How many gadgets do you use everyday? Cell phone? Ipod? Access cards? Heart-rate monitor? DSTV decoder? Technological development has transformed our lives and the world we live in. Technology is no longer simply used for ‘doing tasks’ but has entered into the very fabric of our lives and influenced us profoundly. For the most part, I suspect, we are blinded by the ways it subtly influences and shapes our attitudes, views and interaction with the world. But has technological advancement also led to regression in certain areas of our lives?
Recently I gave a three-day workshop to some sixteen year olds. Each of them arrived cell phone in hand. The first thing that struck me was the fact that almost all of them had the most recent up to date cell phone on the market! More worrying, I thought, was the seeming inability of the participants to be present at the workshop. For three days real presence and participation was unimportant. The world of virtual presence – mostly using sms – was the world most of them were immersed in.
In the past it was the smokers who longed to get out of a session or meeting for a smoke. Today it is the sms’ers. The problem is, unlike smokers, the sms’ers sms in the middle of a group discussion oblivious to and negating the real physical presence of others! If a smoker lit up in the middle of a meeting it would be noticed and complaints would be sure to arise. Sms’ers are tolerated and accepted. It made me wonder. Could sms ‘patches’ or ‘sms addiction clinics’ be the next generation of rehabilitation centres in our communities? Or will we simply cultivate a generation for whom ‘virtual presence’ is far more important than ‘real presence’ and where will this lead us?
Communications theorist, Marshall McLuhan, asks what ‘amputations’ we allow when we make ‘extensions’ to our abilities. McLuhan uses the example of the motor car. Before the motor car people would have to carefully plan journeys and make sure they had all that was needed to make the journey. A level of fitness was required if one had to travel by foot over a lengthy distance. With the development of the motor car people were able to travel more easily and cover greater distances. It made travel more efficient and effective. However, it also meant that levels of fitness detoriate and the emission of gases caused by burning fuel negatively impacts our environment and ultimately our health. Technology can enhance or reduce some key elements of what it means to be human.
An uncritical and non-reflective use of technology, like cell phones, seems to encourage serious amputations. The inability to be actively present and interact with people who are really present is not only disrespectful to them but deprives us of any meaningful social engagement as we are not present to anyone when our attention is constantly on another in the ‘virtual world’. This has an effect on human communication; our ability to communicate meaningfully with another in real time and presence is diminished. Communication becomes superficial and any activity which requires ‘real presence’ – like attention in the classroom at school – is compromised. Not to mention, for example, other effects like what cell phone waves may be doing to our physical bodies.
I am the first to admit that I like gadgets. Technological bits and pieces shape my daily life and determine a number of things which I engage in daily. Saying we should throw away cell phones and switch off our TV sets seems naïve and stupid. Asking ourselves, however, just how subtly the devices we use everyday are influencing and shaping every dimension of our lives might be much more helpful. The key question we should ask is: How can we use our technological extensions without making serious and damaging amputations to our lives?

Russell Pollitt SJ is parish priest of Holy Trinity Braamfontein. He has published in journals and newspapers. He is interested in the impact of communications and technology on spirituality.