I have been researching technology and its effects, as seen through the news media.  The article Beyond the digital divide lies a new world of intimacy was a really interesting read.  I was particularly interested in the distinction between an understanding of privacy that the reporter becomes aware of, and the differing methods for developing relationship between children of the digital age and those that came before.  Here is a brief overview.

Synopsis

            Seventeen teen-age suicides in an English community during a calendar year led this reporter to question the influence of social networking sites.  Are such sites really leading to these suicides as adults fear, or is there something here that adults are missing?  Is the internet corrupting the youth of this world?  Brooks suggests that adults might understandability be quick to judge social networking but to do so would be to misunderstand the integration of technology in the lives of youth.  Rather, Brooks contends that social networking has led to a merging between online and offline relationships.  Unlike adults, youth of the digital age define “relationship” and “privacy” in a radically different way.  Social networking is not just “another” way to build relationship, but central to building relationship.  Youth redefine privacy to having control over who receives the information you post online.  They also display information online that most adults once considered private and personal. 

            Instead of the internet controlling, Brooks thinks that the youth of today are actually molding the medium.  They are using the internet to connect, replacing traditional ways that many adults before the digital age used, which are no longer available in society.  In a world that demands the time and attention of our youth, perhaps the internet is meeting the need for intimacy that every human desires.

Missiological Analysis

This article points out key differences between modern and post-modern perspectives.  The modern mindset maintained a distinct separation between public and private thought.  Post modernity has shifted this understanding and has taken what moderns would consider “personal” belief, and moved it into the public arena.  Even so, post moderns control such movement by offering the information to those that they choose to trust and consider being in a circle of relationship.  Moderns might see post moderns parading private matters publicly, and totally miss an offer of deeper intimacy among a close circle of friends.  The implications of such a clash in the church could lead to tension as each side sees that other as rejecting common offers of acceptance.  It would also be extremely beneficial to offer an online option for connection for members of a Christian community so that post moderns who need online and offline ways to build relationships can fully engage.

Brooks, Libby. “Beyond the digital divide lies a new world of intimacy” The Guardian, February 28, 2008, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/feb/21/wales.digitalmedia/print