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FAITH AND VALUES IN A TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED SOCIETY (2)
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It is no longer breaking news that we are
living in the most technologically advanced
era of human history. There is virtually no
area of human life that technology has not
invaded and revolutionized: education,
agriculture, filmmaking, communication,
governance, sales and marketing, banking
and finance, sports, social media, medical
care and treatment, journalism and
broadcasting, transportation, war, security
and intelligence gathering, and the list goes
on and on.
In fact, our world today even takes for granted some of these technologies we have around. So many people cannot imagine themselves living without some of these new technologies, because they have literally been incorporated into the very fabric of how we do almost everything we do as humans. Hardly a month passes by without some brand new (or newly improved) hi-tech product making it out to the wider market. However, with all the excitement the world welcomes and embraces these new technologies, one wonders if this romance is all bliss. In this article, I hope to show that that is not the case. I will discuss rather briefly how technological advancement has positively impacted on society in general by making life a lot more pleasant and efficient. |
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Then I will argue that while a lot of benefits
abound from the availability of new
technologies, there are some very unpleasant
consequences ensuing that we must watch
against. This is especially true when issues
relating to faith and societal values are taken
into account. Finally, I will conclude by offering
a few suggestions in the light of Scriptures on
how we can make
use of these new
technologies
without losing our
commitment to a
robust faith and
adherence to highly
noble values.
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY: WHY WE ALL LOVE IT It is that feeling you get when you just got a new phone full of new functions that your old phone did not have; or perhaps a completely new technology or equipment you did not have before e.g. internet connection, a PC or a Macbook, an iPhone or a smart phone, iPad or tablet, , etc. It seems as if these things are working magic for you and the feeling is that of ecstasy, control, and achievement. It is the feeling you get from a mountaintop experience. If you have ever been on top of a high mountain, you know the delight you feel from the fresh air and when the wind on that height blows on your face; the sense of power you feel because you can get a good view of a vast area with so many things from up there; and the sense of accomplishment for being able to get to that top level. Similarly, the following are some of the key factors that make us fall in love with new technologies, such that we do not seem to have enough and keep going back for more. First, advanced technology enables us to effectively achieve so much within so little amount of time. We therefore actualize both speed and efficiency at the same time. Gone are the days when there is a delay in getting a message across to someone on account of distance. The options of fast and easy communication are simply amazing. If it is not cell phones that provide easy calls, text and picture messages from anywhere in the world, then it is online video calls with Skype making that easily available to people. If it is not emailing then it is one of multiple social media sites with Facebook leading the pack. What about the way we come to know things? We no longer need to depend on asking only the people around us to find out everything that we want to know. All you need do is to google it and the return on your search can be pretty much overwhelming. More and more people now are doing things online than physically, thus the e before so many words today, e.g. email, ecommer ce, ebank ing, elearning, egovernance, or attending an online church, earning an online degree, and the ease of making online purchases. But as exciting as these accomplishments seem, they do have some really unpleasant consequences which we will consider in a short while. For now, a look at the next reason we fall for advanced technology. Closely related to speed and efficiency, new technologies do also provide us with quite some amount of comfort and luxury. The convenience of buying almost everything from the comfort of your room may be taken for granted in some parts of the world, but it is definitely a luxury in many parts. The reduced stress that people now go through to carry out research (many thanks to the internet and the myriad of search engines now available), also enhances comfort. What about watching live TV, music videos, movies, etc; these are all luxuries that were only imagined a few years ago. A third reason we love new technologies so much is the degree of power and control they afford us. There is that desire in each of us to be in control and do things the way we want to do them rather than depend on someone else. In some parts of the world for example, you can go anywhere you want to go with the navigator (GPS) without having to ask anybody for directions - you are in control. The Downside of Mountaintop While in JSS 1 during my secondary school days at United Faith Tabernacle College Jarawan Kogi, we climbed the widely acknowledged highest hills in West Africa - the Shere Hills. While at the top of the hills we felt such great excitement because of our achievement and the amazing view from such height. When it was time to leave students started running down the hills while sending out joyous screams. However, what happened next sent shock waves down my spine; I saw students literally tumbling and somersaulting down the hill. Some people lost their teeth, others broke their arms or legs, and still others with different degrees of bruises. It was such a scary site that many of us could no longer walk with our feet; we made it down that high hill on our buttocks. It is rather stating the obvious therefore to say that when you are on the mountaintop you had better be careful lest you roll down the sides of the mountain. Haven pointed out that the experience with new technologies is often like the ecstatic feeling you get on a mountaintop, it seems reasonable then that they should have their downside. There are several of them but I will discuss only four as they relate to issues of faith and value in society. First is the problem of obsession. It is very easy to be terribly obsessed with these new technologies, whether it is with the content or with the equipment and its functions. Many people spend several valuable hours on Facebook or some other social media site writing updates, reading, liking, and/or commenting on the updates of friends. Several hours are also flushed down the drain just watching online videos, playing games online, or on the phone, ipad, tablet, etc. Many young people now seem unable to survive without a constant flow of music as they spend almost the entire day wearing their earphones. A lot more spend more time on Facebook than reading their books (Facebook is actually the number one visited website in the world, and number one in Nigeria as well). We now have little time for important things and instead indulge ourselves in online chats, electronic games, listening to music, watching movies, etc 24/7. What we have in our hands now is that a generation is rising that is being overentertained and as such is under-productive. This is a generation of people who have less time to be reflective and cannot engage in the spiritual disciplines of meditation, prayer, and in-depth study of the Scriptures. Furthermore, others are so fascinated and obsessed by just owning the latest technology available in the market. The only reason they are replacing their present computer, smart phone or iPhone, tablet or iPad is the mere fact that a newer and higher version or edition has just been released into the market. They are so obsessed with these stuffs so much that they are always trying to stay up to date, which then leads to the problem of imprudent and obsessive buying. Part of the reason for this too is the simple fact that we have come to define our self-worth or how important we are based on the kind of cell phone or computer that we are using. But this is far from the truth. Next is a problem I choose to call narcissism and a false sense of community. Narcissism in a simple sense is an excessive self admiration. This is a situation whereby a person is highly self-centered and is preoccupied by his/her person, looks, achievements, needs, self. Online social media sites make you the center of everything, which allows you to exaggerate your importance. You start to feel really special just because you have many friends on Facebook for example, and say an equally great number of followers on Twitter. You tell these friends and followers about everything that you are doing or is happening to you (as if they asked to know); and when some of them like or comment on your post it further inflates your distorted view of yourself. You post your pictures on these sites and expect everybody to either like or make very sweet comments about how wonderful and beautiful or handsome you look in the picture. All of these make you fall in love with the false you that you have created in your mind. Not only that, but also because you have so many friends and followers on social media sites, you tend to have a false sense of community. You assume that you are well connected and that you have many people around you. You fail to realize that some of these people are those you do not meet on a day to day basis. Just because you chatted with the person for 3 hours does not translate into being close with that person. Because God has created us as relational beings, we need human relationships to enjoy our lives. But the internet seems to be creating less of such much needed personal relationships by giving us a fake. People even attend an online church, participating in every aspect of the worship which includes the giving of their offerings using a credit or debit card. It is a false kind of fellowship and community and this generation is buying into it very fast. Thus, on the other hand, advance technology encourages isolation by destroying true community. Then there is the problem of flawed beliefs and highly corrupt behaviors. Many young people today are depending on the internet to know everything they need to know. They stumble on information online and think that it has to be correct because it came from the internet. They fail to realize that some specific individual is behind what they are reading, and that individual may have some evil motives for putting that stuff online. Some kids have been lured into demonic activities through occultic websites. Perhaps the biggest and most fearful of all corrupt behaviors the internet has created today is an increasing addiction to online pornography. It can now be accessed easily, privately, cheaply, and severally. It is reported that as at 2006 there were over 4.2 million pornographic websites in all, making up about 12% of all websites. Ours is the generation that is most exposed to every kind of sexually explicit material. Little wonder the pervasive obsession with sex and sexual activities even from a very young age. Another very unfortunate effect of new technologies is the way people use it in very annoying and disrespectful ways. It is not uncommon now to see people using their cell phones or iPads to visit Facebook while in a church service. It comes from the constant desire for entertainment and reveals a lack of discipline to concentrate over an extended amount of time. Now that we can listen to music on the go from cell phones and ipods, it is not uncommon to see young people going about wearing earphone and constantly listening to music. They have no time to greet an older person they come across or say hi to a peer. Even when they are being talked to, they hardly respond due to their preoccupation with the sound that is drumming into their ears. Not just that, since you can now turn your room into a music or Movie Theater (thanks and no thanks to home theater technologies), the neighbors can no longer enjoy some peace and quiet. In saying this I am not implying that listening to music from a cell phone or ipod with earphone is wrong; but the problem is using these things without showing any bit of courtesy and respect to other people. Still related to disrespectful ways of using new technologies is the exposure of people's personal lives thus subjecting them to mockery and ridicule. Nowadays, at the very moment something is happening you will find several people with their cell phones or ipads either taking pictures or video covering the incident. Within a few seconds from the time of the incident, these pictures and/or video will be available online for everybody around the world to see. Stories abound of pictures or videos taken of girls being raped and posted on the internet, with a few of such girls committing suicide as a result. When something bad is happening to someone, people will rather take pictures and video to be the first to post it online than jump into the situation and help out. The not too distant case of the four Uniport students gruesomely murdered quickly comes to mind. This is a huge value problem society is facing today due to advanced technology. CONCLUSION: HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE? Yes, that is the question. How should we then live in this technologically advanced age? At the moment, we do not seem to have enough of new technologies as we keep going back for more - more speed, more efficiency, more aesthetics, more functions, and much more while the companies making these stuff keep raking more money in millions. The first attitude we all need to have in the present situation is that of contentment. We must learn to be happy without what we are not capable of getting, and also choose not to get everything we are capable of getting. Just because you can afford it does not necessarily mean you should acquire it. The craze in chasing after the latest available technology in cell phones, black berries, computers, tablets, etc often diminishes a person's financial prudence and the ability to be a blessing to those in need. Again, you do not have to be in every social media site out there, because you just end up burning precious time going from Facebook, Twitter, to Twoo, to Whatsapp, to LinkedIn, and so on and so forth. Why not stick with just one of these so that you can save yourself some quality time to engage yourself in important things in life. Finally, there should be a commitment to showing other people respect and maintaining personal purity as we engage with new technologies. As discussed above, where, when and how we use some of these new technologies can be offensive to other people and we ought to be sensitive to that. As we enjoy the technological advancement of our age we must also make every effort to stay away from any content that corrupts our spirits and minds, especially pornography. High tech should not make us give up our high Christian standards and values. | |