Technology: Master or Slave?

Bulletin Article – July 7, 2019

Recently I came across a disturbing video on Youtube from a few years back. It was a news report that Toyota recently came out in Japan with a pint-sized robot designed as a “synthetic baby companion”. Japan’s population is increasingly childless – births in the country have fallen by 50% in the last fifty years, and it currently has the lowest in the world at 1.44 children per woman. It’s a scary demographic – one which is being repeated over and over again in the world – but even scarier, to me, is that Toyota thinks a robot can replace a human being.

This robot, called Kirobo Mini, is outfitted with Artificial Intelligence (AI) which can mimic human conversation and moods. It is even billed as “providing comfort to those without children”. This makes me wonder – how much and how often have we replaced humanity with technology?

Those who know me know that I am a Luddite when it comes to technology. I do not own a smartphone, and I never will. I use Facebook but no other social media. Heck, I sometimes struggle to find the Yankee game on TV with the three remotes that it takes to operate the television. But the real reason that I do not participate in much technology is because I believe it can so often devolve into a substitute for real life and human interaction.

Now, technology as such is neutral. It is a tool that can be used for good or for ill. But it is also a tool that many of us – if not most of us – do not know how to control well. Instead, it controls us! How many times have we been out to eat only to look at another family at another table, their faces buried in their individual screens? When is the last time your family has had a family game night instead of everyone going to their TV or iPad after dinner? How many teens prefer to spend time gaming rather than playing sports or joining after-school activities?

In one Confirmation class I led, I challenged the kids to pray for ten minutes per day. One boy objected that he was too busy, he had no time. Later on in the conversation, he shared that he spent up to eleven hours per day on Fortnite. Wonder why he had no time to pray?

With all of our advances in technology, we need to ask the ethical question – is this leading to more human fulfillment, or less? Are we actually happier as a nation, or less, because of our technology? Is technology replacing our human interaction, our personal development, our spiritual life? A number of studies have shown a distressing link between iPhone usage and depression – the more a person is on their phone, the more they are likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.

This is going to sound like a screed against technology. And yes, that’s probably what it is, but it’s a polemic motivated by love and a desire to see all of us become the men and women God has created us to be. As we continue to advance along the ways of AI and further integrating technology into the way in which we live, we must constantly be alert to its dangers. No amount of technology can replace those things that authentically fulfill us – friendships, family, hobbies, being in nature, our relationship with God.