The Dark Side of Technology – Part 1
by Brad Huddleston
I’m not against technology, I’m against evil. Although I say that a lot, I still sometimes get the reputation that I’m against FaceBook, texting, and blogging. I’m not against most of those things. What I’m against is sexting, cyberbullying, video games, and pornography. My journey into these subjects goes back to my college days. I have degrees in Computer Science and Bible. As I do with most issues in life, I measure everything against my understanding of God’s inerrant Word and that includes the use of technology.
Approximately five years ago MySpace hit the cyber scene with a big splash. Everyone was into it, including most Christians I know under the age of about 50. Social Networking was now in the global consciousness. It has been my experience that Christians in the western world tend to follow and participate in popular secular trends. This isn’t always bad of course. However, everything in our lives must be measured by the Word of God and when that doesn’t happen, we tend to have backslidings (Jeremiah 2:19; 3:22) that are in need of healing. The apostle Paul spoke clearly about such issues when he said,
Not long after MySpace rose to the top of everyone’s conversation, I received a phone call from a youth leader who was in charge of a fairly large youth group for our area. She asked me to have a look at some MySpace pages. Knowing what is often posted on MySpace, I initially declined her offer. She was persistent so I gave in. The journey this youth worker took me on rocked my world. She showed me “Christian “ teenager after teenager in her group posting things that would make a sailor blush. I blushed at times. Now, not all of the teenagers in her group were doing bad things. Some were standing up for Jesus and witnessing very boldly and I applauded them. Nevertheless, some were posting pictures of themselves mimicking pornography, some were simply using foul language, and others were posting things about themselves in their profiles that were shocking. I can’t even repeat their content here. The youth leader asked me to speak about The Dangers of Social Networking at her church. Some of the older folks in the congregation were shocked. That talk led to a television special, a DVD, and several speaking engagements. Some of my friends in Australia were taking notice of this on our website (see, I told you I’m not against technology) and I ended up producing an Australian version of the DVD.
What has transpired since then has been both troubling and encouraging. As Internet and mobile phone technology has developed, I’ve kept up and use these technologies to great benefit. Yet, I continue to measure these trends against my understanding of Scripture and I’m still sounding the warning bells. The thing that has encouraged me is that the Australians, a tough bunch, have continued to allow me to speak about these issues. What’s troubling is that many Americans don’t want to hear about it anymore. I have ideas as to why this is the case, they include:
- Chemical changes can take place in the brain of technology users resulting in an actual technology addiction.
- Just like caffeine has become the acceptable drug of choice for Christians, so has the use of some technologies. In other words, everybody’s doing it so what could possibly be wrong with it?
- The spiritual pendulum tends to swing back and forth between legalism and grace. Right now, it appears as though the pendulum is stuck on hyper grace.
The Lord tells us in Ecclesiastes 7:18 (NIV) “The man who fears God will avoid all extremes.”
FaceBook and Twitter are the current rage among both non-believers as well as believers. Many people are using FaceBook to stay in touch with friends and family and numerous churches are using social networking to communicate with their congregations. These are good uses of the technology. I’d also like to point out that the fastest growing demographic on FaceBook is women over the age of 55. With this growth (in all age brackets) has come some very disturbing trends. Perhaps the most disturbing is adultery. Millions of people are joining FaceBook and reconnecting not only with family, but with old friends. This is not necessarily bad until some of those old friends turn out to be old flames. The emotions of romance and puppy love that were experienced back in the day are still buried deep inside the heart where they are mostly forgotten and that’s where they should stay. We step on very dangerous ground when we reconnect with certain people because those buried emotions can very easily come rushing to surface at just one click of the mouse. What am I trying to say? The bottom line is that we need to act and behave like Christians everywhere, including cyberspace. Our Lord has called us to be disciplined people. Everything may be permissible but not everything is beneficial.
I sense my troubles with some Christians result from my refusal to stop measuring everything against the authority of God’s Word. For example, I often allow the following Words from God to guide my marriage and therefore affect where I surf:
Exodus 20:14 (NIV) “You shall not commit adultery.
2 Timothy 2:22 (KJV) Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness.
2 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
We currently have three DVDs on this subject available that can be ordered from this website:
- The Dangers of Social Networking – Volume 1
- The Dangers of Social Networking – Volume 2
- The Dark Side of Technology
I am working on my second book that will be titled The Dark Side of Technology. With the book will come a live interactive conference that I will make available to your group as well as the conference on DVD and Blu-ray™. I have continued to speak about this subject at churches, to school administrators and staff, and to students. I am available to speak to your group. You can contact me using the contact link at the top of this page.
In Part 2 – topics I will cover include:
- Video game addiction
- The shear amount of time we spend with technology leads us away from knowing Jesus
- Why I’m very popular with grandparents
