New Tech and New Touch

In my research, the utilization of technology as a tool to help express spiritual formation practices reflected the "high tech and high touch" dynamic that futurist John Naisbitt identified. I would take it one step further and say that "new tech" require "new touch" ways to stay connected to the world and with others. In my research, the use of technology as a convenience tool to overcome life's constraints initially appeared to be pragmatic in nature but ultimately reflected the changing practices of citizens of the global information culture. This graphic from the Pew Research Center shows the dramatic increase in technology adoption since 2000.

The spiritual formation challenge is to understand how these "new tech" and "new touch" dynamics affect the current spiritual rhythms and practices of church-going technology end-users in high-tech cultural contexts such as Silicon Valley. The spiritual design thinking model emerged as one attempt to create a new spiritual formation model that was both process-oriented but also culturally and technologically sensitive to the cultural challenges of hearing God's voice in the midst of a multitude of other "voices" that call out to us through a series of notifications, tweets, and pings.

5 Major Themes From Field Research and 1 Significant Observation

Several themes arose as to how church-going technology end-users utilized technology in their spiritual formation practices as well as one major observation that emerged from the field research. I identified five themes as to why people utilized technology into their spiritual formation practices.

1. Convenience
2. Overcoming Constraints
3. Connectivity (to people as well as ideas)
4. Curiosity and Personal Passion
5. Convictions and Sense of Calling

There were two distinct ways in which the theme of convenience was present in the research findings. First, it empowered and enabled the receiving of spiritual input. Examples of this include using Bible apps for daily Scripture reading, listening to sermons from leading pastors via podcasts, and enjoying an unlimited music library using online music streaming services. Second, technology allowed for the ease of personal expression. Evernote was reported as a journal replacement that was convenient due to the ability to quickly type out entries (versus handwriting) and its ability to sync and and be accessible over multiple devices. This accessible was particularly convenient because it eliminated the need to carry around a paper journal and allowed for older entries to be readily accessible from virtually anywhere and in many ways (i.e. smartphone, tablet, computer, etc.).

The theme of overcoming constraints was rooted in many of the challenges that exist in a high-tech cultural contexts such as Silicon Valley. Technology emerged as a helpful tool that could be used to overcome various lifestyle restraints. Examples from the field research include listening to an audio Bible while commuting to and from work or reading from a Bible app in the dark while attending to a sleeping child. Technology enabled end-users to maintain relationships and friendship over different time zones and geographic locations. Social media networks such as Facebook and group messaging apps such as Google Hangouts and WhatsApp allowed for the asynchronous nature of conversations that allowed for the overcoming of time/space constraints. These are just a few example of how technology enabled the overcoming of constraints by allowing end-users to multitask, find work/life balance, and maintain relationships across different time zones and geographic locations.

The theme of connectivity was seen in the ways that the interviewees used technology to stay connected with people as well with current news, information, and ideas. Social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook as well as group messaging apps such as WhatsApp, allowed end-users to leverage technology in order to maintain relational connections with friends as well as build new relationships with others that had similar interests and passions. Social media networks and Internet news was increasing becoming the primary means by which end-users gathered news and stayed informed about the world. This was done in both passive and active ways. Social media networks, such as a Facebook news feed, allowed for the passive and serendipitous exposure to news and information. Active participation occurred when an interviewee intentionally read online news articles with spiritual application intentions in mind or followed a particular blogger or news agency on Twitter.

The Internet played an important role in the empowerment of personal curiosities and passions via technology. The unprecedented access to information found on the Internet allowed for individuals to seek and find thriving online communities of people who shared similar interests and passions. Social media networks such as Twitter, YouTube, and online blogs served as a democratized broadcast platform for individuals to not only express their curiosities and passions but connect with others who have similar interests and passions.

The final theme of personal convictions vastly varied in praxis and yet was rooted in a deep sense of personal calling as well as a deep personal conviction. This sense of conviction and calling manifested itself in two distinct ways. The first is in the “what” these individuals did to express these personal convictions. One interviewee used technology to serve as an online mentor to teens while another used their personal passion and interest in AVL (audio, visual, and lighting) to connect with leaders in this industry via Twitter and in turn share this knowledge within their local church context. Others expressed their personal convictions and calling in “how” they focused on these convictions and passions. Examples included regularly “disconnecting” from technology in order to focus on God or the reading of Internet news articles with the perspective the Kingdom of God in mind.

The notable observation from the field research was actually the omission of any reference to church programs or pastoral exhortations to integrate technology into their spiritual formation practices. This omission points to the fact that these technology end-users were creating new and innovative spiritual formation practices on their own without much guidance from their pastors or churches. This integration of technology and spiritual formation was particularly surprising and resonated with the goal of this dissertation to develop a spiritual formation model that was culturally relevant, technologically informed, and spiritually attuned to the changing global culture and a changing global population.

Research Findings: How Technology Is Utilized To Express Spiritual Formation Practices

My research centered around semi-structured interviews with church-going technology end-users in Silicon Valley. The goal was to study how these church-going technology end-users were utilizing technology to express their spiritual formation practices. I defined "spiritual formation practices" very loosely and it consisted of any personal practice (not necessarily a formal religious practice) that helped these individuals connect to God and others and led to spiritual growth and depth.

I was able to identify 10 different types of spiritual formation practices that were common in all of the interviews. They were a mix of "traditional" spiritual formation practices as well as "non-traditional" contemporary practices that empowered personal/professional growth. Traditional practices were identified as:

1. Fellowship/Community
2. Bible Reading/Devotionals
3. Prayer
4. Journaling
5. Music
6. Retreats/Solitude
7. Witness/Serving
8. Church Attendance/Listening to sermons

The two non-traditional practices were identified as:

9. Reading news and Information gathering
10. Personal and Professional Development

In addition to identifying the various practices, I also wanted to know how technology impacted these spiritual formation practices. Not surprisingly, the ubiquitous nature of social media networks and connected devices such as computers and smartphones allowed these church-going technology end-users to incorporate technology into different aspects of their spiritual lives. Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and WhatsApp were used to express, maintain, and even expand a sense of community and fellowship while smartphone applications such as Bible apps and Evernote, group text messaging, online music streaming, sermon podcasts, and web articles were used to augment, change, or even replace other spiritual formation practices. A more detailed discussion of these findings will discussed in the next blog post.

Finally, I wanted to identify some of the negative influences of technology upon the spiritual lives of church-going people in Silicon Valley. Four distinct spiritual formation challenges were identified though these interviews in which technology negatively affected the spiritual formation practices of these church-going technology end-users. These challenges were:

1. Distractions
2. Increased pace of life
3. Boredom/Dissatisfaction
4. Unhealthy dependence on technology

In the next few blog posts, I will discuss some of the themes that emerged from the data that I collected as well as discuss how they relate to the current literature and research that already exists.