Impact of Technology on the Global Culture

There were three literature categories that I interacted with in my dissertation. They were technology, spiritual formation, and Silicon Valley. In this post, I will briefly describe the first of these categories: technology.

In the dissertation, I described how technology created a highly connected and highly participatory cultural context. In describing the highly connected nature of the global culture, I leaned heavily on Manuel Castell's idea of the "Networked Society" as well as Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman's concept of "networked individualism." The later looked at the Triple Revolution as the catalyst to global cultural changes:

"The Triple Revolution— Social Network, Internet, and Mobile— has created a new information and media ecology that is distinct from the past. The process of creating, collecting, assessing, and distributing information is increasingly becoming networked through social processes and is very much tied to the rise of networked individualism." (Rainie and Wellman, "Networked: The New Social Operating System" Kindle Locations 5983-5986)

I was drawn to this idea of "networked individualism" because it argued that the basic morphology or shape of our culture drastically changed due to the impact of the Triple Revolution. Networked individualism stated that people formed the center of their own networked worlds and traditional social units (such as the family, work units, neighborhoods, and even social structures such as churches) diminished in their importance or were entirely replaced. As a local pastor, this captured some of the major changes that I observed within my own church as well as within my own personal life.

In addition to becoming highly connected, I also explored the ways that the global culture had become more participatory. The sociologist Henry Jenkins was very influential in understanding this impact. He described the emerging global culture as a "convergence" or "participatory" culture that shifted the way that we related with one another and the world. Jenkins stated that this culture was:

“one which sees the public not as simply consumers of pre- constructed messages but as people who are shaping, sharing, reframing, and remixing media content in ways which might not have been previously imagined.” (Jenkins, "Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture" Kindle Location 189)

Eric Von Hippel's idea of "democratized innovation" adds another layer of complexity to understanding the impact of a highly participatory cultural context. He said:

"When I say that innovation is being democratized, I mean that users of products and services - both firms and individual consumers - are increasingly able to innovate for themselves. User-centered innovation processes offer great advantages over the manufacturer-centric innovation development systems that have been the mainstay of commerce for hundreds of years. Users that innovate can develop exactly what they want, rather than relying on manufacturers to act as their (often very imperfect) agents." (Von Hippel, "Democratizing Innovation" Kindle Locations 33-35)

This is where "the rubber hits the road" in regards to ministry. People, in my opinion, are already living and operating as networked individuals in a increasingly connected and participatory culture. Armed with the tools of the Triple Revolution, such as social media networks and "always connected" mobile Internet devices, these networked individuals are actively engaging in their own spiritual formation and not relying on religious leaders like myself to help them. Technology has enabled a new level of "democratized innovation" where spiritual formation is no longer left to the "experts." These cultural changes have introduced both pitfalls and possibilities to the spiritual life. Many wise religious leaders have spoken against pitfalls of technology and its negative impact on the spiritual life. My hope in my dissertation (and now blog) is to explore some of the positive impacts and spiritual possibilities that technology has introduced.