Roots of Flourishing
We explore the big picture of our humanity through medical knowledge, philosophical reasoning, and theological insights leading to a better understanding of human flourishing.
Roots of Flourishing
The Digital Revolution’s Challenges to Our Humanity: Part 4--The Social Lecture 1
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Christopher J. Lisanti, MD
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Season 1
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Episode 18
This is the first of two lectures on the social harms by the digital revolution. The digital world has led to two main features: we ignore the people in front of us and bully those we don’t see. We will address the first of these two: ignoring the people in front of us and the harms it has on the basic goods of friendship and marriage.
We are either distracted or addicted to our digital world because of the unnatural immediacy and quantity of novel information and/or emotional rewards it provides. Real in-person relationships always develop more slowly and less predictably although provide the basis for some of the most meaningful experiences in life.
The solution is to live multi-dimensionally incorporating as many dimensions of our humanity as possible in all of our activities. Digital platforms can be a social experience through watching TV or movies together or through interactive video games.
Using too much digital technology is also correlated with poorer marriages. Likely this stems from difficult marriages where the spouses seek and receive rewards in the digital world thus circumventing opportunities to do the difficult but again ultimately rewarding work of improving their relationship.
Internet pornography results in nearly double the rate of divorce. Pornography not only results in unrealistic and harmful expectations of the person using it but also harms the psychological well-being of the person not using it through feelings of inadequacy leading to less sexual intimacy.
The path forward include sane boundaries on digital technology. Digital-free times such as dinner time and digital-free places such as bedrooms are a great start. Pornography users can seek help through internet filters, a good friend with access to their browsing history and prayer from them in addition to prayer to and a transformational relationship with God.
References
We are either distracted or addicted to our digital world because of the unnatural immediacy and quantity of novel information and/or emotional rewards it provides. Real in-person relationships always develop more slowly and less predictably although provide the basis for some of the most meaningful experiences in life.
The solution is to live multi-dimensionally incorporating as many dimensions of our humanity as possible in all of our activities. Digital platforms can be a social experience through watching TV or movies together or through interactive video games.
Using too much digital technology is also correlated with poorer marriages. Likely this stems from difficult marriages where the spouses seek and receive rewards in the digital world thus circumventing opportunities to do the difficult but again ultimately rewarding work of improving their relationship.
Internet pornography results in nearly double the rate of divorce. Pornography not only results in unrealistic and harmful expectations of the person using it but also harms the psychological well-being of the person not using it through feelings of inadequacy leading to less sexual intimacy.
The path forward include sane boundaries on digital technology. Digital-free times such as dinner time and digital-free places such as bedrooms are a great start. Pornography users can seek help through internet filters, a good friend with access to their browsing history and prayer from them in addition to prayer to and a transformational relationship with God.
References
Gazzaley + Rosen The Distracted Mind: Ancient Brains in a High-Tech World
Elayne Allen Let’s Stigmatize Smartphones
Wendy Wang and Michael Toscano More Scrolling, More Marital Problems
Samuel Perry and Cyrus Schleifer Till Porn Do Us Part? A Longitudinal Examination of Pornography Use and Divorce
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