Technology can be a blessing and a curse

My earlier life, as most of you know, was working in the Information Technology field. These skills have been helpful around all of the parishes that I have served at, and it is no different here at St. Luke’s. From helping to get some network stuff put together, to helping with the computer problems around here. Technology is still a hobby of mine, although not nearly as much as it was. I still like tech gadgets from one of the great inventions the robot vacuum cleaner, to smart watches, and network connected light switches.

I often hear that smartphones are a curse and a blessing sometimes. Just like most things, it is in the use of the device that can be good or evil depending on the action and not the device itself. I use my cell phone to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, as well as to look up the readings for the Mass. When I travel, I have an app on my iPad that has all of the options for the Mass on it so I do not have to bring the Missal with me. It is a great option to save packing space. One of the great things is the translator app, I used this quite a few times on my trip to have a conversation and to order food from a menu in another language. But we also have the more challenging side of these devices. They often make it easy to foster an addiction to pornography, they can be used to bully people online, they can be used in a way to make it easier to scam people as well, they can be used to manipulate people and blackmail them. They can be used for many more bad things as well.

We are a society of the greatest access to information of any in history. But, how many of us are slaves to our device? When you hear that familiar “ding” when you get a message, do you immediately grab it to see who it is? I know that I have that desire many times. How many of us have to be in the know all the time? One of the things that I often make myself do is to step away from the computer, not pick up the phone, or any other device, and spend that time with God. Even if we use a device for prayer, we need to also spend that quiet time away from the distractions to just be with God. We also need to sometimes be reminded to get everyone to put them down and spend that great quality time with our family and friends. Texts, while they are good, still cannot replace that face time with our loved ones. Remember, Jesus often reminds us that our first and foremost love should be for God and that love that we receive back will help us to love our neighbors as well.

God bless,
Fr. Ken