Electronic Dependence

In July, my husband and his friend flew from Cochrane Ontario to Yesterday Lake in the Unorganized North Cochrane District of northern Ontario. There are no roads in the area and access to the lake is an 87 km trip by float plane. There is one cabin on the entire lake that is serviced without electricity. In this remote area, there is no cell phone or internet service and the satellite phone they were given did not work. They had a wonderful time and caught a lot of fish. Tim and John grew up in an "unconnected world" and being without smartphones and the internet was not a big concern. 

I remember attending The World Congress of Physiotherapy in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1977. The trip included a week touring the country and a week at the conference. In that two-week period, I never contacted home and no one would have expected a call unless there was an emergency. Grandma D. took several overseas trips after she retired. Mom would place pins on a large world map and we would follow her journey according to the planned itinerary. The only correspondence we had was a postcard from each of her stops. How times have changed!

I was reading Psalm 139 recently, a familiar and oft-quoted psalm of David. I was struck by how the words perfectly describe our relationship with personal computers and mobile devices. I replaced the word "Lord" with asterisks in the first five verses. 

 You have searched me, ****,

and you know me.

 You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.

 You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.

 Before a word is on my tongue

you, ****, know it completely.

 You hem me in behind and before,

and you lay your hand upon me.

Google knows my search history and fills my web pages with suggestions of things I may want to see or buy. My phone knows the pattern of my days and gives unbidden suggestions about the best time to leave for work. It is familiar with all my ways and suggests which apps I may want to open throughout the day. Predictive text programs allow me to write messages and emails with minimal typing. Before a word is in my mind my device knows it completely. Most people who are accustomed to carrying a smartphone feel lost if they forget or misplace it. Other smart devices are available to monitor our bodily functions and activity levels. Studies have shown how overdependence on monitoring devices can lead to unnecessary medical investigations and contribute to health anxiety.

Excessive time spent on electronic devices has displaced other important social activities. People spend less time in solitude and quiet reflection. We pick up our devices at the first sign of boredom, at stop signs, in grocery lines, in group settings, and when alone. Many people would rather send a text message than talk on a telephone or visit face to face, myself included. Computers and personal electronic devices are great tools but the benefits come with certain risks.

Sherry Turkle has written several books on the psychology of human relationships with technology. She describes the computer as a tool we now use to analyze ourselves in an increasingly self-centred way.

"Ours has been called a culture of narcissism...We are insecure in our understanding of ourselves, and this insecurity breeds a new preoccupation with the question of who we are. We search for ways to see ourselves. The computer is a new mirror, the first psychological machine. Beyond its nature as an analytical engine lies its second nature as an evocative object." 

Our culture is losing the ability to engage in meaningful face-to-face conversations, active listening,  comfort with solitude, self-reflection, and contemplation. These social skills can increase our empathy and understanding of others in the community. Our pastor commented today in his sermon that, "you don't have to go to church to be a Christian, and you don't have to live with your spouse to stay married." But strong and lasting relationships require us to be present in person. 

The last two verses of Psalm 139 read as follows.

Search me, God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 

See if there is any offensive way in me,

    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Is God my primary "search engine"? Spiritual formation requires time spent in quiet meditation, reflection, prayer and listening. There is no app for these disciplines. The things we spend time on are the things that form us emotionally and spiritually. I don't want the words of this beautiful Psalm, which describe an intimate relationship with God, to be a description of an electronic device which provides a pseudo-relationship that is neither human nor spirit. We need a mirror that reflects our spiritual source, not a mirror that introspectively analyzes every detail of our lives. 

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,

are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,

just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18