Technology

In My Web: “The Binge Breaker”

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In My Web is a series of short blog posts about articles that stuck out to me online.

Article: The Binge Breaker by Bianca Bosker in The Atlantic magazine (Nov. 2016 edition).

Some Quotes to Whet Your Appetite:

“You could say that it’s my responsibility” to exert self-control when it comes to digital usage, he explains, “but that’s not acknowledging that there’s a thousand people on the other side of the screen whose job is to break down whatever responsibility I can maintain.” In short, we’ve lost control of our relationship with technology because technology has become better at controlling us.

“Our generation relies on our phones for our moment-to-moment choices about who we’re hanging out with, what we should be thinking about, who we owe a response to, and what’s important in our lives,” he said. “And if that’s the thing that you’ll outsource your thoughts to, forget the brain implant. That is the brain implant. You refer to it all the time.”

He argues that technology should help us set boundaries. This could be achieved by, for example, an inbox that asks how much time we want to dedicate to email, then gently reminds us when we’ve exceeded our quota. Technology should give us the ability to see where our time goes, so we can make informed decisions—imagine your phone alerting you when you’ve unlocked it for the 14th time in an hour. And technology should help us meet our goals, give us control over our relationships, and enable us to disengage without anxiety.

Companies like Google and Facebook, which have offered mindfulness training and meditation spaces for their employees, position themselves as corporate leaders in this movement. Yet this emphasis on mindfulness and consciousness, which has extended far beyond the tech world, puts the burden on users to train their focus, without acknowledging that the devices in their hands are engineered to chip away at their concentration. It’s like telling people to get healthy by exercising more, then offering the choice between a Big Mac and a Quarter Pounder when they sit down for a meal.

The Unintended Consequences

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What do the following situations have in common?

  • Using a virtual reality headset.
  • Observing people using their cell-phones in group gatherings.
  • Typing a blog post on a desktop computer.

All of these involve the use of modern digital technology. All of them involve the introduction of rather recent cultural goods onto the pages of history. All of them involve incredible potential. And all of them involve unintended consequences.

Andy Crouch, in his excellent 2008 book, Culture Making, argues that “the very nature of cultural goods is to go beyond the reach of their creators. They leave the circle of influence and are taken up by a wide public, and very often the consequences of their adoption could never have been foreseen … The telephone, the iPod, the interstate highway and the atomic bomb – all have had tremendously consequential impact on human history, yet none has remained, or could have remained, fully within the control of their creators. Indeed, over time, the unintended consequences of a given cultural good almost always swamp the intended consequences in magnitude, as people continue the culture-making process, making new culture in response to the changed horizons” (198).

If Crouch is correct, then when we approach new forms of digital technology, we cannot assume that the effect of a particular technology will be uniformly good. We cannot assume that using a virtual reality headset or owning a smartphone or even blogging will undoubtedly contribute to human flourishing. While I would argue that these forms of digital technology can be viewed as gifts from the Creator, they are also the imperfect creations of fallen humanity. Because that is true, then we shouldn’t just ask, “What can this technology do for me?” but also “What will this technology do to me?”

Every form of digital technology we engage with has intended and unintended consequences. As Tim Challies has pointed out in his book, The Next Story, we are really adept at seeing the intended consequences, the “amazing” benefits, the increased efficiency and captivating experiences that the technology will bring us. However, we are not so adept at seeing all of the ways that the technology we hold in our hands or in our homes or that we drive in, are shaping – or should I say, mis-shaping – our world.

Yes, blogs – and social media as a whole – allow anyone to have an voice in the public square, but sometimes those posts could use a little bit more editing or refining before being inflicted upon the public (perhaps, like this post!). More than that, with the vast proliferation of voices on the internet, are the voices that need to be heard quickly being drowned out?

Yes, smartphones allow us to watch YouTube videos, text our friends, catch up on Twitter and figure out the name of that actor we couldn’t quite remember all in one fell swoop, but does it also mean we are imperceptibly losing our ability to focus on one task or one person or one group and be truly present?

Yes, virtual reality headsets allow us to immerse ourselves more fully in beautiful virtual worlds, but is there something we miss out on when we cannot see our friends or spouse enter and leave the room, when we are literally caught up in our own little worlds?

In the end, I am not saying that we should totally avoid these digital technologies (at least not yet!), but rather that we should engage with them thoughtfully, aware that everything we do has real consequences – intended and unintended. We should ask the Lord to show us areas where we are subtly being mastered by these technologies (1 Cor. 6:12) and ask for His strength to live in new ways. And we should ask for the feedback of our family and friends to point out our technological blind spots. All of this is needed to wisely navigate this fascinating and frustrated world of ours.