Scrolling Ourselves to Death

Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age

I write periodically in this newsletter about how to think Christianly about technology, screens, and the social internet. This is because our phones, tablets, and laptops are changing us. Rarely is this change for the better. Increasingly, we are “alone together” because of the way technology affects our relationships. Our brains are being hacked. Jonathan Haidt warns of an “anxious generation” of young people who’ve been overprotected when it comes to real-life experiences, but under-protected when it comes to digital spaces.

One week from today, Crossway is releasing a new book titled Scrolling Ourselves to Death: Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age, edited by Brett McCracken and Ivan Mesa. The book is a collection of essays that extends the arguments from Neil Postman’s classic 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business into the internet age. In addition to the editors, the contributors include Joe Carter, Jen Pollock Michel, Samuel James, Thaddeus Williams, and Collin Hansen, among others.

I was honored to write a chapter titled “‘Unfit to Remember’: The Theological Crisis of Digital-Age Memory Loss.” I argue that

No technology is simply a neutral tool to be used for whatever utilitarian purpose we deem appropriate. This is certainly true of the internet, the influence of which touches almost every part of our lives. Like Sauron’s malevolent ring from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the internet seeks to subdue every rival and rule them all. It demands our full attention. It seduces us into increased allegiance. And prolonged, unreflective exposure to the internet withers our souls until we become diminished shades who forget what life was once like in the real world. The internet conditions us to embrace what I once heard the church historian Timothy George refer to in a different context as the “arrogance of amnesia.” We no longer remember who we are and how we got here, but we assume we know more than everyone who came before us because of our constant access to nearly limitless content.

In Scripture, remembering the mighty acts of God is a spiritual discipline. As a church historian and pastor, I call for us to embrace postures and practices that help us to cultivate Christian remembering in an age of digital distractions.

You can order the book online at Amazon. You can also purchase bulk orders of the book from The Gospel Coalition. I hope you will pick up a copy, especially if you are a pastor, ministry leader, or a parent.