Does Online Time Undo Us?

In his book “Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age”, Samuel D. James describes how our liturgies, or the repeated habits we have developed in the way use technology, have served to deform us in five specific ways. First, our time online in digital environments fosters a kind of inauthenticity as we center on ourselves. Second, our growing amount of online time fuels outrage by constantly feeding us information and misinformation that polarizes us from others. Third, we can shame others, or be shamed ourselves, often resulting in getting canceled. We don’t discuss our differences anymore. Fourth, we are driven into a lifestyle of consumption, as the algorithms feed us more and more of the content that grabs our attention and focus. Finally, we get lost in the meaningless of the online world. We’re starting to see what happens when we spend time scrolling on our phones, rather than through the pages of God’s Word.