Once upon a time, humanity lived without cameras, television, and social media. We also lived without all the age-defying products and surgeries. Are we making progress with all these new technologies the modern world has brought?
When new technological advances are made, there is something to celebrate: the overwhelming knowledge humans have to create! The reality is that there is always a trade-off. With every action, there is a reaction; for every good, there is evil, and the balancing of the scales is woven into the fabric of humanity.
We could mitigate the damage by stopping a bad idea in its tracks! However, once an idea is born, it lives on, almost as if it has a life of its own.
For example, we know how much social media harms us, so why continue participating? Why is it still the center of our culture?
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You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath, or in the waters below. -Exodus 20:4
God must have known something about having an image-based culture; therefore, He warned us.
Let’s take a short dive into modern Image-Based Technology-
Cameras
Photography allows us to capture moments, share adventures with loved ones, and even see parts of the world we would otherwise not see. But have we gone too far?
Every moment seems consumed by taking pictures; our intimate moments are now public, and there is no longer a mystery left to wonder. There also appears to be an overstep with nostalgia. We look back far too often, remembering things usually better than they were. Have you ever noticed children, for the most part, do not like their picture taken? There is something to be said about that.
They live in the moment and do not want to be interrupted, not caring if anyone else knows what they are doing.
In the mid-1900s, cameras became common in the home, but developing pictures was time-consuming; families would reserve picture-taking for special occasions. Going further back, art was the medium to capture a special moment.
Family portraits became popular in the 1860s, and if you can imagine, it would be a privilege to have one, indeed not an abundance.
Notwithstanding, people were not capturing six photos of the same thing, trying to get the “perfect picture.”
Technology sure does change things!
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Television
In 1927, televisions entered the scene and, by the 1950s, replaced the radio as the dominant broadcast medium. Early television had about four major networks.
Today, there are about 2286 video streaming services, meaning you can watch almost anything anytime!
This market is valued at over $670 billion in the United States and is expected to grow to over $2.49 trillion by 2032.
There sure is a premium placed on the amount of television consumed!
Social media
Social media made its wave in the early 2000s and has since grown into a cultural phenomenon.
To get some context, here is Google’s definition of social media. Social media allows people to connect, share information, and build relationships. It can also help people find communities of like-minded individuals, access information in real-time, and transform how people communicate.
While we all know or have some knowledge of the oversteps social media has made in people’s lives, let’s consider for a moment if it had only stayed in its intended lane and compare it to the act of “socializing in person.”
Historically, early Americans socialized organically, for lack of a better word. They visited the town square and attended church, festivals, and bazaars. Friendships were made through many different social actions. As transportation advanced, so did the connections and friendships. This in-person interaction created communication, union, and depth in friendships that could not otherwise be formed. We continued this {in-person} interaction until the internet and computers became a popular in-home luxury.
Age-defying products and surgeries
Without getting into the nitty-gritty, we have become a culture that is obsessed with our image; aging gracefully is no longer the goal. The standard that adults once carried was to push forward good ideas based on knowledge and wisdom. Preparing the next generation for success has shifted to thwarting the very nature of humanity, defying what God has intended, and perpetuating a self-centered objective.
The United States is the world leader in the beauty and personal care industry. In 2023, the industry was estimated to have a revenue of around $98 billion. In 2024, the industry is expected to generate $100.3 billion in revenue.
This does not include the pharmaceuticals and the elective cosmetic plastic surgeries. Yet another mockery of nature.
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There is an acute awareness of how these modern technologies have affected our culture. At face value, we see what was presented in the above text, but there is another hidden, far more sinister consequence: how we transfer ideas has changed!
You can almost always see where the culture is going by the choice of mediums used to transfer ideas. We no longer use books as the sole proprietor of exchanging ideas; we use fast-paced mediums that provide an instant outcome. Humanity then shifts to thinking there will be instant solutions.
Neil Postman, the author of Amusing Ourselves to Death, concluded the following…
“The shape of a man’s body is largely irrelevant to the shape of his ideas when he addresses the public in writing or on the radio. But it is quite relevant on television. For television, discourse is conducted primarily through visual imagery, which means that television gives us a conversation through visuals, not words.
Where people once sought information to manage the actual context of their lives, now they have to invent contexts in which otherwise useless information might be put to some apparent use.
The second half of the twentieth century has shifted from the Age of Typography and ascended to the Age of Television. The shift has dramatically and irreversibly shifted the content and meaning of public discourse.”
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In the 15th century, printing had gone mainstream, thanks to Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1439 AD. This mechanical device allowed the mass production of books, newspapers, and pamphlets. The printing press changed the way humans transferred ideas.
Today, books are readily available. Americans live in a unique country, an anomaly to others; we have the freedom to read the ideas of great thinkers!
The discourse in early America was different from what it is today. It was generally serious, rational, and complete.
For example, elected officials would have public discourse for up to seven hours, and that was just one speaker! They would break, and people would go home to eat and rest, later coming back to hear the rest.
It would be hard-pressed to find someone who would sit that long to hear political discourse. We now rely on televisions and have given over our ability to think rationally to media agencies.
There was a beginning and end to ideas. Today, much of what we see has no sequential substance. We can jump in at any moment and feel we have the full picture. It is designed this way, much like a sitcom.
Our public discourse has become comedy, entertainment, short, sparse, and incomplete. We are lured in by charisma, feeding our emotions. Our attention span has shrunk to that of a child.
“Living in an image-based culture and a culture that uses typography to transfer and exchange ideas are vastly different because they cannot accommodate the same ideas. The medium is the message.” -Marshall McLuhan.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash