At Mere Orthodoxy, Matthew Schultz has written one of the most thorough and thoughtful reviews of my book Digital Liturgies that I’ve read yet. Book reviews are easy to do poorly and very difficult to do well, and Matthew demonstrates how consistently compelling a well-done review can be. I am thankful that my book can be associated with such a good piece of writing.
After having read Schultz' review I thought, "He has a point. Yeah', it's not all social media (I myself hardly use social media), it's just another form of addiction and yes the book could have been a bit more practical at the end."
However, after your response I thought, "Yes, indeed. The internet is far more powerful and especially omnipresent than all the other temptations out there." You really make very good, specific and well-argued points both in the book and in this response. The book was a great eyeopener for me in the way you synthesised the problems and observations on technology and spirituality. The review and its response to it sharpened my understanding of technology so I'm glad you and Matthew have engaged in this little blog exchange.
I believe your description in the book of the internet as a liturgy is accurate and will be commonly misunderstood. Even though the book distinguishes between specific uses of the internet and the internet itself, the fact remains that the internet is imbedded in virtually every aspect of every culture with access. By its very nature, the internet requires us to think in a particular way which is different than how humans “thought” before the internet. As you have noted in the book, the key is not curation of content (though that is necessary in the same way that I curate which paper magazines I read), having acceptable content will not protect us from thinking in a new and particular way. We’re not going to get away from the internet but we do need to be aware if its thought liturgy and guard our hearts against it. How we think has always and will always be formed by something. If We are not taking deliberate steps to form our hearts in a manner that directs our affections to Jesus, then something else is forming our hearts. In today’s world, by default, that is the internet.
I long for a digital world that Matthew Schultz describes where one can go online to pay the bills or find a recipe without having to worry about the liturgical design behind them. Unfortunately I don't think that world exists anymore. To the extent it does, it's fading away with the advances in software technology, growth marketing tactics, and internet enabled business model innovation.
I habit the world of Silicon Valley, we may not call them "liturgical design" but we do call them business OKRs and KPIs that guide our product design, engineering, user experience, and content decisions. Although it may not look like it on the surface, there is much attention put in the user experience of things as innocuous as a recipe website or bill paying flow. Am I saying that every website or tool has nefarious purpose hidden in its design? No I am not making that claim, but it's important to know many of these digital products have overarching business goals embedded in their design and that these products don't stand in isolation in the digital world.
That free baking recipe you looked at? Next time you look for one, take a pause and glance around. Many recipe websites are clickbait farms with AI generated SEO to gamify google search rankings to garner eyeballs and generate revenue off of penny ads. Or it is a giant CPG company (i.e. Betty Crocker) trying to nudge you to sign up for an account with them to "save your recipes" with the goal of getting user information to target you with products down the line. Or NYT trying to entice you to pay for a yearly subscription. Or it could be a startup (i.e. Instacart) trying to get you to sign up for grocery or food delivery. Yes, you might have pure motives with wanting to bake a cake for your neighbor! That is great! But I can ensure you there's companies on the other side of the divide trying to capture and convert that attention for objectives other than just baking a cake for your neighbor. As for the Bill Pay example, I could expound on all the ways financial platforms are trying to get you to convert to higher margin financial products behind the scenes. For further reading on this topic, check out the SV concept of "commoditizing your compliments": https://gwern.net/complement
I do sympathize with Schultz's desire to not incite fear and creating practical or concrete takeaways on what to do with these challenges. I think about these things a lot! I don't have a magic wand with solutions but I like that we are collectively coming together to label the challenges.
"No one who spends 17 minutes online to research baking recipes is going to the internet because he loves baking recipes and just can’t stop looking at digitally curated lists of ingredients and oven instructions."
No question he's wrong about that. Plus the near certainty there will be all kinds of other bait videos linked to the recipe video which, as one clicks and clicks again, devolve into darker and darker themes.
Total empathy with you! Having just had to start a peer-reviewed manuscript I rather know the feeling! Keep on writing the truth! Well done!
I'm glad to see you address Schultz’s critiques. It is both helpful and informative.
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my review! Blessings to you, brother.
Great response, brother. Thank you for writing this. I need to get my hands on your book.
After having read Schultz' review I thought, "He has a point. Yeah', it's not all social media (I myself hardly use social media), it's just another form of addiction and yes the book could have been a bit more practical at the end."
However, after your response I thought, "Yes, indeed. The internet is far more powerful and especially omnipresent than all the other temptations out there." You really make very good, specific and well-argued points both in the book and in this response. The book was a great eyeopener for me in the way you synthesised the problems and observations on technology and spirituality. The review and its response to it sharpened my understanding of technology so I'm glad you and Matthew have engaged in this little blog exchange.
I believe your description in the book of the internet as a liturgy is accurate and will be commonly misunderstood. Even though the book distinguishes between specific uses of the internet and the internet itself, the fact remains that the internet is imbedded in virtually every aspect of every culture with access. By its very nature, the internet requires us to think in a particular way which is different than how humans “thought” before the internet. As you have noted in the book, the key is not curation of content (though that is necessary in the same way that I curate which paper magazines I read), having acceptable content will not protect us from thinking in a new and particular way. We’re not going to get away from the internet but we do need to be aware if its thought liturgy and guard our hearts against it. How we think has always and will always be formed by something. If We are not taking deliberate steps to form our hearts in a manner that directs our affections to Jesus, then something else is forming our hearts. In today’s world, by default, that is the internet.
Thanks for your thoughtful work on this topic.
I long for a digital world that Matthew Schultz describes where one can go online to pay the bills or find a recipe without having to worry about the liturgical design behind them. Unfortunately I don't think that world exists anymore. To the extent it does, it's fading away with the advances in software technology, growth marketing tactics, and internet enabled business model innovation.
I habit the world of Silicon Valley, we may not call them "liturgical design" but we do call them business OKRs and KPIs that guide our product design, engineering, user experience, and content decisions. Although it may not look like it on the surface, there is much attention put in the user experience of things as innocuous as a recipe website or bill paying flow. Am I saying that every website or tool has nefarious purpose hidden in its design? No I am not making that claim, but it's important to know many of these digital products have overarching business goals embedded in their design and that these products don't stand in isolation in the digital world.
That free baking recipe you looked at? Next time you look for one, take a pause and glance around. Many recipe websites are clickbait farms with AI generated SEO to gamify google search rankings to garner eyeballs and generate revenue off of penny ads. Or it is a giant CPG company (i.e. Betty Crocker) trying to nudge you to sign up for an account with them to "save your recipes" with the goal of getting user information to target you with products down the line. Or NYT trying to entice you to pay for a yearly subscription. Or it could be a startup (i.e. Instacart) trying to get you to sign up for grocery or food delivery. Yes, you might have pure motives with wanting to bake a cake for your neighbor! That is great! But I can ensure you there's companies on the other side of the divide trying to capture and convert that attention for objectives other than just baking a cake for your neighbor. As for the Bill Pay example, I could expound on all the ways financial platforms are trying to get you to convert to higher margin financial products behind the scenes. For further reading on this topic, check out the SV concept of "commoditizing your compliments": https://gwern.net/complement
I do sympathize with Schultz's desire to not incite fear and creating practical or concrete takeaways on what to do with these challenges. I think about these things a lot! I don't have a magic wand with solutions but I like that we are collectively coming together to label the challenges.
"No one who spends 17 minutes online to research baking recipes is going to the internet because he loves baking recipes and just can’t stop looking at digitally curated lists of ingredients and oven instructions."
No question he's wrong about that. Plus the near certainty there will be all kinds of other bait videos linked to the recipe video which, as one clicks and clicks again, devolve into darker and darker themes.