Technology & "Digital Liturgies," Part 3: How Technology/Internet Shapes Us

This lesson explores how digital technology, particularly the internet, shapes human identity and spiritual formation not merely through its content, but through the very medium of its use—what the speaker calls 'the message in the medium.' Drawing on Marshall McLuhan's insight that 'the medium is the message,' the lesson argues that the internet's design—its speed, fragmentation, and algorithmic curation—rewires the brain, diminishing deep reflection, prolonged attention, and thoughtful engagement, thereby undermining Christian disciplines like meditation, prayer, and biblical study. It warns that while technology itself is not inherently evil, its pervasive influence fosters escapism, promotes superficiality, and cultivates habits that erode moral discernment and spiritual depth, especially when users unconsciously adopt the internet's rhythms as their default mode of being. The lesson calls for intentional Christian wisdom in digital life, urging believers to recognize how technology shapes their affections, thoughts, and relationships, and to reclaim practices that foster embodied presence, sustained reflection, and biblical thinking—so that the church may stand as a counter-cultural beacon of depth, clarity, and spiritual resilience in an age of mental and moral fragmentation.