Tecnology and our Illiterate society

Its no doubt that technology is changing the very way we live and exist. The last decades have experienced an exponential growth in technological expansion. From the way we wake up, to the way we communicate, almost every aspect of our life is in some way affected by technology.

Technology in an of itself is not sinful or bad, but  it is a mixed blessing. We should consider the effects of technology, just like we look at the symptoms and benefits of medication. While bringing imminence convenience to our world, technology is almost certainly making us(humans) dumber. Our society is becoming increasingly dependent on images rather than text.

A look at the progression of operating systems(OS) makes this point very clear. The newest operating systems feature a myriad of icons and images over the traditional text buttons. We are bombarded with commercials boasting of simpler and easier to use OS. This move to "easier more and convenient" looks like a great leap backward. In their studies scientist have found that monkeys can understand and respond to symbols. If the monkey presses the banana button he gets a banana. This is the case in most modern operating systems, "press the picture to get what you want." Another great example of this is ancient cave pictures and hieroglyphics. Before writing this was the main way to record information. Is technology leading us to a less literate society?

It sure looks like it is. This is easily seen by comparing the way we write to the past. Language is getting simpler as we know it. The lengthy eloquent conversations of the past have been replaced with short blurbs of abbreviations and half words. Just look at any one persons text messages, im, or twitter. Our society is encouraging, perhaps unintentionally, that we express ourselves with as little effort as possible.

This is a dangerous thing. As Christians we are called to examine ourselves 2 Corinthians 13:5, a practice that obviously requires a fair amount of thinking. Christians should strive to be more literate. After all the Bible is a book and not a set of images.

Relearning to read(and write) with you,
-Roman