“Each day has enough trouble of its own,” Matt. 6:34.

We live in a world full of trouble. Another word that could be used is care: “the cares of this life.” Christians throughout all times have faced the cares of this life. The aim is not to let them choke out the harvest of the Kingdom in our lives (cf. Mk. 4:19). The Lord tells us simply, don’t be anxious. He knows that we have the “needs” of living in this world. And even these daily cares can be turned to God and work for our salvation. The distractions of living in the world, jobs, bills, chores, obligations, and so forth are not de facto bad distractions. The key is to weave remembrance of God into them. We are called to meet these things with the Lord and be present in the moments of our lives. There are plentiful ancient Christian prayers for the “everyday” tasks of life, lighting the fire, making food, sowing the fields, herding the cattle, and more. God is part of these things, although they are passing away with the world. I think it’s possible to call these things the “blameless distractions.” Not long ago, I heard another priest use the phrase “distraction to destruction.” This, he said, is what is destructive to the Christian. The everyday cares of life are not in and of themselves distractions to destruction, although they could be if they consume us. When approached with proper orientation, the cares of this life can be filled with prayer and God. In fact, they can instruct us in faith. Just look at the birds of the air.

But we find ourselves in a novel age: that of the computer, the internet, and other technologies, and all they have brought with them. There’s a lurking feeling that, besides the clearly stated promises surrounding them, there is much else happening. Much else that is not clearly stated. And it’s ambiguous for a reason. For all the promises of “making life easier or more convenient,” it seems to have also become even more complicated and distracting. The “freedom of information” has become, in many cases, too overwhelming, and sensory overload ensues. “Being connected” most times involves a technological intermediary. With all our “connected-ness,” our times are also intensely lonely. Rates of depression have never been so high. And why do they seek to make everyone dependent on modern technologies? How many apps does a person really need? A nagging feeling suggests that behind the revealed and promoted “perks and benefits” of the technological age, something else is also at work. Something that we must guard ourselves against. Distraction that surpasses the simple and inevitable “cares of this life.”

Similar to the psalmist, we sense that something is “shooting in secret” (Ps. 63), or that an “unseen hidden snare” is set within (Ps. 140). The gift at the gates may have more within it than meets the eye, like the fabled Trojan horse. Behind the shiny gift of modern computer technology seems a concealed agenda of not-so-glowing intent. For example, it is being revealed that most major social media platforms are purposefully programmed to addict their users. The platforms are intentionally built to keep people coming back and scrolling for hours. But they never advertise this in the least. “Download our app and be addicted!” “Your collected personal data helps us make millions in ad revenue!” There is an English word for purposeful plans that are intentionally hidden; it’s called a conspiracy. The basic definition is a secret plan to do harm. The distractions presented by modern technology are novel in the history of humanity. The intensity of its distraction does seem to be for planned destruction.

Since the fall from Eden, humanity has constructed ways to distract itself. At the start of Great Lent, we read in Genesis how the sons of Cain built cities, made musical instruments, and began the art of metal crafting. They were very industrious. Today, we would call them very productive. They were progressing so well. It is said of Seth, the third son of Adam, simply that he began to call on the name of the Lord (cf. Gen. 4). By modern standards, not so productive.

Yet, later in the Scripture, the instruments of the sons of Cain are repurposed for the glory of God. The great Prophet David sings praises on musical instruments. Bezalel is granted the spirit of wisdom to craft all the furnishings of the tabernacle (Ex. 31-34). The city itself becomes a symbol of hope, Jerusalem. Cain’s distractions are realigned for the remembrance of God.

Much later, starting a little after 300 B.C., was a massive technological achievement: the Roman road system. The construction lasted for centuries, but was mostly complete by the time of our Lord’s incarnation. What is a technological given for us today was an extraordinary advantage in the ancient world. The Roman road system would be the backbone of its military and economic might for centuries. It enabled, for that time, a swift movement of troops and commerce. Yet, those same roads that thundered with the dreaded steps of the Roman Legions also carried the angelic feet of the Apostles to the edges of the known world. The tech system Rome built to dominate other nations became the initial system by which the Gospel permeated the nations.

Yet, the technologies briefly mentioned above remained somehow humanized, in spite of their intentions. Human hands had to play the harp and build the tabernacle. Human feet had to traverse the Roman roads. Technology remains something human.

But what happens when the human becomes displaced? And even replaced? Even by the work of its own hands? In our times, we could ponder on the impact of things like photography, the radio, the telephone, and the motion picture. Sight and sound become one step removed from the personal source. Hands no longer need to depict a picture, and the human no longer needs to be present to be heard. There does indeed seem to be an increased level of peril. Abbot Silouan of Archangel Michael Monastery writes concerning the radio, “When our words are separated from the immediacy of personal presence, relationship is sacrificed for information’s isolated individualism.” The word, disincarnate from the immediate person, becomes less potent in logos. “In Christ, our words become logos, reserved for the immediate presence of the other.”

He further contemplates the impacts of the photograph and how it altered humanity’s relationship with image. The eventual ease of taking a photograph decontextualized the visual and removed it from its reference to “symbol, culture, or virtue.” He contemplates, “With every new technology, comes a morphing of man’s mode of being in this world … if we lay aside our modern stances toward reality born of the myth of progress–newer is better, faster is better, world-wide access is better–we can be truly free to critically examine photography’s true toll on attention, memory, and imagination.” The cheapening of image is at the bases of social media, and the plethora of fluttering images addicts the user to more sights and sounds. Thus, a modern person can “misspend many an hour, and day, frustratedly flitting from photo to photo ad dolorum ocularum.” Distraction to destruction. He ends his reflection with this scenario, “The mystery of memory is made to unite past and present; yet, witness a common scenario: As the sun begins to set, the sky turns brilliant in variegated tones of reddish gold. In awe, all her spectators turn west to behold the sight. Within seconds, a multitudinous array of cameras appear in every anxious hand, incapable of participating in the actual experience from fear that their memory will betray them” (All quotes from Abbot Silouan are from “Doxa,” Great Lent, 2023).

The radio and the photograph altered the age-old manner in which humans encountered the moment and each other. I no longer must be present to hear. I now have an external means of capturing an event. The memory of the moment is focused into a technology. Frequently, the focus on technology becomes the goal of the moment, because we no longer trust our memory.

Yet, there are stories such as in the book “Everyday Saints” of Bishop Basil (Rodzyanko), who traveled to Russia after the fall of Sovietism and met a dying man who was spiritually sustained by secretly listening to his contraband radio broadcast under communism (pg. 387). And it is pleasant to see the pictures of loved ones and have the ability to talk to them over great distances. But these have inevitably altered the manner in which we as moderns encounter the world around us. How do we stay masters of the tools we have constructed?

It does seem that with every claimed “advancement,” a new and heightened danger arises. Because with all the “progress,” mankind becomes even more uprooted. The state of people is by no means better today, in spite of all the technologies. In many ways, advanced technologies have given men the ability to be more barbaric. Progress in technology is not substantial progress; it is an illusion. Technology has, besides giving limited benefits, amplified the ability of men to work evil and sin. Never has there been a time when greed has run so rampant, and violence has the ability to be so widespread. Technology has amplified the sin in fallen man’s heart. The quantification of the material world, including ourselves, has served to suck the soul out of humanity. Humanity is not the better for all of its technologies.

We now live in a tech-saturated world. A world our ancestors of 150 years ago would find mind-boggling. If with the radio and photography we became one step removed, how many steps are we now at? Our every sense is under assault as we move in the world around us. Constant ads, constant music, constant noise, constant stimulation, because so many now fear this one thing: silence. What perils do we face when technologies loom to replace much of what is human? Does technology remain a tool when the human is replaced? Or does it become something else? Humans have had tools–tech–since the dawn of time. But the human was always in the tool. Now, modern technology is becoming human-less and, moreover, dehumanizing.

A decent portion of people coming to Christ Jesus in Orthodox Christianity first come across it “online.” Frequently today, when a person enters the church for the first time, he has already watched videos and other such things online. At one point, I heard an Orthodox priest say that the internet is the modern marketplace, it’s where people go for ideas and investigation. St. Paul himself used the marketplace of ancient Athens as a springboard to preach. I dare say that he did not approve of a lot of things there. Yet, the opportunity to present the Gospel was there. But it was still human. Now the marketplace is digital. How do we remain human? How do we use something that is disintegrating?

Most churches have web pages and some sort of digital “presence.” Today, people will search online for “the nearest Orthodox church to me.” Long gone is the “Yellow Book.” It does seem like the tunnel is narrowing; yet, it’s my opinion that while we can we should strive to use whatever aspects we can of the internet and such. But the dangers it presents are much greater than anything before. What portion and how long can we use it? Somehow, the internet begins to swallow everything, like a black hole. But here you are, reading this online. And there I was, posting it online.

As Christians, we must remain incarnate. Thus, the internet is at best an entryway medium and a possible research tool. Once a person finds a good local church, he must become a human part of it. Christianity is not lived online; it never can be. Authentic life cannot truly be lived digitally. It’s impossible. Ultimately, the internet has no substance. Life is substantial. A priest online cannot replace the local priest incarnate for the local community, the Body of Christ. Because the local priest is the person on the ground, in his local plot of earth, sacrificing for the people of Christ’s flock under his care. An online chat group cannot replace the substantial fellowship in the faces of the incarnate persons gathered at church. A grave danger is that online, we no longer genuinely see the face of the other. The danger is that we take digital communication as fellowship, but it’s not. It is just an exchange of information. In a personal conversation, I can see the effects of what I’m saying in the face of the other person. This generally encourages us to be human. It’s in the comment sections, where impersonal username meets impersonal username and a battle of insults begins, or an echo chamber of self-confirmation is constructed. We fail to see anything but a screen glowing in our own face. Paul Kingsnorth, author of “Against the Machine”, says, “When we forget the proper direction in which to aim our prayers, we will end up aiming them at the ultimate idol: our own image, reflecting back at us in our little black screens. We will be kings and queens of a deceptively free world, parading through the liturgy of self, wondering why the chaos seems to persist so close beneath the surface of the world” (pg. 134).

Rene Guenon in his work, The Crisis of the Modern World, rightly observes, “The West is said to be Christian, but this is untrue: the modern outlook is anti-Christian, because it is essentially anti-religious; and it is anti-religious because, still more generally, it is anti-traditional; this is its distinguishing characteristic and this is what makes it what it is” (pg. 95). Guenon utilizes “religious” in its more profound ancient meaning, as opposed to the modern use which tends to be either pejorative or of no substantial reality.

It is therefore only in authentic and traditional Christianity that an answer and way forward will be found. Modern Protestantism is not traditional Christianity and therefore is ever chasing the latest fads of the modern world. The Protestant system is a foundational aspect of the modern psyche and is an incubation pod for it. A person must go deeper. I believe that the only authentic Christian answer can be found in the Orthodox Church.

My dear readers, the Incarnate Lord Jesus is our only hope. And we must strive to remain incarnate with Him. I am a priest with online platforms. I believe it can be used in a limited way to present the Gospel and beneficial ideas. But the slope has never been so slippery. I haven’t resolved any questions in this article, but I think we must have further dialogue on the issues that face us. There will be varying thoughts and opinions, and that’s okay. In a family, sometimes hard discussions are needed; sometimes not all the family members see eye to eye, but Christ Jesus calls us to unity, not uniformity. A healthy family must talk about the difficult issues facing it and be willing to hear each other out.

We, as the members of the body of Christ, are called to be prophets for the times in which we live. What is the prophetic word for these oversaturated and digital times? What is the place of the internet and its multifaceted aspects? Because it’s not going away. And further, we have bursting through the doors what is called Artificial Intelligence. How will we remain human? And now many of our race are ready to offer everything on the altar of technology. AI not only synthetically replaces human actions, but it also demands terrible amounts of resources to do so. And created nature is readily offered up: water by the billions of gallons, pollution of creation, and an insane hunger for massive amounts of energy. Now we, as a race, are not simply destroying ourselves, but also the creation around us; all for computer technologies, the pinnacle of the industrial revolution. The tech has long since stopped being with the human, and the human is eradicated from the tech, together with creation. Our tool has ceased to be a human one. So we build to destroy and replace ourselves with an advanced program of our own making. Humanity is insane and self-destructive in its mire of sin.

A serious agenda is to destroy what remains of natural and personal human interaction, with others and the created world around us. There is a conspiracy to distract, and yes, to our destruction. A conspiracy theorist simply floats ideas, proven or unproven. Yet, the identification of a conspiracy is not enough; we must see the secret snares and avoid them. So revealing a real conspiracy is important, and even more so is giving a path through it so that our feet are not caught in its secret snares. The conspiracy is real, and now we must find ways not to fall prey to its machinations.

The Body of Christ has a unique opportunity during these times to become a bastion of authentic humanity. As computer technologies seek in certain ways to disincarnate human interaction, the Church will shine as a place of incarnate human persons, doing the most fundamentally human thing: worshiping the Living God. May the Lord give us wisdom for the times in which He has placed us. May we strive to keep our eyes on Him.

(Originally posted on my Substack account in April; reposted here on my blog.)