Exposing the Dangers of Tech & Media: Prove (04/10/24)

Boredom is the bedrock on which children and teenagers create their own ideas, according to Stephanie Lee, a clinical psychologist specializing in optimizing children’s education and mental health.

Excessive digital entertainment often deprives kids of this boredom, hindering imagination, she noted.

Social media correlates with reduced creativity in adolescents, a 2019 pediatric study published in the Italian Journal of Pediatrics showed.

The researchers noted that social networks and smartphone use may correlate with learning consequences such as

low academic outcomes, reduced concentration, and reduced creativity.

Then, this headline:

Canadian Study Reveals Link Between Children's Screen Time and Anxiety, Depression

A Canadian study has found that children who spend a lot of time on screens are more prone to anxiety, depression, and aggression.

The study also found that children’s screen time during the pandemic increased to about 6 hours a day, with some using devices 13 hours a day.

That has since fallen to an average of four hours but is still double the amount of screen time recommended by the Canadian Pediatric Society.

If these are the physical, mental, and emotional wounds from the Media Monster, can’t you just imagine what the spiritual wounds could be?!?!?

As we learned last time…

We’re dealing here with a media monster.

And the question is as simple as it is profound…

How can Christian parents help their children understand and tame the media monster?

We must use the timeless truths of God’s Word.

Before going on, I find it interesting that even the secular world understands that this Media Monster can only be tamed by living according to principles.

Author, Cal Newport, in his book…

Digital Minimalism

I’ve become convinced that what you need instead is a full-fledged philosophy of technology use,

rooted in your deep values,

that provides clear answers to the questions of what tools you should use and how you should use them and,

equally important, enables you to confidently ignore everything else.

Newport, Cal. Digital Minimalism (p. xiv). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The passage we’re looking at in Ephesians 5 begins by reminding us who we were and who we are—children of light.

Ephesians 5:8 KJV 1900

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

We were (past tense) “darkness.”

We are “light in the Lord.”

We should, therefore, walk as “children of light.”

We must teach our children their identity: Light in the Lord.

We must teach them to behave accordingly: Walk as children of light.

In doing that, regardless of what screen may be calling for their attention, they will filter their actions based on what pleases the Lord.

But what does that look like?

First of all, Scripture tells us that we are to prove what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Ephesians 5:10 KJV 1900

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Prove

The word translated prove here refers to testing, as in testing metals for genuineness.

Does it please the Lord?

The implication is that we don’t simply accept or participate in anything and everything interesting that flickers across our screens, but we test it to determine if it is pleasing to the Lord.

The ultimate criteria for a movie is not its online ratings.

The determination of our use of technology should not be its usefulness.

Our acceptance of any form of media or technology should not be determined by an “influencer.” (Who, by the way, is being paid to promote that media and technology.)

Nor is the acceptability of our own posts determined by how many of our friends give it an electronic thumbs up.

Our ultimate test is not statistics, not even personal enjoyment. It is whether or not this is acceptable unto the Lord.

And how do we know what is acceptable unto the Lord?

Before we look at the answer to that question, I’d like for us to go down another “rabbit trail” for awhile.

Question: What are these devices used for?

Possible answers:

Communication (texting, phone, email, social media)

Entertainment (music, videos, games, social media)

Productivity/Business (email, social media, Microsoft Office application, banking)

Shopping

Utility (calculator, camera, wallet, apple/google pay, lists, GPS, white noise generator, alarm clock)

Health (health tracker, glucose monitor)

Information/Education/Bible Study (church apps, memorization, prayer, Bible apps)

Question: What was the initial purpose for these devices?

(In fact, we still call them this - Smartphones.)

They began as devices for communication.

#1. The first problems faced by society were problems of communication.

An American Dictionary of the English Language (COMMUNICATION)

Communication, n.

1. The act of imparting, conferring, or delivering, from one to another; as the communication of knowledge, opinions or facts.

2. Intercourse by words, letters or messages; interchange of thoughts or opinions, by conference or other means.

3. Intercourse; interchange of knowledge; correspondence; good understanding between men.

In Genesis chapter 2, God “communicated” the following to Adam and Eve:

Genesis 2:16–17 KJV 1900

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

However, in Genesis chapter 3, Satan “communicated” the following to Adam and Eve (which was in direct opposition to what God had communicated):

Genesis 3:4–6 KJV 1900

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Satan’s communication was joined with a good marketing campaign (“…when the woman saw…”).

Then, jump ahead to Genesis chapter 11…

Genesis 11:1 KJV 1900

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

Genesis 11:6–7 KJV 1900

And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

#1. The first problems faced by society were problems of communication.

#2. Mankind has always needed means for communication.

The Telegraph

The idea behind the telegraph – sending electric signals across wires – originated in the early 1700s, and by 1798 a rough system was used in France. New York University professor Samuel Morse (pictured at left) began working on his version of the telegraph in 1832; he developed Morse Code (a set of sounds that corresponded to particular letters of the alphabet), in 1835; and by 1838 he had presented his concept to the U.S. Congress.

In 1843, Morse built a telegraph system from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore with the financial support of Congress. On May 24, 1844, the first message, “What hath God wrought?” was sent.

It is interesting to note that Samuel Morse, in a letter he wrote to a friend in 1838, stated…

“This mode of instantaneous communication must inevitably become an instrument of immense power, to be wielded for good or for evil, as it shall be properly or improperly directed.”

The Telephone

An Italian innovator is credited with inventing the first basic phone in 1849, and a Frenchman devised a phone in 1854. Alexander Graham Bell won the first U.S. patent for the device in 1876.

In 1877-78, the first telephone line was constructed, the first switchboard was created and the first telephone exchange was in operation. Three years later, almost 49,000 telephones were in use.

AT&T was formed in 1885 and by 1910, there were 5.8 million phones in the AT&T system.

AT&T chief engineer and Electrical Review writer John J. Carty wrote:

“Someday we will build up a world telephone system, making necessary to all peoples the use of a common language or common understanding of languages, which will join all the people of the earth into one brotherhood.

“There will be heard throughout the earth a great voice coming out of the ether which will proclaim, ‘Peace on earth, good will towards men.'”

Those comments harken back to what we read about in Genesis chapter 11 and the Tower of Babel.

The Personal Computer

By 1976, there were several firms racing to introduce the first truly successful commercial personal computers.

Three machines, the Apple II, PET 2001 and TRS-80 were all released in 1977 and became known as the "1977 Trinity".

The Cell Phone

The first handheld cellular mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset the weighed 4.4 pounds. (In comparison, the iPhone 15 Plus weighs in at 7.09 ounces which is not even 1/2 a pound!)

In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first commercially available handheld mobile phone.

The Original iPhone

On January 9, 2007, in a keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo held in Moscone West in San Francisco, California, Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone.

In his address, Jobs said, "This is a day that I have been looking forward to for two and a half years," and that "today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone".

Jobs introduced the iPhone as a combination of three devices: a "widescreen iPod with touch controls"; a "revolutionary mobile phone"; and a "breakthrough Internet communicator".

There’s so much that I left out in regards to these types of communication and I have completely left out other types of communication that have been developed all within the past 300 years!

#2. Mankind has always needed means for communication.

My purpose in presenting this “history” is to make this final point:

#3. Mankind has become conditioned to simply accept every means of communication.

Instead, we should…

Prove

Ephesians 5:10 KJV 1900

Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

As I have already stated, the implication here is that we don’t simply accept or participate in anything and everything interesting that flickers across our screens, but

We test it to determine if it is pleasing to the Lord.

The word acceptable means pleasing; that which gratifies; that which gives pleasure

Hence, as we consider technology - or anything in our lives - we need to consider whether it is pleasing to the Lord; not whether it is pleasing to ourselves, to our friends, etc.

1 Thessalonians 4:1 KJV 1900

Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

2 Timothy 2:4 KJV 1900

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

But, allow me to clarify just a little more…

It’s not that we are testing to prove whether a particular technology or device is pleasing to the Lord; the device itself may not inherently be pleasing or not pleasing to the Lord. Instead…

Is our use of the technology or device pleasing to the Lord!

Message: Exposing the Dangers of Media (Part 2)

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