I set here at my desk thinking about my two grandchildren and how their lives are saturated by screens.  If it is not a laptop, then a tablet, or even a smartphone.  They seem to be grabbing the very life of my perfect little ones.  I would suppose my mom and dad felt the same way about television, never-the-less, I think it is much worse.  I am not condemning all technology; if I was I would have to throw stones at myself.  I use technology to build Bible studies, sermons, blogs, Christian videos and I am constantly researching the latest insights from great preachers and theologians, all with the help of my computer and its associated screen.  There are concerns.

For those who can absorb information at the rate of hundreds of texts, tweets, emails, Facebook posts, all the while viewing the latest YouTube videos, I can’t imagine by the time they grow into adulthood that a thirty-minute sermon at the church will not be able to hold their attention. It seems there is a shortening of attention span and the lack of a comprehensive learning styles bode well for today’s preachers.  So, does the preacher just keep shortening his sermon and become just one of those legacy things that ultimately pass away?  Or does the preacher of tomorrow have to work harder to open the word and let the Holy Spirit lead to all understanding?  I think the latter.

This social media generation is also being fed by this all-encompassing media blast a very low view of authority.  I believe social media and the tyranny of the screen exclaims itself as the great equalizer.  Everyone has a voice. Facebook tells us we have the right to post the most trivial and the most mundane events, with the expectation that all your friends will read them will all due attention and comment and press the like button. My trip was so good you have to envy me. Opinions become egalitarian; everyone’s post or reaction to a post is presumably important to the whole world.  Everyone has an opinion and there is an assumed equality of importance.  There is no authority other than the mob.  With total equality, there is no authority.  The pastor’s views are no more valid than the teen.

This Facebook mentality is simply too easy.  It requires no commitment beyond a simple click.  We control the message, the duration, intensity, and level of contact. At any moment, we can simply stop reading.  Only to be pulled back because we feel left out.  The level of true understanding of people and committing to a relationship is simply not there.

Some would disagree and state, “I know a lot more than if I wasn’t online.”  I know when my cousin is in her garden, I know about my brother is safe, I know what was preached on in three prior church affiliations; all good stuff. But it is all on a surface level. In her book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (2011), MIT professor Sherry Turkle observes, “On social-networking sites such as Facebook, we think we will be presenting ourselves, but our profile ends up as somebody else—often the fantasy of who we want to be”. My friended friends might well feel as though they are connected, but, they are just a little further away from who they really are.

There is an art of writing.  To look at a sentence and know it is what is intended, just feels good. When I read most Facebook posts it looks like the education level of the writer is still in the fifth grade. Sure, it is easier to leave a voicemail or send an email than to talk to someone face to face. Turkle notes. “The new technologies allow us to ‘dial down’ human contact”.  Yet we seem to crave real contact and settle for much less.

The solution?  It is not going into a hole and throwing away all our screens.  They are just tools.  From my view from the pre-screen era is that technology is not sinful.  But like any other tool, it can well add an additional vehicle for it.  Where two or three are gathered together, I will be in their company. Turn off the screens and open your Bibles.  Contact someone today and tell them you love them and explain why.  A relationship has to be more than an icon to be clicked on to show your affection.