The Wisdom of Tim*
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 07:22AM *or, "The medium contradicts the message."
Tim Challies is on a roll. He's writing a series entitled "Don't Take your iPod to Church!" He's developing the theme that when it comes to technology, 'the medium is the message' and goes on to explain how the medium affects our 'use' of the material in front of us.
He is singing my song. I've been concerned about these issues for some time. I've begun to limit my own use of the computer and ancillary devices such as Palms and cell phones for many of the reasons he has listed. I'm sure that the handful of readers that are still hanging in here at Hiraeth have noticed that my blogging has slowed to a trickle over the past year or so. This has been, in part, a purposeful response to detrimental patterns I was seeing in my own use of technology.
Here's a small quote to spark your interest:
Reading the Bible in electronic format makes it easy to chase down cross-references, to read notes related to the content, to find word definitions and so on. But all of this is at the cost of the natural, God-given flow of the text. As we use our iPods in place of our Bibles, we begin to understand Scripture as we do Wikipedia, a text suited more to browsing than deep study. We begin to feel the Bible is interactive, that it is more for skimming, for following trails from A to B to Z than for deep study or analysis. This is all wrapped up in the very worldview of the electronic device.
As I was preparing this post, I got two calendar notices, and received several emails. I confess that as I scrolled through Tim's blog in search of the links to his articles, I was strongly tempted to stop and read several posts that interested me. Such is the siren call of the hyperlink.
As I get ready to shut down my computer and pick up my Bible, I leave you to ponder this quote from Mr. Challies:
My Bible never rings; it never buzzes or beeps or shows up with sudden calendar notifications. It simply shows me the words given by God in a medium that is inherently undistracting.
Reader Comments (4)
Very thought provoking post Kim and a much-needed reminder in today's culture. Thank you for that!
And this is why I stayed away from technology for so long! But, I also feel that you can have a little tech on the side- as long as you hunger for the word of God and dine in the right places!
That's good advice, Kim. There is a meandering that occurs when I read the actual Bible that is missing when I'm just looking up something I need to find right that minute.
Amen. Well said, by you and Tim both.