Is it Controversial to say this is Controversial?

Okay, so can we agree that technology has progressed over the last, say, 5yrs? (I’m just picking a number here.) Smartphones are now ubiquitous, and they’re used for a myriad of purposes. The current generation of high school students has lived with multifunction communication devices in their pockets for their formative years. They’re ingrained and entrenched. We have reached the point where our youth is so steeped in technological tools of communication, that they don’t see a difference between calling someone and talking face to face. We have entered an era that believes that church can be conducted over the internet. And in this age, the people on the leading edge are starting to think that any criticism about that is irrelevant, controversial and even antiquated. That’s concerning.

If you’re interested, here are a few pieces where I’ve made my voice heard. (I’m ‘brad’ in the comments.) Tim Keller is the pastor of a large church, and on their website they are saying that while you can listen to their sermons (and they’re seeing approximately 25,000 downloads a week!), you aren’t a member unless you attend in person. Someone else was riffing on the idea of a new smartphone with an ad them struck him as interesting. (Hey, Tim Keller’s name shows up there too! He sure gets around…)

I hear this idea bandied about that there is much more interaction available through the internet. I doubt that’s true. While I’m not denouncing the capacity for quick connections and communication, interaction is a word that’s been unfortunately co-opted by the internet and social media. I think in one day of face-to-face dialogue there is more interaction than in a month of online yammering. For example, how quickly can a misunderstanding in an e-mail be cleared up by visiting someone’s desk? It’s a snap! The most valuable people to me are the ones I see every day. Hopefully that’s the same for you. People whose relationships are entirely lived online will always have a level of ‘virtuality’ that it’s impossible to get past. Until you actually meet.

So all this to say that relationships must be lived in the present, and the proximate. That is where the highest value must be placed. I believe that the internet’s greatest value is reinforcing that belief in people, and enabling them to strengthen the bonds that matter most. Of course, it’s greatest cost is just the opposite.