Copyright 2015 by Shea Oakley
\nAll rights reserved<\/p>\n
Recently I have become more aware of how much of my discretionary time is being spent wrapped up in the man-made instrumentality we call the Internet. Simultaneously I\u2019ve noticed that my time spent doing things like getting outdoors has been shrinking. While there is not exactly an inverse proportion here I have little doubt that a major contributor to my spending less time experiencing God\u2019s direct creation, the natural world, has been my deepening involvement with virtual \u201creality\u201d.<\/p>\n
The real world has a beauty and a sublimity with which the virtual electronic world of the 21st Century cannot even begin to compete. Why is it, then, that so many Westerners, including those who call themselves followers of Christ, seem to be abandoning that real world to hunch in front of\u00a0smart phone\u00a0screens? The answer may well be that we in the West have inquired an insatiable appetite for what is immediately gratifying over what is truly gratifying. At the same time our felt need to be in control of all things may be rearing its ugly head.<\/p>\n
Over the years I have written much about the culture of instant gratification and I do not want to beat the proverbial dead horse. That said, the trend away from finding our satisfaction in the ways that most of the human race throughout history has found it has a direct bearing on the question at hand. Pre-moderns had to learn to enjoy the world they were given, to \u201csuck the marrow\u201d out of human experience by patiently mining the world as it actually was rather than the world they might, like us, have wanted it to be. There were also fewer distractions in years past and those distractions were not nearly as glittery as today\u2019s computer screens. The diversions of an earlier era were seen for what they were, diversions. I believe that most people knew the kinds of activities that really counted; a face to face conversation with a friend, an outing on a glorious autumn day, the learning of a skill that involved something more physically involving than punching keys on a keyboard. All these things: building a physically proximate friendship, being fully attuned to nature, or becoming a craftsman were all activities that required time, patience, and effort. Neither these things\u00a0themselves or the benefits of full involvement in\u00a0them came quickly and easily.<\/p>\n
By contrast pale virtual imitations of these things are all readily available today at the click of a \u201cmouse\u201d. Social media provides the one-step removed relationships, computer \u201cWallpaper\u201d with images of the natural world outside are plentiful, and we can vicariously experience a plethora of creative human enterprise on literally millions of uploaded videos.<\/p>\n
Besides the seemingly perfect, if unhealthy, melding of the fallen human desire for immediate electronic gratification with what is instantly available online there is also our lust for control to take into consideration. We feel like we have the power to experience life in any way and at any time we want to when we are \u201csurfing\u201d the Net. At the least it is an apparently harmless way to escape the vigor\u2019s of living in the real world for a few minutes or, for many of us, a few hours. What we see and how we see it is something we think we control in virtual reality whereas real reality isn\u2019t quite so subject to our willful manipulation (It also isn\u2019t nearly as likely to lead us into a sort of \u201cvirtual reality addiction\u201d, which too much time online can do.)<\/p>\n
As believers we know we are called to reject the ethos of both instant gratification and self-centered control over our lives. This knowledge, however, does not seem to be translating into a Christian counterculture that rejects the world\u2019s growing obsession with the Internet. As with our television viewing habits I suspect the amount of time many believers spend online (as well as what we view there) probably does not greatly differ from our neighbors. I must admit that this has too often been the case in my own life.<\/p>\n
So what is the answer?<\/p>\n
It may be as simple as praying for the will to turn the laptop, tablet or smartphone off as a spiritual discipline. There are days\u00a0when\u00a0most of us\u00a0do not have a real need to be online for any reason. At the very least one weekend day each week can be cleared of all interaction with virtual reality. Sunday seems like\u00a0an obvious choice for a \u201cSabbath-rest\u201d from the Net. We might find it refreshing (though perhaps not immediately so) to spend that time being in the same room with our friends or taking a hike through a nearby forest, or learning any one of a hundred useful skills. Being that it is Sunday we might also consider spending a bit more time worshipping, corporately or individually, the God of True Reality (capitalization very intentional.)<\/p>\n
This one-day a week fasting from our online obsessions is, however, only a start if we really want to become reacquainted with what is actually important in life. It is likely that further \u201cself-deprivation\u201d will be required to make virtual reality secondary to True Reality. Once we go on in this endeavor, though, I think the seeming self-deprivation will pay-off in much more satisfying lives, ones that intentionally honor the God of\u00a0our lives. Certainly this is a holy goal. It is also a necessary one if we do not want to spend our\u00a0days in less than worthy electronic pursuits which will never truly satisfy the requirements of what it means to be both Christian and human.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright 2015 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved Recently I have become more aware of how much of my discretionary time is being spent wrapped up in the man-made instrumentality we call the Internet. Simultaneously I\u2019ve noticed that my time spent doing things like getting outdoors has been shrinking. While there is not exactly an… <\/p>\n