The Soul's Health - Technology - Amy Lawrence

The Soul’s Health

How We Use Technology 

We all have access to a lot of what is going on in our world today due to technology. We may get a text at work: “Did you hear about Sharon’s son’s girlfriend’s brother’s wife’s mother?” We have access to a regular stream of news: “Our US hockey teams broke a 45-year losing streak by winning gold medal at the Olympics. The Artemis II mission has been postponed due to a helium issue. The Trump administration is making waves (as usual) by putting into effect sensible laws and regulations concerning voting registration. More people are offended by the assassination of a Mexican drug lord than they are by the murder of millions of unborn babies annually.”  We see on social media: “An AI-generated video of an emaciated polar bear is shared on social media and goes viral, even though the illustration is entirely fake.” This is the world in which we live, and every time we see something that sparks our interest, our emotions tend to take the driver’s seat before the rest of our brains have a chance to respond. I won’t get into addressing specific politics in this article. I’d rather stay away from opinionated rants and undiagnosed problems. We have enough of that on social media already. I want to get into the meat and potatoes of what we as Christian women can do to remain focused on God in a world that seems to do nothing but produce chaos - and now gives everyone such easy access to that chaos.

I am married to a very brilliant man. He works daily in the field of internet technology management. It is amazing what he can do with that technology, the amount of knowledge his brain can process on any given day. (Yes, I have told him this. I have also used this in arguments.) Although I don’t always understand the acronyms he uses in conversation, I can usually keep up with the complexities of networking when we talk about what he does for a living. I find it fascinating (perhaps not as fascinating as he does), but he loves to tell me about devices he has discovered that are fun, clever, and/or helpful. I love to learn how to use all those neat things so that I don’t have to annoy him every time I’ve pushed the wrong button. I say all of that to say this; I am not an expert in technology by any standard, but I am capable in understanding what it is and how it works. This is why I don’t put a lot of emotional investment into technology. 

You might say, “Why would you say something like that, Amy? We are not “emotionally invested” in technology.” I just spent an entire weekend with teenagers. Our society is, most definitely, emotionally invested in technology. We are so invested, we would be in dire straits if an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) were to cripple our power grid. In an article written for the Orbis International Literary Journal on June 28, 2023, Zhanna L. Malekos Smith recommended that “…the United States Government and private sector work together to harden the electric grid from both natural and man-made EMP incidents, and establish an EMP Manhattan Project to develop national contingency plans for such scenarios.” Such scenarios on a national level could put us not only at a standstill, but also in grave danger. Yes, our phones would stop working, but so would everything electronic; medical devices such as pacemakers, all modern transportation that runs on computer chips, anything controlled by a computer network (banks, utilities, mail and delivery, stores, emergency services), EVERYTHING electronic would quit. Let that sink in. Has technology helped mankind? In many ways, absolutely. Has technology hurt mankind? In many ways, absolutely. But let’s consider the common factor between the hurt and the help: humans. Electronics are just tools. Nothing more. What matters as to what makes it good or bad is the hand in which the tool is wielded. There has always been this human driving force that screams “progress”, even when it’s nothing of the sort. I would love to say that an EMP would cure a great many of our bad habits as a nation, but it would, in truth, create more problems than it solved. 

But I digress. We’re talking about the feelings that are generated by the use of the technology we have within such easy reach. I’m not talking about the medical gadgets that save lives every day. In my honest opinion, those are the God-sent technologies that are worthwhile. I’m talking about the gadgets that we use to stay connected to a world that is slowly trying to kill our souls. The emotional confusion that it causes would drown even the sanest of us - and does. Technology uses algorithms to learn our habits. What we see and hear is the product of what artificial intelligence has learned about us, and it shows only what feeds that habit. This makes it harder to break the addiction. What’s worse, this technology is targeting the largest consumer demographic: our children. Youths lack the adult mechanisms gained through maturity to battle such addictive activities and are less likely to succeed without our help as parents. We need to master ourselves before we can teach our children. Awareness is the first step.

Many struggles that we see today were just as much struggles thousands of years ago. No, I am not suggesting that Lot carried an iPhone in his sandal strap, but he did have voices much like the LGBTQ+ in his ear, Gen. 18:16-19:29. Did David allow his computer to show him pornographic pictures? No, but he did allow himself to watch a woman take a bath on a rooftop, 2 Sam. 11. Ananias and Sapphira wanted that main character status and did exactly what we do on social media today: they pretended to be something they were not, Acts 5:1-11. Scripture holds examples that serve as warnings, commands that serve as solutions to any struggle we may face. Don’t get caught up in the idea that scripture is too antiquated to understand our battles, too outdated to teach us how to win them. Remember, the word of God is still just as much alive, powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword as it was the moment it was written, Heb. 4:12. 

There are two very important things that keep me grounded in growing as a Christian and maintain my soul’s health. I’d like to share them with you and hope that these can help you to navigate through Satan’s minefield in regards to technology. 

1.) Fasting

I would encourage anyone to study this concept; not just in God’s word, but also as a study of the physical benefits to the human body. It will be a deeply rewarding endeavor. There is a reason this is considered a spiritual practice. It allows one to remove distractions and hone the mental awareness required to envelop oneself in a spiritual mindset. In Matthew 17:14-21, there was a man that brought his demon-possessed child to Jesus’ disciples and they could not cast out the demon. His disciples asked why they could not. Jesus answered, “Because of your unbelief.” But then He commented, “This kind will not go out but by fasting and prayer.” Was Jesus speaking of the demon, or was He speaking of their unbelief being expelled through prayer and fasting? I believe it was the latter. Ezra wrote, “Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.” (Ezra 8:21) Fasting is an excellent practice for focusing on God…but most think that fasting only means abstaining from food. It is also beneficial to fast from technology.

2.) Purpose.

We have so few hours of personal time these days. I have been guilty of wasting precious personal time by doom scrolling. If you are familiar with this term, you know how shocking it can be to realize that hours have passed since watching that first video or sharing that first meme on social media. It’s a chain reaction; as soon as that one ends, another pops up, just as interesting. Before long, it’s dark outside and I didn’t even notice. What I do notice is that my emotional status is darker than when I first opened up my phone. The negativity seeped in and depression became the product of that negativity. Garbage in, garbage out. I have found that purposefully planning ahead what I will watch and when I will watch it has significantly improved my mental health. I limit my daily social media interaction, computer/phone use, and television time. I use what I save to spend quality, in-person time with people or toward doing things I enjoy (walking the dog, hiking, sewing/crocheting, etc.). I also schedule time with God, every day. No relationship can survive with so much time apart. Being with God is my favorite place to be, anyway. Jesus frequently purposed time with God, Mark 1:35. We can as well, and the benefits are innumerable, Ps. 34:15, 17.

I don’t know about every woman, but this woman has enough of her own pitfalls to keep her busy. My list is already too long. If I’m going to be addicted to something, I will let it be coffee. No one can watch the world’s negativity and sinful practices unfold and not be affected by it, Ps. 1:1.

Let God and His righteousness be our addiction, Mt. 6:33.