The Digital Age

The human species is a progressive species. The entire essence of history is understanding how our present reality is built upon what we’ve learned from our past and the changes we’ve made to adapt. 

Simply put, history progresses through revolutions. 

These can be paradigm shifting revolutions on a mass scale that completely changes how humans interact with the world, or it could be a minimal revolution an individual has one morning that completely changes the trajectory of her life. And history compounds on those revolutions and discoveries, because it doesn’t take long for what was once a revolution to become the norm, thus creating prime opportunities for new revolutions to break forth.

The revolution of the 21st century in the United States is arguably, without a doubt, that we live in a digital age. The internet and mobile devices and technology have completely revolutionized everything about how we go about our days. 

We never would’ve thought 10 years ago we’d replace physical photo albums, which would take hours to put together, with digital albums automatically uploaded to the cloud whenever we snap a photo. 

Or who needs a cook book to flip through for that particular recipe when you can quickly search for the same recipe on Yummly. 

No longer do we need a passenger to pull out the giant physical maps to figure out where the heck we’re going on our road trip when we have Siri to tell us where to go through our Bluetooth speakers in our cars. 

Why go all the over to the other side of town to physically visit with someone when you can snap a 20-second video of yourself to them whenever is most convenient for your schedule? 

Why bother going to Walmart and interacting with people to shop for groceries when you can order it through Amazon Pantry? 

Praise the Lord we don’t need to stand awkwardly waiting for the barista to make our 16-ounce skinny caramel latte, now that we have Fortnite and Solitaire and Candy Crush at our finger tips to fill the void of unwanted human interaction. 

And, the greatest “benefit” of all: who needs to be present with real friends in real physical places when you can send a text? Send a snap? Post all the latest and greatest things on the internet to create a pseudo-personality, showcasing all the great things and highlights of your life, desperate to convince everyone that your life is great and doesn’t suck, because in all reality you are drowning in loneliness and isolation and depression and shame?

Revolutions are only as great as the benefit they bring to the human species. The digital age has ushered in an incomprehensible amount of benefits to how we go about our days. It has changed everything. But, when gone unchecked, the digital age has equally ushered in an insurmountable amount of problems that is fueling the loneliness epidemic in our culture.

What are those issues? And how can The BFFs Church help remedy these issues? 

Stay tuned.