Cell phones

My approach to cell phones is fairly basic. Mine is the uncomplicated version, used only for conversations, and those are usually short. I stepped into an AT&T store yesterday and was greeted by the newest release of the iPhone which features not only a mobile phone, but also a widescreen iPod, touch screen, internet browsing, and Google map browsing.

It occurred to me that the purpose of phones is to increase communication and ultimately to help build relationships. However, is there a possibility that the device has actually interfered with face to face intimacy? Do chatting and texting replace seeing into a person's soul or hearing their heartcry? When time is invested in personal browsing or entertainment for one, what is left over for real people?

Technology advances fascinate me in their possibilities to improve the quality of life. I see true quality in knowing and being known for who we are with guards down. My relationship with Jesus is like that. He has intimate knowledge of my emotions, my achievements and my failures...and still loves me. That is how I approach my connections to others and somehow the latest and greatest in telecommunications loses the closeness value of spending time hearing someone's voice and seeing what their eyes tell me apart from their words.

If you regularly communicate by texting or chatting, how do you see into the heart?

Posted on Tuesday, July 3, 2007 by Gloria Ruppel

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4 comments (Add your own)

1. todd brooks wrote:: Per wiki, “communication is a process that allows people to exchange information”. Not all information that needs to be communicated requires eye contact. Even with face to face communications, people put up facades and barriers that can restrict or divert our attention.

I think that technology breeds communication gaps between generations. For example, IM’ing co-workers or friends/family leads to either very quick communications like, “Call your mother.”, “Have you configured MXLogic for the Baton Rouge customer?”, or to more mundane chats linking to funny images, stories, jokes or gossip-y type chats.

On the other hand, modern technological advances make friendships possible with people you have never met face-to-face and with friends that have moved away.

Modern technology also has the potential to bring together the body of Christ in ways unimaginable just twenty years ago. Take Faithpad (http://www.faithpad.com) as a perfect example. What better way to integrate modern technology such as instant messaging with the body of believers all across the world? The ability to genuinely pray for one another, even those who you have never met (and probably never will), is certainly a wonderful achievement. And not generic prayers like, “I hope all the families in London are able to receive the grace of our Lord in their time of need during the current terror crisis”, but (with Faithpad) more specific requests like, “Johnny in Wyoming has an important MRI scheduled next week to determine if he has a malignant tumor on his liver. Please pray for good results.”

This in no way excuses a hermit-like existence, but it does show that the church could better utilize technology to bring the Word to the masses in new and creative ways. The church should be present where the people are. The downside is that our instant-messaging culture breeds a mentality that we can go it alone with regards to religion. That we don't need to get involved and we don't need the fellowship of the body of Christ. I definitely don't believe IM, email and web are to be used by the church as the sole means of communication, only as another tool in the toolbox for ways to further reach out and impact people's lives with the Word.
July 4, 2007 @ 3:42 PM
2. MichaelL wrote:: I agree with Todd. My company uses e-mail as the means to communicate prayer needs. We have one person who has taken the responsibility of managing the prayer chain. She takes new requests and updates previous requests. It has given me the opportunity to almost be in constant prayer. As soon as I see the e-mail (and I am not driving), I am able to lift people in prayer whom I have never met and might be across the nation or world. But I AM able to pray for them specifically. I was able to track one child's fight with cancer through a Blog site her father created and I was informed almost immediately when the battle was lost. Imagine how powerful it is to know that as Jesus comes to take your child by the hand and lead him/her home, you might have hundreds of people praying for your child and for your strength.

And I never use technology for important conversations, unless geography or time is the limiting factor.
July 18, 2007 @ 2:38 PM
3. wrote:: I dont and I cant. Being an old guy I feel a personal touch is much more effective than leaving a message. I think many people replace personnal interaction with an antiseptic message. What a shame. But, there are time when a message can bring people together. Everything has a time & place.
December 14, 2007 @ 3:08 PM
4. Rob Ellington wrote:: Technology isn't evil, sin is. I know that I personally continue to struggle with selfishness that comes from my inner being (my heart). Even when I think I have good intentions, If I dig deeper and am honest, I usually find that my actions are mostly about me. I always want to do things that will make me "feel" better. How I handle and use all of the latest, convinient toys that continue to fill my life falls right in line w/ this existing problem of not putting others and God first. The problem is alot older than me, but I'm working on it today one day at a time. At the heart of the problem is the heart. I really need God to do the work on changing that. That leaves me absolutely dependant on him w/ or w/out cell phones.
January 10, 2008 @ 12:34 PM

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