Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You—Even if it’s a Robot

It’s become popular to warn of the dangers of digitization through social media posts, podcasts, live streams, text messages and…do you get my point?

We are right to be worried. Digitization is a problem and I am not contrarian enough to deny it. I don’t like that my first instinct upon waking is to check my email. I don’t like that when I get home from work, I am prone to open Instagram before petting my cat. I am extremely eager for summer, when thawed trails and birdsong replace treadmills and earbuds.

However, I do think we should be careful how we speak of digital technology. Complaining is sinful, after all, even if we are complaining about something less than healthy. And we need to be honest: a great deal of our complaining is made possible by the very object of our complaints. We have statistics to back up our fears. Why? Because we can readily Google them. We have “small followings” of a thousand or under ready to hear our warnings. Why? Because social media has given us all mini-celebrity complexes. We can stew in our worry constantly. Why? Because we can always text someone new or find another playlist to support our concerns.

The irony is astounding.

Several weeks ago, I attended a week of classes on theology and the body. A recurring theme was the disembodied nature of the digital age. Like the souls in Dante’s Divine Comedy, we yearn for wholeness. We, properly, miss the days when our minds and bodies could not be separated, when our opinions were connected to our voices rather than our Meta accounts.

However, it was not lost on me that, while we discussed the dangers of digital technologies, we did so in a class made possible by them. Distance learning existed before the digital age, but you must admit that WiFi, MacBooks, and Microsoft Office have made it a lot easier for a woman in Iowa to attend a seminary in Missouri.

It also struck me as a bit comic that one of the most powerful lectures from the course—on the dehumanizing nature of the digital self—was delivered via Zoom.

This lecture was well-researched and convicting, and I hope it will be heard by many more classes. And yet, I have since had the recurring thought: Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, even if it is a robot.

I want to be discerning, but I also want to be grateful. Live streaming has delivered my husband’s sermons to many who are unable to attend in-person services. The internet has allowed us to attend seminary without upending our work and home. Indeed, it allowed us both to finish our master’s degrees remotely during the pandemic and, had we not done so, it’s unlikely our paths would have crossed.

Email and Zoom have helped me connect more readily with the editor and publisher of my first book. I’ve found encouragement from other pastor’s wives on Instagram. I have Spotify playlists to motivate me through dreary January jogs. Most obviously, unless you somehow snuck into my office and are staring over my shoulder as I type, you’re reading this on my blog.

All this to say, let’s be realistic about digitalization but let’s not let this realism descend into pessimism. Be thankful where you can, for gratitude honors God alongside discernment.

Let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’
Abraham Kuyper

This is true of the digital realm too. Whatever Neuralink or Meta might have you believe, there is not a single pixel over which Christ does not cry: ‘Mine!’