My relationship with technology? It's complicated. As a child I was fascinated by anything with circuits, but as I have gotten older that has been balanced by other factors. I have developed a strong, and sometimes obsessive, bent toward delayed gratification. If you wait one more year to purchase the new gadget you can get a lot more for your money, so of course the rational thing is to always wait one more year. A few years ago I acquired an Atari complete with joysticks and game cartridges for free. Sure it would have impressed my friends more 25 years ago, but why give in to peer pressure?
The other factor is an association I have in my mind between simplicity and spirituality. The thought is that society is constantly coming up with new ways to keep our minds busy with something. We never have to be alone. We can call someone on a cell phone, listen to an ipod, read a book on our Kindle , and never have to be alone with God. Pascal talked about this in his writings published as "Pensees." He said the reason people want to be king is because the king never has to be bored. He has advisors to talk politics with, jesters to amuse him, dinners to host and so he has the best means possible to avoid being alone with himself to confront the emptiness of life apart from God.
The combination of these two thoughts kept me without a cell phone, an MP3 player, or a PDA until last year. I am still holding out on the cell phone (though I sometimes borrow Anastasia's), but last year I did get an MP3 player and a PDA. And I have enjoyed them. The main uses of the MP3 have been listening to the Bible (I have an audio CD set), various people teaching the Bible, and Christian music. Often when I am at the gym and sometimes when commuting back and forth to work on the bus.
The PDA I got mainly for work because it was getting to difficult to keep track of my appointments and contacts and needed to switch to Outlook anyway. It is very handy for storing information and it beeps at me when I am about to forget to do something or meet with someone. Very good for an absent minded professor. A few weeks ago for a Christmas present I got a Bible download for it, so I can now use it as my pocket Bible as well. That has been fun as well. It means one less thing to carry around and it is handy if I am wanting to meditate on a particular passage or chapter while I ride the bus. I can get it set to the right spot and then just turn it on instead of having to flip pages. It is also a little easier to read than my tiny-print pocket Bible is.
My solution these days is to try to think about my context. The bus and the gym are not the easiest places to have deep solitude anyway, and the techno toys are often a way to keep my mind God focused at those times. I also find value in going retro in other contexts. I have gone back to taking notes on the books I read for research in a spiral notebook instead of on the computer because the computer presents so many more opportunities for distraction and diversion. In my times of solitude it is often helpful just to have a notebook, a Bible, and perhaps a hymnbook.
I want to use technology without needing it. Right after I got my MP3 player I was at the gym and heard two people talking, one of whom was talking about how terrible the day was going because her ipod batteries ran down. There but by the grace of God is everyone of us. Technology is like any other good gift God gives us, we too easily become dependent on it rather than on God. Periodic fasting from it can help us remember that it is not what we really need.
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