The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion

by Tim Challies, Adam Black (Narrator)

Even the least technical among us are being pressed from all sides by advances in digital technology. We rely upon computers, cell phones, and the Internet for communication, commerce, and entertainment. Yet even though we live in this 'instant message' culture, many of us feel disconnected, and we question if all this technology is really good for our souls.In a manner that's accessible, thoughtful, and biblical, author Tim Challies addresses questions such as:* How has life---and faith---changed now that everyone is available all the time through mobile phones?* How does our constant connection to these digital devices affect our families and our church communities?* What does it mean that almost two billion humans are connected by the Internet ... with hundreds of millions more coming online each year?Providing the reader with a framework they can apply to any technology, Tim Challies explains how and why our society has become reliant on digital technology, what it means for our lives, and how it impacts the Christian faith.

Genres: Technology, Christian Living, Christian, Theology, Nonfiction, Christianity, Audiobook

9 pages, Audiobook

First published March 28, 2011

About the author

Tim Challies is a leading evangelical blogger. A self-employed web designer, Tim lives in the outskirts of Toronto, Ontario with his wife and children.

Reviews

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this audio book from Christian Audio. There was an element of irony when the author was talking about the negative effect that digital techonology has on our attention span, while I was listening to the book at double speed to get through it more quickly.

There was an interesting history of technological advances in here as well as a discussion about internet narcissism/privacy issues, a conflicting desire to be seen and not to be seen.

I enjoyed the discussion of how technology has an ecological effect on society rather than an additive effect. In other words, a new technology will not just be added to a society that will then continue as is, but it will fundamentally change the way society operates.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

2021 Reading Challenge - A book published by Zondervan

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I reviewed Tim Challies' book "The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment" about a year ago. I used to subscribe to his blog, but in an exercise similar to one he recommends in "The Next Story", I unsubscribed because of a lack of personal value for the time reading.

My review of "The Next Story" will be different, because I listened to it in the form of an audiobook. It was one of Christian Audio's freebies at one point. I wasn't sure if I should try to review it, or how to review it. With a paper or electronic book, you can make notes and go back and forth over the text. With an audiobook, I often listen while driving or walking and making notes is hard. So this review will be fairly brief. I'm not going back through 12+ hours of audio.

"The Next Story" is Tim Challies' second book. I can tell his writing and thinking have matured since "The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment". This book had less "Can I get an amen!" content and a little bit more meat. It still had some fuzzy thinking.



"The Next Story" is about technology. It talks some about the history of technology, the present state of technology, the theology we should consider our technology with, and the future or "next story" of technology.

Overall, I liked and agreed with what I heard, and I think it's a pretty good book and I recommend it. Here are a few points I disagreed or struggled with:
Beeps- Tim spends a lot of time on how our gadgets demand our attention. In the years I followed his blog, this came up a lot. But Tim seems to take it as less of a personal discipline and more of the technology's fault. He mentioned the only salvation he had at one point was to spend a week in a cabin in the woods in Virginia to keep his technology from distracting him from his family.
Tim? You know these things have off switches, right? iOS 6 has a "Do Not Disturb" mode. You can also customize the notifications you receive. I got tired of my iPhone chiming every time an email came in, so I set it to not chime when I got a new email. Much better.

You can also TELL people "Look, I'm busy right now. I won't be responding to you until I hit this milestone."

Those strategies have worked pretty well for me.

I left a comment about off switches and silent modes and just plain ignoring the damn things on one of Tim Challies' posts a couple years ago, and several commenters said I must be a stronger man than they are. Sure, it's the technology's fault.
The medium is the message- This is one I heard frequently when I read Tim Challies' blog. It came up quite a bit in this book. I can't quite get my mind around it though. It seems to have something to do with the medium you choose to send your message through also somehow influence how the message is received. I hope I'm not rendering that inaccurately.
Certainly, for each message you wish to convey, there is a medium that works best. There are some media that are not suitable. The telegraph can be quite a useful tool, but you wouldn't use it to deliver a sermon or a Presidential address. It would also be a horrific alternative to YouTube. If you're choosing the wrong media through which to send a message, I don't see this being the fault of "technology". It's your own lack of maturity in understanding the available tools and proper uses for those tools. I have learned over the years that although I would much rather use email and chat, there are some messages that I HAVE to pick up the phone, or go in person to deliver. That's a result of wisdom and experience, and understanding the available tools and their proper uses.

So I don't think the medium is the message. Perhaps the misuse of the medium can become the message. But that's PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair) not a factor of technology.

Overall, I think this is a good book, and I recommend it for Christians to consider the intersection of theology and technology as we move forward into whatever comes next.

And one point I realized was good is that separating the Bible from your device (at least some of the time) can be good. I can see how at times, having a single function device (paper Bible) can result in much better study and devotion. there is something about a Bible sitting on the table that helps you to focus on what you're doing when you're doing it. I'm still going to be using my iPhone and it's massive theological library in church though.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Next Story isn't so much a book discussing the potential dangers of technology as it is a biblical guidebook to how we should approach our use of it responsibly. It doesn't list all the expected dangers of our mobile (and immobile) devices and suggest a technology fast. Instead, it acts as a guidebook for how we are to use technology as Christians.

Tim Challies explores many common topics surrounding our increasing consumption and reliance on technology such as the danger of distraction, privacy issues while being online, and the sheer overload of information. However, he also delves into more unexpected issues concerning technology such as the impact it has on our constant need for productivity, the consequences of having a wide and shallow access to knowledge, and the fact that more communication doesn't always equal better communication. With a well-researched history of technology and the current disconnect between its intended uses and how we actually use them, Challies brings up some excellent points and offers practical solutions.

One such noteworthy point was that "...while the message of a particular program can be deadly serious, the medium is all about entertainment." He brings up the fact that most agendas and messages online are made through series of images, not words. Removal of the written word also removes a large amount of critical thinking in evaluating a message, especially when the presentation of that message is made through means of entertainment.

He also brings up the unfortunate consequence of the diminishing memorization of Scripture if we already have it on our phone and in our pocket. A result of a bigger issue, the loss of the need for memory is a direct result of ultimate accessibility to endless information. Technology has the potential to make its users more shallow, more temporary, and more multitasking than before. Challies boils down those consequences into specific weaknesses in those areas for Christians and how we should act instead.

The Next Story brings to light both anticipated consequences to technology as well as some very unanticipated consequences. The fact that mediated communication leads us to believe we're being more productive than we are as well as the detrimental method of multitasking bring attention to the passivity with which many approach technology. Challies also states that technology leaves permanent data trails, and while we may not be using it to surf the web for pornography, what we search for and view is directly related to the fruit we produce as Christians. He never suggests throwing the phones and laptops away. Instead you walk away with a newfound awareness and intentionality in handling them moving forward.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a spectacular book. So very good and timely. Now granted some will put their noses up because a book on technology written in 2011 (updated 2015) is so out of date, but the concepts are totally biblical and something all christians need to read, especially parents. I am reminded of when I was first exposed to Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves To Death, and have always wanted to read more in that vein but from a Christian worldview, and I have found it in this book. Highest recommendation!!

[gaby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique in the way that it approaches technology, a must-read for the modern Christian. I really appreciated the insights Tim Challies brought to my personal view of the modern world and the growing reach of media and tech.

[Emily]

Free digital download available during the month of May at http://christianaudio.com/free/

[Rebekah Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very interesting to read this book in the midst of a pandemic that has changed our society to all be dependent on technology in some form or another. I think it makes the questions raised in this book very important as more people/organizations/churches/ect. are using technology like never before. *When saying technology - think computers/tv/phones primarily*

Challies writes in the conclusion the questions that he asked himself before he wrote this book.
1) Is technology taking over my life?
2) If so, is it remaking me in it's image?
3) Am I becoming a tool of my tool?

While I think that some of the aspects of his book have not aged well during a globally locked down pandemic (there is a chapter where he continually defends that face to face communication is always superior - which is absolutely true but not helpful when everyone is unable to do so), the main points and questions raised are very valuable.

[Steve Penner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not find this book engaging and I'm not sure why. From the comments of the book club and the ratings here, I am totally out of step, but that's not unusual. Maybe I have read most of the ideas before in other places, so it had little real impact on the way I do life and handle technology. Maybe because I think the fears are overblown. Technological change--from the rise of agriculture to the industrial revolution to the digital transformation--always elicits change in our lifestyles, use of time and priorities. Those who communicate too much fear, even short of fear mongering, are usually wrong in the long run. God has made us to be very adaptable creatures so we adapt. There have always been means to distract us from the important things in life, i.e. God and relationships with others, so the temptations of technology are really nothing new. Ah well. I will continue to the beat of a different drum.

[Lara]

Listened to this audiobook. I wasn't sure how many new ideas it would have but I was pleasantly surprised. Does a good job covering topics we should think about related to our media use.

[Justin Lonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Canadian pastor, author, and blogger Tim Challies has long been recognized as an insightful voice on cultural and technological issues facing the Church. His website (Challies.com) often features product reviews of new devices and he frequently wrestles with the theological implications of new technologies in his blog posts.

In The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion, Challies attempts to make a more comprehensive statement about the relationship between technology and the Christian life, and the result is excellent. Through this short book, he takes readers on a journey from the creation mandate to the iPhone, developing a biblical understanding of technology and examining the many challenges that rapid innovation brings to Christians.

In the first part of the book, Challies makes a compelling case for the good of technology, demonstrating that human ingenuity in creating technology reflects the character of God as Creator and is part and parcel of how He designed us to “fill the earth and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28). He shows readers how, from the plow to the printing press to the airplane, technology has had tremendous positive effects on man’s quality of life and His ability to serve the Lord.

Challies recognizes, also that all technology carries certain risks, many of which we may not see until we have fully adopted a new device. He points out that though we try to make technology in our image, it often returns the favor, remaking our lives in ways we never could have imagined. He draws from great secular theorists like Neil Postman and Marshal McLuhan to show that the devices and systems we create, especially for communication, implicitly change the meaning of the messages we use them to send.

The second part of The Next Story addresses six areas in which technological advances have brought significant changes (both for good and bad) and tries to help Christians make informed decisions about how they interact with these new realities.

In particular, Challies discusses the multiplying and cheapening of communication through the internet and mobile devices; the effect of media on our relationships and how mediated distance hinders love and fosters negative behaviors; the distraction that comes from sensory overload and the need to recapture focus in order to pray and worship well; the cult of information for information’s sake and the need to sort and process what we know to develop true wisdom; the redefining of truth by user-generated content and the need for grounding in God’s truth; and the two-edged sword of heightened visibility of our lives through social media and increased anonymity in hiding behind a screen and the need for a consistent witness.

In all, Challies provides a very thorough yet very accessible manual for Christians to make sense of their digital world through a biblical lens. He does not critique the digital revolution as a Luddite, but rather urges Christians to think critically about the ways they interact with the technologies that have come to define today’s world and, as always, to allow God’s standards to be our standards as we evaluate our devices and media choices. In the end, he reminds us that God is in control, and that the new world we find ourselves in today is His world as much as ever.

[Joel Arnold · Rating 2 out of 5]

I applaud Challies' work to present a biblical evaluation of technology. On the other hand, I felt that his philosophy was strongly influenced by the Mcluhan / Postmanesque media ecology that goes looking for evil lurking under every circuit board and behind every glowing screen. He made a few good points with a lot of rather unhelpful points in between. Overall, I would read From the Garden to the City if you simply must read a book on the Christian view of technology. I'm not sure that it is entirely helpful either, but certainly better than this one. After you're done with that read Txting: the Gr8t Deb8te for a refreshing and honest recognition of how technology doesn't really change who we are.

segway inventor
Top of 49
Bottom of 53 - kind of a stupid point
61-62 - the etymological fallacy applied to technology
74 - shocking statistics about Facebook usage
90 - shocking statistics about time in front of a screen.
105 - simchurch
160ff - criticism of Wikipedia as a relativist view of truth
169 - "while we've never been able to accept everything presented as fact, we've been able to trust the system through which we have come to know facts." Very naive epistemology.

Thoughts after I finished the book:

For all the Jeremiad talk, what are any of us supposed to do differently? Everyone who despairs of new technologies destroying us can't help but continue to use them. The extremists and the early adopters receive all of the criticisms, but when the same technologies eventually become mainstream we decry them for changing us even as we use them.

So what is the good of all the despairing? Regardless of what we say, the prevailing technologies will become part our lifestyles eventually. What exactly are we seeking to accomplish with our pronouncements? What exactly is it that the conscientious reader ought to do?

Does technology affect us and change society? Of course. But only in the limited way that a place or a culture or a movement can - on the surface. In short, it can force cultural changes but not human nature. But it never helps a culture to think biblically if their conscious focus is on how different they are from the rest of the world.

Maybe the best answer is not in emphasizing how new these challenges are but how old. Maybe people need to be reminded that human beings have always struggled with covetousness, sensuality, the council of the ungodly, intellectual autonomy, and wasting time. Maybe that 19 year old that thinks he has to have an iPhone 4S won't respond to Marshall McLuhan telling him the medium is the message and he's going to lose his intelligence if he buys this. Maybe he simply needs to be told that it can't make him happy because there is nothing new under the sun, and he actually isn't any more hip for wanting it—human beings have always craved things they don't have. Maybe that 27 year old mother of two doesn't need to be told that Facebook is changing our society to make our friendships more shallow. Maybe she should hear that outside friendships are okay, but her first priority is her husband and children; the approval of the rest of humanity is only secondary. It's the same old battles; the same old sin; the same old world, flesh, and devil that fallen humanity has always succumbed to.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, simple read with applicable wisdom. Highly recommended read for anyone interested in media/technology and its impact on culture, faith and society.

[Brian Eshleman]

Surveys the history of IT progression, its impact on the culture at large, and choices of Christian discipleship in particular. Sells the virtues of carefully considered digital choices with an awareness of the motives of the purveyors. The last aspect, in my opinion, can wander toward the paranoid or at least obsessive. Will the culture really fall if Wikipedia prospers, as though those who look to its consensus for their theology, of all things, wouldn't have grazed somewhere in any century.

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoughtful analysis of technology and how it affects our lives. Do we control our technology or does it control us? This book helps us examine our lives from before Gutenberg and progressing to our present day. How our culture changed as our use of information changed, how our use of technology can affect our brain and/or behavior. How it affects our relationships or our ability to communicate in person face to face. A lot of content in this book challenged me and resonated with me. I love books that affect personal journey. A good read.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually listened to this rather than read it. It was such an interesting book. It made me think a lot about how and why I use technology and how technology affects how we think about truth. It talks about how our use of technology changes how our brains work as well. I don't want to spend quite so much time on the computer anymore...This book is definitely worth a read!

[Johnny Mcclean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic analysis that is a vital read for anyone who feels (like me) that digital life, communication speed, information overload is getting overwhelming.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technology is the creative activity of using tools to shape God’s creation for practical purposes.2
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God made us creative beings in his image and assigned to us a task that would require us to plumb the depths of that creativity. He knew that to fulfill our created purpose we would need to be innovative, developing new tools and means of utilizing the resources and abilities that he had given to us. In other words, obedience to God requires that we create technology. This tells us that there is some inherent good in the technology we create. Whenever we express our God-given creativity by coming up with something that will help us be more fruitful, that will multiply and promote human flourishing in a way that honors God, we act out of the imago Dei, the “image of God” in which we were created.
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Neil Postman, the late cultural critic and media theorist, pointed out that over time certain technologies come to be considered mythic, not in the sense of being fictional or legendary, but in the sense that they seem to have always existed in their current form. They have become part of the natural order of life. They become assumed, and we forget that they have not always been a part of our lives.
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technological change is not additive but ecological.6 In other words, it affects more than our lives as individuals. It introduces far more complex changes than anything we could have ever foreseen. A technology changes the entire environment it operates in. It changes the way we perceive the world. It changes the way we understand ourselves.
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Meanwhile, the digital explosion has even changed the way the adult brain functions. It has placed many of us into what has been described as a state of continuous partial attention, a state in which we devote partial attention to many tasks simultaneously, most of them having to do with communication. While we sit at our desks working on a report, we are also monitoring our mobile phones and our instant messaging accounts, giving partial attention to a host of different media. As we do so, we keep our brains in a constant state of heightened stress, damaging our ability to devote ourselves to extended periods of thoughtful reflection and contemplation.12
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I am now primarily an individual, not part of a traditional grouping. And yet I still need to have an identity, even if it is not as part of a community or grouping based on the old paradigm of geography. And here the Internet has wired us together in surprising new ways and has allowed us all to identify by our personal interests, whatever they happen to be. Shared interests rather than shared space now define community. Do you see the shift here? Our perception of community is becoming disembodied, a product of mediated communication based on shared interest rather than a product of face-to-face communication based on shared space.
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In A Journey Worth Taking, Charles Drew provides an important warning about the involuntary nature of the community God calls us to as his people. He cautions us against elevating our individual tastes in the churches we attend. “Church” is not an event. It is people — people whom God calls us to love. What is more, it is in a very important sense an involuntary community of people: we don’t choose our brothers and sisters — God does. And sometimes (oftentimes) those people are not terribly compatible with us — not the people we would choose to hang out with. But it is this very incompatibility that is so important, for at least two reasons. First, learning to love the people I don’t like is by far the best way to learn how to love (it’s easy to love people I happen to like). Second, the church is supposed to be a sociological miracle — a demonstration that Jesus has died and risen to create a new humanity composed of all sorts of people.17
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If we are a distracted people, a distracted society, it stands to reason that we would also be a distracted church, a church with a diminished ability to think deeply, to cultivate concentration, to emphasize slow, deliberate, thoughtful meditation.
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Here is one of the great dangers we face as Christians: With the ever-present distractions in our lives, we are quickly becoming a people of shallow thoughts, and shallow thoughts will lead to shallow living. There is a simple and inevitable progression at work here: All of this distraction is reshaping us in two dangerous ways. First, we are tempted to forsake quality for quantity, believing the lie that virtue comes through speed, productivity, and efficiency. We think that more must be better, and so we drive ourselves to do more, accomplish more, be more. And second, as this happens, we lose our ability to engage in deeper ways of thinking — concentrated, focused thought that requires time and cannot be rushed. Instead of focusing our efforts in a few directions, we give scant attention to many things, skimming instead of studying. We live rushed lives and forget how to move slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully through life. The challenge facing us is clear. We need to relearn how to think, and we need to discipline ourselves to think deeply, conquering the distractions in our lives so that we can live deeply. We must rediscover how to be truly thoughtful Christians, as we seek to live with virtue in the aftermath of the digital explosion.
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But what if this emphasis on speed and capacity has begun to shape us? What if our consumption and use of these devices has trained us to assume that greater speed and greater capacity are universal virtues? What if we have transferred the virtues of digital devices to our own lives?
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we press on, trying to match the speed of our new devices, absorbing into our consciousness the idea that speed itself is a virtue, that fast is always good. We recreate ourselves in the image of our devices, through the ideologies they contain within them.
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The speed of digital life, the understanding that e-mails grow stale if they are not responded to immediately, the knowledge that a text message that is a few hours old is already ancient, increases the pace of our lives. Eventually we begin trying to make everything faster. We try to speed up our families, our worship, our eating. We begin to race through life, unwilling or perhaps unable to slow down, to pause, and to reflect.
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Speed is just one of the ways we measure ourselves. We also measure ourselves by our capacity, by our ability to produce. Just as our devices continually evolve toward greater capacity, so too we demand more and more of ourselves. We want to keep up with our devices; we want to be productive, to use each moment of each day to accomplish something tangible. The emphasis on productivity arose during the period of industrialization, when factory owners realized that they could generate a more profitable product if they ruthlessly controlled every aspect of its production. And so they hired experts who watched and measured every aspect of production until every moment of every worker’s day was regulated and accounted for. Every person was required to be productive in every moment.
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As the pace grew, Jesus would constantly slow it down in order to keep his focus on what was most important. Where we might keep count of the number of people Jesus healed and those who professed him as Lord — and measure Jesus’ productivity in this way — he kept himself accountable to a higher measure. Much of his time was not productive in any way we could easily measure. And yet his time was sacred, every moment dedicated to the Father.
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Meanwhile, if we surround ourselves by too many stimuli, we force our brains into a state of continuous partial attention, a state in which we keep tabs on everything without giving focused attention to anything. When in this state of continuous partial attention, “people may place their brains in a heightened state of stress. They no longer have time to reflect, contemplate, or make thoughtful decisions. Instead, they exist in a sense of constant crisis — on alert for a new contact or bit of exciting news or information at any moment.
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This is as true in worship as it is in the workplace. Efficiency is a dangerous mind-set to bring to our faith. We do not want to be efficient worshipers, driven by a desire to get more of God in a shorter amount of time. We do not want to be hurried worshipers who value speed over quality. And yet there are multitudes of One Minute Bibles and Two Minute Devotionals available for those of us who just can’t spare the time, for those who need a spiritual fix for the sake of conscience but aren’t willing to sacrifice more time.
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my concern is that as we dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of more information from more sources, we will be so overloaded by information that we will no longer have the time — perhaps even the ability — to ponder that information, to consider it, to take the time to study it and analyze it and meditate on it.
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One of the great benefits of the information age, ironically, is that it allows us to know less because we can look up anything at a click of the mouse.15 We can access information that would otherwise reside in only a few minds. We are grateful for this when we encounter poison ivy and want to find a way of dealing with the itch. But it is a benefit that can have diminishing returns.
Location: 2745

[Craig Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do you own your technology or does your technology own you? This is a deeply probing and provocative question. “Am I giving up control of my life? Is it possible that these technologies are changing me? Am I becoming a tool of the very tools that are supposed to serve me (p. 11)?” Answering these questions put Tim Challies on a quest which resulted in his recent book The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion.

Whether we want to be or not we are all plugged into technology. Some of us more than others by choice or by profession. Some of us are plugged in as little as possible and resist the technology pull every step of the way. Still others are plugged in more than they realize and are unwilling to admit it. Whoever you are and how ever much or little you are engaged in technology today, you are affected by it and you need to read The Next Story.

Since technology is here to stay and we all take part in using it (even the resisters) Challies offers a description of engagement called disciplined discernment. This disciplined discernment is when

A Christian looks carefully at the new realities, weighs and evaluates them, and educates himself, thinking deeply about the potential consequences and effects of suing this kind of technology……he relies on the Holy Spirit, who speaks his wisdom through the Bible, to learn how he can live with virtue in this new digital world (p. 17).

Part 1 of the book deals with a theology of technology, the theory of technology and our experience(s) with technology. Challies takes the above approach to technology, versus total rejection of it, because he sees technology as the natural result of mankind fulfilling the cultural mandate in Genesis. God is creative and he created us to be creative. Technology is thus the result of our God given creative ability (p. 22-23).

With the theory of technology, Challies offers several angles to help us better understand how our use of technology can effect us. It involves risk and opportunity, each medium carries with it a message when used, it shifts the balance of power and has biological effects. Borrowing from Marshall McLuhan, Challies gives us four questions to ask ourselves before we involve ourselves in the newest technology in order to “identify the deep-rooted nature – and possible impact – of a new technology (p. 41):

What human trait, sense, or experience is enhanced by this new technology?
What existing technology is made obsolete by this new one?
What old, abandoned technology does this technology bring back to mind?
What unintended opposite effects might this technology have?
Asking and thoughtfully answering these questions will help us to become better disciplined discerners when it comes to our use of technology.

The final aspect of technology Challies considers is our experience with it over time. He provides a fascinating and sweeping digital history starting with Samuel Morse in 1844 with the invention of the telegraph and running right up to today with the invention of the computer and cell phone.

Before moving to part 2 Challies asks us to consider four more questions we need to ask of our technology before we use or don’t use them (p. 61-64).

Why were you created? – For business or entertainment?
What is the problem to which you are a solution, and whose problem is it? – Is the ‘problem’ this technology addressing even real and if so is it my problem?
What new problems will it bring? – Will the negative effects of using this technology outweigh the good?
What are you doing to my heart? – Is this technology going to become an idol of my heart or is it going to be an avenue through which I will fall deeper into an already existing idol?
Part 2 addresses a number of important aspects of technology, how they shape our lives through our experience with them and how we need to respond with disciplined discernment. Throughout part 2 Challies tries to weave the aspects of theology, theory and experience as he discusses everything from technology as communication, mediation/identity, distraction, information, truth/authority and visibility/privacy. At the end of each chapter Challies recaps the theological, theoretical and experiential issues he discussed, offers some suggestions on how to think about our technology in light of them and then provides some probing questions to answer to help us think about and evaluate our use of technology.

An Obejctor

While I love this book I did have some objections or concerns with some of Challies theological points. It seems there is a disconnect between Challies theology of technology in part 1 and how he applies it later in the book. Due to space I will only address one of them.

In the chapter on mediation Challies defines a medium as “something that stands between (p. 91)” Fair enough. Applied to technology “a digital medium is a device or tool or technology that delivers some kind of data or information. It stands between the one who creates sounds or images and the one who receives them (p. 91).” Were still ok up to this point. Where I think Challies becomes inconsistent or at least tries to draw a false comparison is when he looks at God’s mediation with us through Christ because of our sin and our use of mediation with others through our technology. Challies writes,

The best relationships we can have are not those that rely on mediation, but rather the ones that allow for unmediated contact and communication. This becomes apparent as we examine God’s intention for us as people made in his image. What type of relational interaction were we made for, and hwy is a mediator now necessary for us to experience relational intimacy? The Bible does, in fact, teach us that mediation is necessary for us to know God fully and love one another, but as we will see, this mediated communication is a concession from God and a consequence of man’s sin. Face-to-face contact between human beings is inherently richer and better than any mediated contact (p. 92).

First, it is a false comparison to say that because God used mediation through Christ to bring us to himself because of sin, this makes all mediatorial things inferior to unmediated contact.

Second, following that, this is inconsistent with Challies theology of technology as the natural result of mans creative ability as endowed to him by God at creation. If technology is a result of mankind fulfilling the creation mandate, and it is by definition mediatorial, then how can it be that it is inherently inferior? Would technology not have a mediatorial aspect if sin had never entered the picture? Would we not be using emails or phones to speak to people from around the world? After all God commanded Adam and Eve to form and fill the earth. It seems that mediated communication would be necessary even in a world without sin. Further, when heaven and earth are brought together and sin is removed how will technology be changed? Will God remove all mediated technology? I think this is an issue and these are some questions that we need to think through before adopting this view of mediation and technology.

Many Praises

Despite the faults I find in the book, there are well more good contributions this book brings to the table when it comes to the intersection between faith and technology.

First, while I am not a techie junkie, this is the only book of its kind that attempts to bring theology to bear on technology.

Second, Challies asks the penetrating questions and really identifies with his readers and fellow technology users with them. He asks the good hard questions of us because he has first asked them of himself.

Third, Challies does not make us feel dirty for using technology even though it is used for some pretty sinful stuff. He brings a balance and even-handed approach to it.

I think this is a book that is long overdo but probably could not have been written even 3 years ago. This is a book that only a hand full of people could have written and Challies is certainly qualified. I think every Christian needs to read this book. I do wonder how well many people will be able to make the necessary adjustments in their lives when it comes to their use of technology. I am by no means heavily entrenched in technology (maybe I am and just don’t see it yet) but I found myself walking away with many things I need to think about and have already begun the process of evaluating my own use of technology – changes will be made.

[James Frederick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read. It gets five stars because I LOVE a book that provokes deep thought and makes me consider new perspectives. There are boatloads of such issues dealt with, here, including:

1. The history of technology and the changes that it has forced on our culture and our faith;
2. The possibility of technology becoming an idol;
3. How technology affects us from a biological perspective;
4. The difference between information, knowledge and wisdom;
5. The fact that current technology preserves EVERYTHING; and
6. How your character is developed or marred by use of technology.

There is also a discussion on truth and authority and how technology has changed our models for how we view or know truth. There is also a discussion on privacy vs. visibility and what we are saying to others, perhaps without realizing it.

This book really highlights the need for awareness of how we use technology and the messages that we send to others with our decisions on what we do and say online.

There are LOTS of questions here. Many of these are simply questions we need to ask ourselves. There are not necessarily right or wrong answers. Raising the questions cause us to focus on things and to determine whether we are using technology or allowing it to use us. Underlying all of this is the issue of how our faith guides us in using technology and is affected by that use. Using technology for God's glory is what our focus *should* be.

I am going to need to think through this and probably need to re-read this, in the future.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delivers exactly what it promises. Deals with issues of the Christian faith and technology. Some very helpful observations that everyone agrees with when they read it, but they might not have seriously considered unless stated - e.g. "every beep exacts a toll". Looks at the underlying "message" of each bit of technology - not a message linked to the science behind the technology, but to the way the technology is used. The implicit message of a lot of messaging technology becomes, "face to face conversations aren't important". The implicit message of a lot of image-based technology that communicates more to emotions than to reason, is that emotion trumps reason. And so on. Thus he looks at underlying issues that can easily be compared with what the Bible says. He is generally critical of the way many Christians (including himself) use technology today - of how they are perpetually distracted, how they stop reflecting deeply on issues, how they default when bored to entertainment rather than sharpening their minds. Deals with a lot of other stuff as well, highlighting both the benefits and drawbacks of many areas of technology. Well researched and well written. Helpful questions for personal reflection and application. Highly recommend.

[Taylor Rollo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book for helping Christians think through the impact of technology on our lives. It does not try to demonize technology, but it does take a hard look at how technology changes us and even masters us, when we should be masters of it. It also takes a good look at how it changes human interaction, intuitions of value, relationships, views of truth and authority, etc.

The author's point is to make sure we are actively thinking about tech in our lives and actively making sure we do not let it dehumanize us. That is needed because we can so easily accept technology passively and allow it to change us in ways that are not healthy.

I would recommend actually reading the Conclusion/Epilogue first, because it does a really good job of summing up the book and preparing you for what you are about to read. It also helps set the stage for how we should think about each chapter and try to work out applications for our lives.

I definitely would recommend this book and I will be using it as a discussion book sometime in the future.

[Kyleigh Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a thought-provoking, convicting book, Challies examines the way digital technology affects us. He starts by considering how the invention of technologies across history is in line with the Creation Mandate in Genesis 1:28 and taking dominion and how the fall affects technology. Challies traced the history of our digital age, which was fascinating, especially in understanding why the rate of change is so much faster today. Then he discusses the ways that digital technology is us and society, particularly in how we communicate, our identities, and what we do about distraction, information, truth/authority, and visibility and privacy. It shed a light on a number of my habits and intuitions, and fit well with my goal of reading fewer books in 2021, as Challies also talked about how we have a glut of information and care more about access to it than actual knowledge or memory.

He has application and reflection questions and is also honest about some of his own struggles with technology.

[Andrew Wolgemuth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five years after it's publication, this book remains a helpful, insightful resource for thinking Christianly about technology.

While the hot devices and apps have changed somewhat during the last five years, Challies' reflections on Communication (the challenges and the responsibilities of improved means of broadcast community), Mediation (what changes when we're not face-to-face with those we're communicating with?), Distraction (the difficulty of thinking deeply in the digital age), Information (pursuing wisdom in an age that thinks that often thinks that information is the pinnacle, Truth (how the current understandings of truth and authority contrast with a biblical understanding of the same), and Visibility (the implications of leaving a constant data trail) are spot-on, convicting, and constructive.

(full disclosure: the agency I work for represents this author and book)

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little slow to start as he gives history and background that wasn’t really news to me. I didn’t agree with his take that anyone born in the 80s is a digital native. But shortly after that but he started to hit upon some really interesting points and striking some nerves that caught my attention. This book provoked a lot of thoughts for me. I found it was realistic and helpful, but not alarmist. Definitely worthwhile read if you: feel like you might be a tool to your tools, aren’t sure how to navigate safely through a digital world, are feeling overwhelmed and overloaded, or have children who ARE digital natives.

[Stephan vanOs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and challenging book designed to make us think about how we should interact with the new digital technology as Christians. This book is now nine years old and computer technologies have advanced even more in that time. However, the general principles that Challies sets out are just a relevant today and certainly all youth pastors and parents should be aware of the special challenges and temptations (along with the benefits and opportunities) of computers and social media for today.

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be required reading, Tim did a lot of research and provided a very detailed explanation about the digital world and the effects it is having. "Have we perhaps grown a little too comfortable with digital technology, our fancy gadgets and beeping devices? Is there a hidden cost to using them, a price we must pay to enjoy their benefits? How exactly are these technologies changing us? And are these changes good?"

[JC · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a thought provoking book. The start of it was slow and a bit difficult to grasp his framework but the application of his points leads one to seriously think through the footprint he leaves in this digital world. Technology isn't evil but we have to think about the affect it has on us and how our faith works in this digital world.

Definitely worth a read.

[Kevin Burrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great points to consider. I especially appreciated the concepts of truth by consensus (a la Wikipedia) and truth by relevance (a la Google algorithms) as contrasted with the objective truth we are called to seek.

[Carter Hemphill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a excellent book about the implications of technology and how they can provide both negative and positive consequences. This book really made me think about the impact technology and to be more cautious in assuming that technological innovation should always be welcomed.