The year was 1993. It was summertime, and I feverishly sat down at our home computer to "go on the internet" for the first time. This is a moment that I will never forget. It's one of those "where were you when Kennedy was shot?" occasions. I remember vividly the sights, smells and sounds of that moment. We had just gotten AOL, and my dad had finished setting it up. I was tingling with excitement as the anticipation built up until I could not wait any longer. "Come on!... I want to see the internet!". I yelled at my sister. I think I was expecting the computer screen to start swirling before my eyes as I was teleported to another dimension that I mistakenly thought was going to be in 3-D. The AOL home page popped up, and I said, "When will we be on the internet?". My patience had lost it's last leg, and I was tired of waiting for this momentous event. "You are on the internet", my dad said. "NO! This can't be the internet! It's just a screen with some writing on it!". My hopes were dashed because there was no way that this is what everyone had been talking about. "This is dumb." And that was that.
It wasn't until years later that I learned to appreciate what the internet could do. Now, I post a status update on facebook, patiently wait a minute, refresh the page, and hope for the little red box at the bottom right hand corner that will tell me someone read it. This is a beautiful, shiny red box that shows me where to find the comments. Comments! We all love them. (Come on, admit it.) I wonder if that's how God feels when someone finally gives Him the time of day by talking to Him. Probably not, because God is not the narcissistic being that we are. His joy in our communication with Him is based on love and relationship, and not so much on being validated. It's fun to think about, though. I like the idea of there being a little red box that pops up in heaven saying, "God, Alisa Childers just sent you a cow on farmville!" Then God is like, "Uggg... I was hoping for a comment."
I realize now that my daughter will grow up in a world that didn't exist before cell phones, internet, facebook, myspace and the twitterverse. She will never know the simplicity of having to stand up and walk over to the TV to turn it on. She will never have to pull her car over into the grocery store parking lot to find a pay phone. She won't have to take her film to the one-hour photo on the corner and wait until she can see her pictures. She will not have to look words up in the dictionary or wait by the mailbox for a magazine. She may not even get to experience passing notes in class, because, most likely, she will just text her friends under her desk. I hope to avoid that last one with good parenting, but I haven't walked in those shoes yet! There is almost nothing that she will have to wait for. She will never know the beauty of a good crank call, because of the invention of caller ID. By the time she is in high school, everything from music and TV, communication and the internet, will most likely all take place within her phone. She will have access to almost any information she may desire by simply accessing a device she keeps in her purse.
I love Twitter. I love facebook and myspace and blogspot and various other websites that command so much of my attention. Facebook has allowed me to stay connected with my sisters in a way that would not be possible otherwise. Twitter helps me get the word out about my music and ministry, and I love seeing what my friends are up to. These are great inventions. I love being able to order pizza, play games, and talk to my family all from my husband's iphone.
We are living in unprecendented times. There has never before been something that connects people so intimately, and yet so disconnects them at the same time. All we see are words. We don't see the tears, struggle or complexity behind them. Words are very important to me. In all situations, I choose my words carefully, and analyze the words of others with equal vigilance. A facebook status might say, "Just had my coffee...On my way to the gym!". It should really say, "Just had my coffee, got in a horrible fight with my wife, on my way to the gym, don't really want to be at home right now." I'm certainly not suggesting that we all air the intimate details of our domestic problems on facebook, but I think it's important for us all to realize that nothing is just as it seems. It could look like someone has the most active, fun, and fulfilling life, when in reality, they are incredibly lonely and just want to feel approved of. I place a great amount of importance on face to face interaction. It's vital for us to be aware of each other, and love and pray for one another. Only in person can you decipher the difference between, "I'm smiling!", and "My lips are smiling, but my eyes are not."
I wanted to ask God a question on facebook, just to see if He would answer. I want to know what He thinks of the internet. It turns out that He doesn't have a personal page, so you just have to join His fan page. He has over 2 million fans. I guess I'll have to hit Him up on myspace.
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Very powerful and very true Alisa. I am an advocate for technology and use it so much in my every day life. I have seen the value of it with staying connected with others and as a marketing tool. But I have also seen the backlash that comes from the misinterpretation of the text that goes on these social networks and how sometimes they can be an excuse for isolating oneself.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that I have to say about technology is that though the design of it was to make our lives easier that in all actuality it has simply enabled us to cram more into our days.
Though I love Facebook and Twitter and use them heavily to keep in touch and market things I would most definitely say that they could never replace a good dinner with my wife where we talk about our day, our hopes and dreams. It also couldn't replace the time I have sitting down with the group of guys in my men's group discussing real things that we face as men of God and seeing the hurt, praying for each other encouraging each other to walk it out in victory. It also could never replace the interaction that takes place with fellow musicians during some powerful worship sessions.
It is my prayer that we don't lose those things and do what we can to preserve them and pass those values to our children so that they in turn can pass it on to theirs and so on and so on.
Well said. :)
ReplyDeleteDear Alisa,
ReplyDeleteI'm almost 21 years old, and I'm a bit of a geek girl. I love Love LOVE technology! And then I read your post and realized, "Hey, I take this for granted." My children will never grow up not knowing what the internet is, they'll never be told in 4th grade how to type because they'll know how by 1st grade most likely.... They'll likely be using cellular phones or whatever it is that has been developed by the time they're 10. For all I know, maybe RFID chips will be used as identification and credit cards and such by then, embedded under the skin of their little fingers (much like a chip-form of a barcode).
My children will be reading the Bible online, maybe even taking their confirmation classes online. As cool as that should be for a geek-girl like me, it's actually a little disturbing.
When will we know if technology has merged with religion too much?
Will God tell us on his Facebook profile?
When will prayer be forgotten, and be substituted by prayer-blogs and prayer-requests online??
I'm a bit scared of technology and it's rapid advancement when it comes to this topic. Will our children's children's children forget about God and how to pray, replacing him with the internet and gadgets and blogs?
As much as the internet and such is appreciated, maybe we should remind people of it's dangers, too, which you sort of did in your post. Thank you for that.
As for asking God questions, maybe I'll turn off my laptop, pull out one of the few pens I have left, and write him a letter on good ol' fashioned paper tonight.
God Bless You,
-Grace
I almost can't believe how true everything you've said is. I'm often that girl that may seem like she has a fun and active life, but really on the inside all I want is to feel loved and approved of and I just don't. But of course via the internet, people wont realize this. And I'm also the girl that may seem like she's smiling and happy all the time, but really it's fake a lot of times I guess you could say. What I'm trying to say, is that I agree with what you said. It would be nice to be able to connect more with people face to face, but so often, for me at least, it's easy to connect with people via the internet or phone, but once I get face to face with these people, I find it harder to connect with them. And I don't fully know what it is. I know the fact that I tend to put up walls to "protect myself from getting hurt anymore" plays a big role in it, but there's so much more to it as well. Thanks for, I guess opening up people's eyes to this. I hope that by people reading this blog they will begin to connect with people on a more personal level.
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