honest selves. Church hasn’t been a safe place to share our interior lives with others. We must ask ourselves, Are our students’ MySpace profiles more complete, truer reflections of who they are? Do they keep their real selves hidden in “real life”?
Technology can be a tool, but it seems that today’s hottest technological trends are less about new technologies and more about how they’re applied to reflect the values, longings, passions, and yes, sinfulness of our lives. The application of technology, not technology itself, is what we need to interpret.
How technology is used is a window into the interior lives of this generation—one through which all of us should take some time to look.
But if you did, would you find that technology provides enhancements to family, spiritual, and relational health? Or would you find that technology has made the church a threat to relationships, especially with its efficiently programmed services, relaxed requirements for community membership, and lowered accountability in discipleship?
On the Other Hand…
Ask any employer over the age of 50 what she thinks about the “twentysomethings” in the workforce, and she’ll likely express frustration over their “people values.” They’ll volunteer their time for a good cause but leave the office promptly when their time is done. Rather than meet with an important client in town, they’ll go to their kids’ ballet recitals.
It isn’t that people 50 years old and older love people or their children any less, but they wouldn’t have dreamed of behaving this way in light of demanding careers. Values are shifting, and some emerging applications of technology reflect this.
YouTube and MySpace
For instance, YouTube has provided a way for everyone with computers and video cameras to share their creativity with others—millions of others, in fact. It’s no surprise: God created us to be creative. And in an age of ultra-manufactured goods and polished performances, it seems this generation of youth is settling for less polish in exchange for total freedom of expression.
MySpace has given people new ways to connect. Many of us older (30+) folk wrongly believe that students can’t maintain real relationships online without face-to-face contact—but that’s simply not true. Meaningful relationships can and do exist online.
Consider how many of our grandparents maintained relationships via letters during wars or times of separation. During the courting/dating period in a relationship, written expression of the interior life is often very intimate, particularly in a world so heavily influenced by exterior manifestations.
Our Response
Youth workers should give their students the opportunity to be creative and be “part of the program.” Our cultural values of comfort and efficiency—often defined by words such as excellence and progress
In an age of ultra-manufactured goods and polished performances, it seems this generation of youth is settling for less polish in exchange for total freedom of expression.
—run counter to the emerging value of average people expressing themselves creatively.
We must ask ourselves, Do we spend too much time and energy making our programs perfectly polished? Do we allow only the “best” kids to share or lead? Have we taken away the opportunity for everyone to participate and grow?
Youth workers should correct shortcomings in this area. The church (and by extension, the youth ministry) hasn’t been a place where students (or anyone, for that matter) can be their honest selves. Church hasn’t been a safe place to share our interior lives with others. We must ask ourselves, Are our students’ MySpace profiles more complete, truer reflections of who they are? Do they keep their real selves hidden in “real life”?
Technology can be a tool, but it seems that today’s hottest technological trends are less about new technologies and more about how they’re applied to reflect the values, longings, passions, and yes, sinfulness of our lives. The application of technology, not technology itself, is what we need to interpret.
How technology is used is a window into the interior lives of this generation—one through which all of us should take some time to look.
Mark Matlock
Mark Matlock is a culture expert, author, and speaker to students, student leaders, and parents. He’s the author of Don’t Buy the Lie (YS) and Freshman: The College Student’s Guide to Developing Wisdom (Th1nk), the founder of WisdomWorks Ministries, the creator of a leading youth-oriented Web site called PlanetWisdom.com, and a regular columnist for The Journal of Student Ministries. For additional information on Bestselling author and speaker Mark Matlock contact Tim Grable at The Grable Group, 615 283 0039
