Amy Crouch in Comment, June 10, 2021, from Cardus, asks some important questions about technology's promises and suggests a new framework "centred not on ease or distraction, but flourishing. Perhaps we don’t need greater convenience in our communities and callings. Perhaps instead we need help to venture further on the straight-and-narrow path of righteousness."
Our tech devices are designed to make life easier, but maybe ease isn’t what we need. They’re designed to captivate us, but maybe we need time to look up and around.
Silicon Valley’s technologies promised a revolution in speed and convenience, and they certainly delivered. Yet it’s starting to look like those were the wrong promises. 24/7 communication and distraction haven’t relieved us from stress, boredom, or loneliness.
As our lives become increasingly mediated by algorithms and machines, tech designers need to rethink those promises.
If tech companies aren't willing to transform their priorities, all of us as users still have the responsibility to consider our personal use of the tech "gifts" that we're offered continually. That kind of personal transformation may be revolutionary, but it isn't impossible by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God.