Imagine having to phone that friend to congratulate them on their new job - rather than posting a 'like' on their timeline. Or imagine writing a letter, finding an envelope and a stamp, walking to the letterbox and waiting a week for a reply - instead of firing off an email. How quickly life changes. The communications technologies that now permeate our every waking moment open up endless possibilities: we can do things more quickly, we can do things more efficiently, we can do more things. And yet there is a down side - our time absorbed in social media and sifting through shopping choices; a quarter of working hours spent in unproductive online activity. And more sinister implications: loss of privacy, anonymity, the undisclosed harvesting of personal details by commercial and government organisations. Ultimately, the reality of communications technologies is that either we will master them or they will master us.
In this incredibly helpful book, Guy Brandon unpacks the practical and spiritual significance of our technological choices and encourages us to use communications technologies in a way that aligns with our faith and calling, and makes us more faithful, more human and better at relating to one another.