However, I bet you didn’t know that I’m a pretty funny person. I entertain my office constantly just for the purpose of making everyone laugh. I can’t do that in writing. I’ve tried, but it comes off like I’m a weirdo. Think how much better we would get to know one another if we ever met (you might still think I’m a weirdo, but at least you would know for sure). I think face to face is always better, but I’ll take techno-friends if there aren’t any other alternatives.

For the record, I’m as fuzzy about it as you are.

Technology has broadened the scope of our potential relationships, for sure. I suppose that we can also safely say that it has enlarged the potential for both good and bad relationships, significant and insignificant relationships, real and pretend relationships. The pool of possibilities is the same as in non-virtual pools, but it is a far larger pool. How we behave and move in this pool will affect our relational experience in either case, I suppose.

My point is that when technology is changing and driving so much of our lives, why aren’t we asking ourselves what direction it is taking us and what affects it will have on our relationships, faith, and sense of community.

If our culture changed in that suddenly it became the thing for everyone to live 50 feet below the ground in underground caverns, how would that change the way we relate to our neighbors? If our relationships with our neighbors were suddenly cutoff, how would we talk about matters of faith? How would we structure community around a setting like that?

My feeling is that we haven’t asked those questions in regard to this technological revolution that we are in the middle of. When TV and radio hit the world, it changed our relationships and our sense of community in both good and bad ways. We may be more connected to the news through those mediums, but did it make us more connected to our immediate community? How will new technology change those relationships in the future?

It’s not a good or bad question. It’s just a question and it’s important because it means that if we are going to make a difference in faith and in community, we are going to have to have an idea of what will be accepted and what will be rejected.

And although I spend an inordinate amount of time on FB and the internet in general, I just have a hard time equating those virtual relationships I have to those I have with people I have at least been present with now and then. I’m not arguing that virtual relationships aren’t “real” but rather somehow “less”. Does that make sense?

I’m a much better writer than a conversationalist, and this has allowed me to get people asking questions, and to provide them with some answers, and in the process of that , God has moved in people’s lives, and done really awesome things.

people have had “virtual” friendships for thousands of years… they are called “acquaintances”… and they knew about the same information gleaned by “stalking” and “gossip” as they do now.

I think that we do need to teach the next generation to be “social” and not just “virtual” … but that doesn’t mean that one or the other is better or worse, as long as they are in balance.

“At the same time, I see how technology has changed our way of viewing our relationships and our faith. It has allowed us to be both isolated and distantly connected at the same time. It is a type of intended connection without actually being involved in relationship at all, but it allows us to be aware of what others are doing without having to interact.”

I know a lot of my Facebook “friends” are what I call “stalkers”…meaning they are on FB a lot but rarely if ever comment on anyone’s status. They prefer to “be aware of what others are doing without having to interact.” You couldn’t do this, legally, when the only way to do it was by your personal presence (stalking). Interaction was demanded by presence, normally, or it was perceived as creepy.

Of course, large churches tend to allow people to do this while they are present. You can “hide” in the crowd and still see what everyone else is doing…without having to interact. Small churches don’t facilitate this as well.

So is a relationship that has little to no interaction in any sense a relationship? If so, is it anything like what God had in mind?

“Still, I think that at some point we need to logoff from technology and logon to those around us.”

Wow. This is DE in tech talk, isn’t it? Being present, paying attention to the other, noticing them and listening to them…that’s what I think of when you say, “log on to those around us”. Very powerful.

I know young people who say they don’t feel it’s rude to be texting someone while they are talking with you, but I disagree. That’s like talking to someone else while you’re listening to me tell my story. I don’t think you can actually listen to me while you’re talking to someone else…at the same time. Rudeness may be a cultural contract, but if someone feels ignored or demeaned by your non-attention, then I doubt there will be much of an interaction, even if face to face.

And this seems to be the point of your post, to me. This is the danger of technology and “vitual” connections.