Becoming Disciplined: Using Technology as a Tool; Refusing to Let It Rule

Sarah Merrill

Text. Talk. Tweet. IM. FB. Chat. Watch. Listen. Talk again. More FB. Email. Grab a bite to eat while sitting at the computer. Start again, but this time with the TV on.

Technology permeates my life. It shapes my day-to-day tasks and has, through repetition and habit, even shaped my attitudes and outlook. The mobility and availability of communication tools make news and information from the whole world instantly accessible to me. The result is someone who is quite well informed, but often impatient (particularly when technology fails).

My grandmother had a very different life. Is mine better?

Is it better that I can easily stay in touch with people I love who are far away? (Of course, yes!) Is it better that I don’t spend the majority of my time scrubbing laundry by hand? (Duh, yes!) Is it better that I can look up almost anything I want to know right when I want to know it? (For the most part, yes.)

What about the fact that I tend to stay in touch with people I like but not get to know the people who live on my block? (Probably not so good.) How about the tendency some people have (not me, of course) to ignore people right in front of them (Honey, not right now; Mommy needs to finish this email) to engage with others remotely? (Definitely not good.) Then there’s multitasking—emailing while talking on the phone while fixing my daughter a snack while watching TV. (Clearly not the best. Yet we do it anyway.)

There are other downsides to our modern, plugged-in world. Constant distractions of mobile communication hound us. Entertainment options of variable quality come at us from all sides. All the while, our ability to wait seems to grow shorter and shorter.

But is technology the problem? Does my web connection prohibit me from reaching out to my neighbors? Does my cell phone keep me from having a conversation with those in the same room? Do digital video recorders (DVRs) and Facebook accounts make me waste time? No, no, and no.

The problem isn’t technology; it’s us. We would rather be friends with people we already like than make the effort to befriend strangers. Sometimes we would rather call or send text messages than have an actual heart-to-heart conversation. Watching mindless television is often more appealing than spending an hour in private Bible study. Ouch.

Technology is a tool that makes everything easy. Sure, it’s easier to balance our checkbooks and to send pictures to our mothers. But at the same time, it is easier to procrastinate, easier to ignore those we don’t want to deal with, easier to entertain ourselves, and easier to do it all without even thinking about what we are doing and why.

So should we all unplug ourselves and be done with it? Not necessarily. When the basic problem is our own heart and motivations, the solution involves more than our toys and tools.

The solution is to keep our use of technology in perspective—and under the lordship of Christ. The apostle Paul gave this advice to believers living in Rome:

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:1–2, THE MESSAGE)

God has put us where we are and has surrounded us with technological tools. It is up to each of us to use them mindfully for His glory and for the good of those He loves.

Do you use technology to shape your world or do you passively let the world use technology to shape you? Do you use technology as a tool or do you let it rule?

Are you becoming disciplined in your use of technology? If so, tell us how you use technology for good.

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Scripture quotations from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.