How to Preach About Technology (Don't)

Revival Post

This is a revival post, and it has the potential to be a little bit ranty. Mostly because I wrote this article in 2014 about "How to Preach about Technology (Don't)," and while I hardly think a lot of people are reading and taking my advice to heart, I still hear horrible sermons like this a lot.

One of the key points is that objectifying "technology" into a single broad-stroke word is so unhelpful it actually reverses into bad advice. 

"Addicted to our phones" is a helpful shortcut for a feeling that many of us want to talk about, but let's at least talk about what we're doing on phones. Nobody talks about being "addicted to reading" or "addicted to talking with my wife." These are different than "addicted to Candy Crush"—and yes, all three are still me on my smartphone.

I don't deny smartphones change the experience of, say, reading or conversation (or even playing games for that matter), but when we're specifically naming those things, we're doing thoughtful work. When we're blowing hot air just about "being addicted to technology" we're not.

Go read my article.

Okay rant done.

Chris Ridgeway