I was reading this article the other day, “You Do Know Your iPod Doesn’t Hate You, Right?” and found it very interesting.  Here is a synopsis and Missiological reflection…and yes, I realize the irony of Blogging this, but I will tackle that in part two next week.

Synopsis

            Increased use of electrical gadgets in our everyday lives has led many people to humanize them.  That is, we tend to give our cell phones, computers, etc…human names, treat them like they are sick when they do not work properly, and feel lost and lonely when we forget them at home or the office.  Bindley researched the reason that we might be assigning human identity to gadgets and discovered that such anthropomorphizing is a direct result of isolation and loneliness.  Several psychologists interviewed and research studies suggest that not only do we have more contact with our phone and computer than humans do, but also that such humanizing of them is a way to cope with this reality.  

Missiological Analysis

We would be naive to believe that humanizing a cell phone can fill a void.  The emptiness that we increasingly feel stems from to much connection with gadgets and not enough connection with humans.  Yet there is a deeper problem with this disturbing trend.  In a world where we tend to treat our gadgets as human, we frequently treat humans in a dehumanizing way.  Gadgets fill our relationship void with deceptive ease, teaching us that we can control, use purposefully and manipulate that which we need.  Such an understanding of relationship can have far-reaching implications in society.  The more we see relationship with gadgets as real, the less we know how to interact with other humans.  From the Christian perspective, such a reality calls the body of Christ to be a place of healing and entry back into relationship with humans.  This relationship needs to model patience, love, self-giving, vulnerability and see the value inherent in each person as a creation of God.  It is only as a contrast society, that the body of Christ can renew the broken and lonely spirits of humans searching for identity in the screens of technology.   

 Bindley, Katherine. “You Do Know Your iPod Doesn’t Hate You, Right?” Columbia News Service, February 24, 2008, http://timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080224/FEATURES07/802240328/1