Being alive is not meant to be a solo gig; God created people to be relational. Yet, as technology advances and becomes more integrated in the name of making our lives “better”, there are trends that move us away from community.

The iPod has made it socially celebrated that someone walks around with a pair of headphones on all day. I ride a train to and from work each day with the same group of people, and none of us have ever said a word besides "excuse me" to each other. We do everything we can to be quiet and look forward. Read a book, play on your computer, listen to your music.

People go to clubs where the music is too loud to promote conversations, and even in a group, everyone is isolated. Television and the internet are too often the bulk of our non-working lives, and even as we are more connected globally, our community vanishes. I don’t even have to leave my house to rent a movie anymore. Online, people join communities like Second Life or they play games like World of Warcraft, where communities become a series of playing pretend. That’s fine in doses, but for millions of Americans, it’s a primary means of connection. Food comes to us, delivery style. At my gym, each new treadmill has its own television – we don’t even have to watch TV together anymore.

Our personal universe gets more isolated. Cell phones allow you to take your world with you, enabling you to remain at the center of your universe at all times and isolating yourself from the world around you. There’s an add on TV now where you choose your top five friends for the sake of cheaper calling. Rarely do friendrankings add to a sense of brotherhood – ask anyone who has had to choose a wedding party. Scot McKnight raised concerns about jogging with headphones and not taking in the sounds of the world.

Technology does present new forms of community – online groups for anything under the sun, Facebook, MySpace, online dating, instant messaging with video, international and domestic long distance calling made cheap, and communities like Second Life.

But even here we move towards isolation. I read that today’s youth assume that their lives will be public anyway, so they take the first step and put themselves on a community like MySpace where they give everyone in the world access to their lives. It’s the spiritual cousin of being a celebrity – your life as a product for others to consume. But celebrities seem to be amongst the most isolated people on the planet, with so few relationships that revolve around their humanity and so many that revolve around their success.

Community isn’t just about companionship, it is also about being known. Not being known deeply is lonely.

If I go to work and sit in my cubicle all day, toss my headphones on, get on a train, go home, turn on my television and fall asleep, how many days in a row can I do that before I start to lose touch with an essential part of being alive?

Or if all of my friendships remain at a surface level, and I use my blog or profile as the way I let people in, am I known?

My iPod keeps me out of conversation with God, too. It's frigid right now, and the cold made it necessary to cover my ears with something more substantial than headphones. And as I walked to work in the freezing cold, I found myself in a meaningful and life-giving conversation with my Creator that fueled an entire day of goodness, insight and clarity. It occurred to me that this isn’t a daily experience for me, even though it could be. My choice.

So is technology creating isolation, or is technology simply meeting a consumer demand to be more isolated?

The implications run deep. More soon.

Labels: Favorites, Jesus