AUTHOR: Andy Crouch
PUBLISHER: New York, NY: Convergent Books, 2022, (240 pages).
However, this world has other plans. In desiring more power for less effort, more time for less investment, and more fruit for less work, we consume technology thinking that by saving energy, time, and effort, we can become more of what we want to be. Technology seduces us into thinking that it can replace the very things that define our personhood. By focusing only on the product, we let technology deal with the process, including the very things that nourish the process of becoming human. Like the frequent use of the calculator that diminishes our mental skills in math. Truth is, being human requires both process and product. In other words, we have allowed our drive for technology to replace our quest for personal connections and human development. Crouch points out how technology is a form of money and mammon. We use technology to make more money. We use technology to attain the positions promised by mammon power. Yet, something's gotta give, and Crouch tells us it is our personhood. What then must we do? Redeem, reclaim, and restore. Redeem our opportunities while they exist. Reclaim our relationships before it is too late. Restore our need for authentic relationships while we can.
My Thoughts
Let me offer three reflections on this book. First, I appreciate how Crouch highlights the problem of loneliness. Since the creation of man, God had already said that it is not good for man to be alone. That applies across genders. Loneliness is a problem. With technology, this problem has been exacerbated by disconnectedness and disembodiment. The latter two worsen the loneliness problem. Just being family alone is not enough. We need a household, a community to which we can have a sense of belonging. For Crouch, a common household is one that is about intimate relationships among people who love us. It is a community that recognizes us and cares for us. My question is whether Crouch's vision is some unattainable utopia on earth? A cursory reading might suggest it is improbable, if not impossible. Yet, it is important to cast vision. A farmer who plants seeds must have a vision of a great harvest. Likewise, we need to cast a vision of hope of community in an increasingly lonely world. This is an all-important first step. Recognize the problem and re-orientate ourselves toward solving it.
Second, I think Crouch is spot on when he points out the need for community. I like how Crouch brings back the dignity of the ordinary, the mundane, and the seemingly "unuseful" processes of our lives. This is something that we can learn from the dying. Caregivers often share the four words people most needed: "I am not alone." Anything we do that reminds us that we are not alone is definitely worth doing. Whether it is mundane jobs or monotonous routines, there is a difference between doing it alone versus doing it together in a community. Once we allow technology to replace the opportunities to establish friendship and community, we dig our own graves of loneliness.
Finally, we are reminded of how the human race has been cursed by sin, leading to the problem of restlessness. Where is this restlessness driving us toward" What are the things that the unconscious use of technology leading us away from? These are questions that we ought to ask from time to time. The way we use search engines could be a clue to what we are looking for in life. In seeking for solutions, are we downplaying the critical place of process? In trying to make things more efficient, are we unwittingly destroying the very space where communities flourish? If yes, are we then able to create new opportunities for human connections?
Technology is not the problem. It's the uncritical use of it that is the problem. Thankfully, Crouch is one of those who not only recognizes the dangerous trajectories of our current technological environment, he points us on a way forward on what to do about it. We need to bring back the spirit of community. Technology is here to stay. As we learn to use it and live with it, we should not let technology replace our humanness. Wake up and take charge of technology. Otherwise, we will be taken over.
Andy Crouch is the author of four books; he is also a partner for
theology and culture at Praxis, an organization that works as a
creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship. For more than ten
years, Crouch was a producer and then executive editor at Christianity Today. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Best Christian Writing, and Best Spiritual Writing.
From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an M.Div. summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000. He lives with his family in Pennsylvania.
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This book has been provided courtesy of Convergent Books and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
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