17 for 31. Computers, Social Networking, and Such.

I will return to more serious/spiritual posts soon...

I'm a big fan of the digital age. I'm thankful I did not have to grow up plunking on a typewriter and using other products we would consider "outdated" now. I was a big fan of cassette tapes and my walkman as a kid/preteen, but I am glad things have progressed since that. The first computer I remember in my house was a Commodore 128.

 

I'm sure that computer was as awesome as it looks now with it's fancy floppy disk drive. My favorite game was probably Frogger. Yep, that's what I'm talking about... 

 

Graphics were so awesome back in the day.

My family got the internet in 1995. We were the first ones in our group of friends, church family, etc. People thought my dad was bad for letting the "trash" of the internet into our house.  According to some people we knew, "Christians shouldn't use the Internet. It is evil." He would just tell people that it was a great educational tool for his kids and they would monitor what we did on the internet. Dad followed up on that statement. 

Obviously technology has progressed into some of the wonderful things that I enjoy now --- Facebook, Twitter, or anything on the iPhone. Side note ---- I had to wait for awhile before I joined Twitter because of dare from Adam and Nathan. For the record, I was stubborn and won "the dare." Don't dare me to do or not do things... ---- (Side note over). 

I like what John Piper has to say about Facebook and Twitter.

I see two kinds of response to social Internet media like blogging, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and others. 

One says: These media tend to shorten attention spans, weaken discursive reasoning, lure people away from Scripture and prayer, disembody relationships, feed the fires of narcissism, cater to the craving for attention, fill the world with drivel, shrink the soul’s capacity for greatness, and make us second-handers who comment on life when we ought to be living it. So boycott them and write books (not blogs) about the problem.

The other response says: Yes, there is truth in all of that, but instead of boycotting, try to fill these media with as much provocative, reasonable, Bible-saturated, prayerful, relational, Christ-exalting, truth-driven, serious, creative pointers to true greatness as you can...

“All things were created through Christ and for Christ” (Colossians 1:16). The world does not know it, but that is why Twitter exists and that’s why I tweet. 


I hope as a believer I am using the technology that He gives for His glory. I am grateful for the opportunities provided in our time to share Jesus through technology. May we use it to make much of Him!