Most Americans now spend more than eight hours a day looking at a television, a computer monitor, or the screens of their electronic devices. According to author Nicholas Carr, 'Having external access to data is a far cry from having a richly furnished mind."
Episcopal minister Barbara Brown Taylor, a faculty member who teaches undergraduate students, does not bemoan the existence of electronic media, but she does believe that young people have lost the freedom to decide when they should or should not be online, a form of electronic bondage.
It seems to me there's a spiritual issue involved here somewhere.
Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains
Technology is a tool human beings have created, a form of machine-driven service. But faith says humans are unique, created in the image of God and accountable for our choices. That is, not programmed, but responsible. Theologian Martin Buber reminded us and Microsoft research architect Jaron Lanier reiterates: human beings may use machines, but they must relate with and respond to other humans in a series of sacred I-Thou, not I-It relationships.
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