A Technology Type of Person
What type of person is technology turning you into?
It’s easy to write/think about how technology is bad. “Technology” in its abstract form is always “out there” and acting upon us.
It’s difficult, on the other hand, to write/think about how I interact with technology day-to-day. Writing/thinking that requires self-reflection tends to be this way—it’s easier to stare through a window than it is to look in a mirror.
So when I heard that 75% of people have their iPhones within reach 24-hours a day (meaning that phones function as a physical implant for three out of four people), I scoffed. Then, I reached into my pocket to text my wife about this crazy statistic I had just heard. The text was delivered and three gray dots had already appeared by the time a car honked at me, prompting me through a light that had already turned green.
We know that technology is doing something to us—in, you know, the “general society” sense of the term “us.” But have we acknowledged that technology is doing something to us—you know, you and me.
The other day, I took a sip of ginger ale immediately after wondering aloud if 21g of added sugar was a lot. Every week my iPhone tells me how much time I spent on it. We are not unaware, just indifferent.
Which is worse?
***
The idea that every day we are becoming a certain type of person is not new. To save you my convoluted explanation of this concept, here’s what C.S. Lewis says:
Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself.
Put more practically, every day we become more or less patient, more or less disciplined, more or less kind, more or less…anything.
Technology accelerates the speed at which we move in either direction. It increases the rate at which our character forms.
For example, having an internet browser in my pocket means I can find answers to most of my questions as soon as I ask them. I don’t have to wonder when Dolly Parton was born. January 19, 1946. The answer comes as fast as I can type it into a search bar.
This is turning me into the type of person who is impatient, uncomfortable with uncertainty or not knowing, a better trivia night participant, a more faithful Dolly Parton fan, and (at least theoretically) a more learned person.
The question is which one of those character traits is being trained the most. What type of person am I becoming?
And do I like that person?
***
The only reason I’m writing this part is because I’ll get to share it on the internet with my friends.
I’m grateful that social media (even LinkedIn!) allows and encourages me to write things down. I’m grateful that other people read what I write because I can email it directly to them. I’m grateful that a computer makes it easier to write and rewrite.
Those are all technologies that are turning me into the type of person who thinks and writes.
I guess my point with all of this is that “technology” isn’t something that happens to us. It molds and shapes us, yes, but we are not merely victims of its whims.
We have autonomy. We can choose how technology affects us and in turn use those daily decisions to become a certain type of person.
This is true of more than just technology. Anxiety, fear, excitement, grief, hope. Time, space, things. Emotions and objects. People and places.
All of these things turn us into a type of person. But we are not entirely powerless objects being acted upon. We can decide.
And every decision moves us in a certain direction. If you were to keep scrolling or reading or browsing right now, what type of person would that make you? If you were to close your computer/phone/tablet right now, what type of person would that make you?
You tell me.