Alone with the computer?

A few years back we heard in the media about an American man who had himself legally renamed dot.com.guy and who then moved into an empty property with just his computer. He then undertook to dwell in this house for a year and survive by ordering anything that he needed over the internet. The man himself was quoted when he entered the house as saying, "I'm going to come out being a loon".

For me this story captures something about our present generation. We pride ourselves on being the connected generation. We have more ways of being in touch with each other than ever before and yet in the midst or this technology we are strangely alone. I think in the first week dot.com.guy received something like 6,000 emails. But I can almost guarantee that those emails didn't satisfy his hunger for human company. Perhaps that is part of this generations problem we can manage to churn out the quantity of communication but can we really manage quality in communication?

Certainly in terms of technology we have made huge strides and we have much to congratulate ourselves for, yet when we look at the history of the last year that has just finished we can also see that there is much that we (humankind) can be ashamed of and how technology can be used for good or evil

Yet despite this God is still interested in us! In the bible there are several love letters to us from God. They express in words that which we may one day come to experience. That God loves us with the creative love of a parent.

Knowing this helps us to guard against the isolation that finds its way into our spirit. We can do this if we quieten ourselves from the noise of the world and dwell on the generous nature of a God who freely bestows upon us the richness of creation.

Unlike dot.com.guy we don't have to "order in" creation. It is just there daily and perhaps that is why we forget about its abundance.

We need to remember that what we have is given freely by our creator and that when we embrace God's generosity we find a quality of life that is both fulfilling and powerfully loving. To be in relationship and to love in relationships is what makes us fully human.

So sorry dot.com.guy you really cannot live by the internet alone! But instead by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God! if we try to live only by technology we will come out of it incredibly isolated and alone.

We can use all these new methods of communicating but we need to do so with discernment and almost at each step weigh the value of what we do. What really counts in our lives is how successful we are at being with each other.

God's love for us manages both quantity and quality - but he is infinite and his capacity is infinite. By our nature we ourselves have limits and each of us is called to live and love.
within our very individual (and unique) God given capacities. What one person can manage
easily can be very different and difficult for another.

This year help me Lord to strive for kindness to others and a considered approach in my use of technology.