2 minute read
It’s commonly thought the Amish are anti-technology. This is false. What the Amish believe is new technology should be discerningly considered by the entire community over time before it is adopted. It’s a slow and community-wide cost-benefit analysis.1 So, for example, because they value being self-sustaining, most Amish communities have chosen not to be on the electrical grid yet many use pneumatic tools when building furniture. This isn’t religious hypocrisy. It’s different values. They’re trying to carefully only use technology in a way that builds up community.
Meanwhile, in mainstream American culture there’s a constant wave of new technologies moving us away from community and toward individualism.2 It’s a technological revolution yet few ever consider what their community is gaining or losing in the process. We’ve been conditioned to impulsively buy the newest gadget that’s supposed to make our lives easier and happier, which has directly resulted in an epidemic of loneliness felt by people across generations.3 Most Americans simply don’t consider the cost paid by the community for each new “advancement.”
Alas, most of Christian culture is no different. Thank goodness this conversation isn’t nonexistent, but it only seems to be happening on the fringes. Among the overwhelming majority there’s very little self-critical reflection about how Jesus followers are being enculturated by consumeristic marketing. We subconsciously think about everything through the lens of individualism and self-actualization, so people immediately get wicked defensive and accuse you of sounding like a cult if you talk about discerning the pros and cons of new technology through the lens of community.
I like Andy Crouch’s perspective. He suggests, “There is a better way. It doesn’t require us to become Amish, entirely separately ourselves from the modern technological world, and it doesn’t require us to deny the real benefits that technology provides our families and our wider society. But let me be direct and honest: this better way is radical. It requires making choices that most of our neighbors aren’t making. It requires making choices that most of our neighbors in church aren’t making.”4 If only that countercultural conversation happened on the church level.
The original beatniks often zigged where American society zagged. Their heyday was 70 years ago, so it’s impossible to know what they’d think of our technology on the cusp of the A.I. era. What I imagine is them questioning everything. As Dr. Ian Malcolm put it in Jurassic Park, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” That’s the issue I have with today’s Jesus followers and infatuation with technology. We’re so preoccupied with individual happiness that we don’t stop to ask about the community’s good.
What does the new technology do? How will it change their way of life? What will be gained by the community? What will be lost?↩
The car, washing machine, and air conditioner are 20th century examples of this trend. Smartphones, noise-canceling headphones, and music apps are 21st century examples.↩
In recent years, there have been many books exploring this problem such as Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.↩
That quote comes from The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place.↩
