Living in the Digital Age

My husband and I just celebrated our second wedding anniversary and he bought us a Virtual Reality system. We’ve done VR a couple of times at the mall, and I’m a huge fan. Not sure what it is about this that I love. There’s an underwater game that I play where I basically sit under water and watch fish. It’s incredibly meditative, but I have to be careful because if I sit there too long, I get a bad headache. At the end of the day, it might feel like I’m underwater, but I’m also still just looking at a screen. Not great for your eyes.
My church has a vision team that is looking at the different realities of our congregation and our culture. Our recent conversations have been about generations. Most recently, we watched a webcast from the Barna group’s partnership with World Vision. They did a huge study on millennials – “the connected generation.” As a millennial myself, (there are many definition of millennials, but the most accepted definition is anyone born between 1981 and 1996) I was interested in what the report had to say. One of the things the study said was that we are living in a “digital Babylon.”
In the Old Testament, Babylon is where the exiles had to go when Jerusalem was under siege. The people had to learn how to practice their faith in a foreign land. In his book Faith for Exiles and in the webcast that we watched, president of the Barna group, David Kinnaman, argues that we’re in a Digital Babylon. Today, as is true for every generation, we’re learning and relearning how to follow Jesus in today’s day and age. It’s a Digital Babylon because we live in the age of information. “Google is the new sex ed,” Kinnaman said in the webcast. The internet is where you go to learn about stuff. I just think about how many YouTube videos teach me new quilting techniques. And how often do I google symptoms to see if I should go to the doctor or not? Kinnaman said screens disciple.
Those were the two words that stuck with me: screens disciple. You’re reading my blog entry on a screen. Maybe you’re listening to a podcast and learning new things. Maybe you’ve watched an online tutorial to learn how to change your car’s headlight (I’ve totally done that, btw). I also read books on a screen, though I prefer to hold a paper book. My devotions are on a screen (First Five, put out by the women’s group Proverbs 31 Ministries). We even use screens in worship to enhance the experience. I do a lot of research for Bible study on screens. I can see how accurate the words “screen disciple” are.
So what do churches do with that? If Kinneman is right and we’re living in a Digital Babylon, and screens disciple, then maybe it’s worth spending some time thinking about how we use screens to enhance our ministry. I say “enhance” because I think there’s a danger of over-screening ourselves. In the same way that too much VR gives me a headache, too much screen in ministry can damage our personal relationships.
I see some of how screens already enhance our ministry. Screens make it easy to attend meetings when you’re unable to be there in person. I recently agreed to serve on a committee because I can be there via screen (the meeting is right before another meeting that I have to be at). Screens also make it easy to connect with people on a larger scale. We send out email updates and social media updates to communicate with people. Screens also cut back on how much paper we use. With digital newsletters and online documents, we don’t need to print as many things out, which is good stewardship. It also saves us money on postage and since we’re not mailing as many things, we’re not using paper envelopes (I know, mixed feelings here because we do still want to support our local post office.). We haven’t made the jump to digital bible studies or video streaming our worship, but it’s possible that we might get there.
It’s also interesting to see how the pendulum swings between screens and no screens. I’m reading more and more how many people are finding great Sabbath in switching off the screens. There’s research to show that you sleep better if you put the screens away a certain amount of time before bed. When I was away a few weeks ago, the best feeling was turning on my Do Not Disturb on my phone and turning my phone off. I definitely notice I’m more agitated if my screen time is higher than normal.
 It’s about balance, just like everything else. We find the balance between using digital media and letting digital media use us. We find the balance between connecting with people whose primary mode of communication is anything digital and the people who don’t even own computers. How we communicate across the generations matters because we want to be inclusive of everyone.

So what about you? How do you find balance between screens and no screens? How have you seen screens enhance ministry? Do you agree with the statement “Screens disciple”? What kinds of screen use would you like to see in the church? Comment below! I’d love to hear from you!


Interesting links: 
"The Connected Generation" 
Christian comedian John Crist offers VR church 

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