Some Reflections on Flickering Pixels

We are currently reading "Flickering Pixels: How technology shapes your faith" by Shane Hipps for my Preaching and Technology class.  Here are a few of my reflections on chapters 5-8.

So what is the point of technology?  Information.  We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded by information, some true and others not so true.  Much of this information is biased or presented with a certain agenda.  For instance, I just spent the holiday break with my family.  My 20-year-old brother loves to watch Fox News.  So, every time we went back to the hotel the television was turned to Fox News.  This news channel is a source of information.  It is also a source that I would say has a more conservative agenda.  My problem is that news channels, like this one, constantly loop the same information and I never feel like I hear anything new after the first half an hour.  Yet, my brother loves it!  Now don't get me wrong, I like the news...but after awhile it can get boring.  This is when it becomes important to find meaning and understanding for the information we are receiving.  Hipps claims, "Information alone is strength without coordination.  We become a danger mostly to ourselves when we have it.  Understanding is the ability to coordinate that raw information in meaningful ways" (71).  With this in mind, I do not think it does any good to watch hour upon hour of television without taking some time to process and understand the information received.  Maybe for every half hour of Fox News watching everyone should take a few moments to blog about what they have heard.  Then again, maybe this would just result in a lot of blogs with information only and not a lot of understanding.

So why are we lured in by television and other images?  We can use words to describe things.  Radio broadcasters do it all the time.  Who even listens to the radio anymore, though?  We can also use images to show things.  This is what happens on televisions, cameras, YouTube, etc.  I could tell you about my recent trip to New York City or I could show you the photos.  If you actually have time to sit down and have a face-to-face conversation with me (which most people don't) or the opportunity to creep on my facebook you will probably choose to see the pictures.  This is because the pictures do a better job at showing you what I actually saw.  Hipps claims that this is because "Images initially make us feel rather than think" (76).  So, maybe the over-used cliche is true and an image is really worth a thousand words.

So how does all this technology and information relate to our theology?  I think it relates in many ways.  We, as people of faith, can try our hardest to not be of this world.  However, it is difficult to do.  In today's new age of technology a majority of our country's population is texting, blogging, tweeting, facebooking, emailing, and surfing.  We would be lying to ourselves if we were to say that the media and technology that we are surrounded by do not affect our faith.  Instead, the opposite is true.  "The point is that our theology and practice are deeply informed and shaped by our media and technology" (84).  Let's take for instance the recent ELCA 2009 Churchwide Assembly that received a lot of press time.  You can't tell me that the theology of people watching that on the news headlines were not being shaped, one way or another, by what they were seeing and hearing.  I know some people in my home area had not heard much about the statement on human sexuality, because the pastors did not think it was applicable for their context and then they saw it on the news.  Talk about a shock to the system!

Until next time...percolate on this!