I was sent this book specifically to review after I
responded to a post/tweet on facebook/twitter (can’t remember which) at a time
when I was seriously thinking about the role of social media in society in
general and my life and ministry specifically. It is a relatively short book
written in bite-sized blog-like chunks, or, given the subject matter, perhaps
that should be byte-sized chunks. Despite its brevity, it packs in a lot of
scholarship and reflection, indeed at times it reads like a literary link-dump,
citing other larger works that have a more specific focus, but it builds a good
case for how all communications technology, including contemporary social media,
are not simply neutral tools, but serve to shape individuals’ neurological
function and human society in general for good or ill. It is not a luddite
rejection of technological development and its often unintended social effects,
but rather, is a measured appraisal by someone who uses these tools, but is
seeking to help others use them with wisdom. The author makes no secret of his
religious perspective as a Catholic teacher, previously working directly in the
education of young people, and more recently in a seminary in Rome , but, with the exception of the closing
section where Pope Benedict XVI is cited at length, this is not a dominant
factor. Some of the phraseology, however is strangely characteristic of
Catholic academia, which might make this attractively produced paperback less
accessible or at least appealing to the wider facebook generation than its
brevity might suggest.
It chimes well with other material I have been reading
recently, especially Peterson’s “The Contemplative Pastor” especially it’s
insistence that communication tools should enhance communion (that I commented on this time last week), and that we are
fooling ourselves if we believe that real communion can take place in the
virtual world or over long distances. With such technology have we substituted
the quantity of communication for the quality of communion, enjoying the
ability to communicate with someone half a world away, whilst neglecting real
relationships with those in our geographical communities, or even our own
homes?
The author’s key concluding suggestion of observing some
level of technological fast in order to be able to more sensibly use the
freedoms made available to us through information technology and social media
is worth serious consideration. I’ve floated the idea previously myself in the
past and I know a number of friends had a facebook fast last year during Lent. Maybe
you might want to do that this year, although it does raise the question as to
what is the equivalent of Pancake Tuesday or Mardi Gras in terms of clearing
the decks for such a fast? A night of playing facebook games or trawling through
twitter? It also begs the question as to what you might do with the time you might
recoup through avoiding social media. Some friends last year suggested that it
gave them more time to read and listen to music, which whilst laudable, is
arguably simply a retreat into older forms of 1 directional communication
technology, and may actually work counter to this author’s desired aim of
fostering greater communion with those close at hand…
Might I suggest that if you do go down the road of a
facebook fast this Lent that as part of the discipline, on Shrove Tuesday print
out a list of your supposed “facebook friends” and make a genuine effort to
meet with them face to face with no book, electronic or otherwise, in between…
And while you’re at it, go out and smell the lemons, or if
you aren’t as fortunate as the author to live where you can do such a thing,
get out and about and use all your senses to appreciate the real and wonderful
world in which we find ourselves…
This is an amended and extended version of the review that I posted on Goodreads
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