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Stumbling Over Technology
By Martin Spriggs:Bio on May 21, 2008
Recently I’ve been thinking about how technology can be very addictive for some (myself included). In fact it can get in the way so much that you almost stumble over it on the way to your intended destination. Let me explain.
Since the web is so accessible to most these days, and web surfing so easy to do. It’s easy to whittle away hours just looking at all the cool stuff out there. Before you know it you are downloading free pieces of software, re-engineering your entire daily “workflow” to be “more productive” since you have now found the perfect web application that now you need to spend time learning and moving in to. All of a sudden you look up and the day is gone and you have found some cool stuff, but haven’t gotten much done.
There are even sites that encourage us to do just that. www.stumbleupon.com is just such a site. After signing up, you can download a small toolbar for your browser that plants a “Stumble” button promenantly in front of you. Clicking on it (in a moment of weakness) transports you to a random webpage based on your interests, which you have told StumbleUpon in the account creation process. Now sometimes this is a very neat thing. For instance, one of my interests is in photography. So after clicking on my stumble button, I was transported to www.geofflawrence.com, a great site with lots of photography tutorials. Goodness knows I need all the help I can get. I found some very useful tips on setting ISO settings, and felt the time spent was worthwhile.
Another site I stumbled upon was www.biblemap.org. Type in a Bible reference and if it has a city or location listed, an areal map pinpoints the location for you. You can zoom in and out, as well as view the topography. Very cool!
You can see where this is going though. Yes, stumbling around the internet can net some productive and even recreational things…but can be very habit forming. Because the web is great at distracting us, we forget what technology is there for us to do — use it as a tool to walk our Christian life and serve our Lord. It’s no different than anything else that God has given us. Being good technology stewards is important. Gauge the time you spend immersed in technology and determine if it is helping you in your Christian walk or a stumbling block to it. Technology is neither good nor bad by itself. Our use of it is.
Topics: GENERAL, SYNOD LEADERS, Technology