Andy Crouch | Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World, 176

Andy Crouch, reclaiming relationships in a technological world

Andy Crouch

Andy Crouch is the author of four books; he is also a partner for theology and culture at Praxis, an organization that works as a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship.

For more than ten years, Crouch was a producer and then executive editor at Christianity Today.

His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, Best Christian Writing, and Best Spiritual Writing.

FREE Resource: 8 Books That Were Influential in Ways That Surprised Me

Andy Crouch and Amber discuss the human desire to be recognized,  the superpower zone technology often launches us into, and the impact that has on our real life experiences, and some redemptive moves we can make to reclaim relationships.

Questions Discussed about Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World:

  1. (1:42) You begin with the words, “Recognition is the first human quest,” in your book The Life We’re Looking ForShare a little about our innate need to be recognized through face to face relationships and how we have displaced that with technology.
  2. (7:49) You share a contemplative exercise you had in the airport, walking and looking at each person you passed and inwardly saying, “Image bearer.”  You describe the experiment as “one of the more memorable and moving spiritual experiences of [your] life.” In light of the convenient world we live in, how can we intentionally slow down enough to treat people as someone vs. something?
  3. 913:27) Talk to us about the “superpower zone” that technology often launches us into and the impact it has on our real life experiences.
  4. (19:57) How does Jesus describe “abundance without dependence” and how does that lead us away from the life of human flourishing as God designed?
  5. (26:10) You write about redemptive moves in an impersonal world.  Will you share a few of those with us?
  6. (32:07) If someone listening and wants to push back against the negative impacts of technology, where would you encourage them to begin?

Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World Quotes to Remember:

“Technology though very good in and of itself ended up derailing the things that matter most, which all have to do with us being persons designed for relationship and love.”

“I’m going through the world, transactionally. I’m going through the world, unreflectively. And I’m in this world that is constantly presenting the reminders of the diverse and complex image of God and the beautiful and terrible story of what it is to be human.”

“One of the sort of sad and beautiful things you learn when you enter adulthood is that all good things are intentional.”

“But the things that you give up in order to enter the superpower zone are often what if we were in our right minds, we would say are the most fulfilling things. So, you know, a 10 year old playing a video game does not want to go to dinner. But in fact, dinner will be so much better, even at the end of dinner, it’s quite possible that 10 year old would say, Oh, I really enjoyed dinner tonight. But gosh, getting them to switch out of the superpower zone into the ordinary human life of in the body with other people with all the uncertainty and vulnerability compared to the like certain response to that video game when you hit that button.”

“We are built with his hunger for recognition and this hunger for relationship but it turns out, we can satisfy it with very thin substitutes.”

“We used all that power and all that money to build a world of power without effort, and abundance without dependence. And that means we are shrinking, our relationships are shrinking, and all the things that actually make people in the long run healthy….those are all eroding even as our power and wealth increase.”

“No one was born looking for a screen, all of us were born looking for a face.”

“If I could only suggest one thing, it would be creating a rhythm of on and off [regarding devices].”

Scripture References:

Resources Mentioned:

Related Episodes:

If I could only suggest one thing [regarding technology], it would be creating a rhythm of on and off.
Technology though very good in and of itself ended up derailing the things that matter most, which all have to do with us being persons designed for relationship and love.
No one was born looking for a screen, all of us were born looking for a face.

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