Marriage and Family in the Information Age

Ever had a quarrel about Facebook with someone you love?  Does it frustrate you, when someone’s iPhone seems more important than you?

The comedian, Louis CK, said on the Conan O’Brien show: Smartphones are toxic.  Kids need to build empathy and talk to people.  One needs to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something.

We live in the information age.  Smartphones and social media, like Facebook and Instagram, affect how we communicate, date, and have sex.

Peter Diamandis notes that a Massai Warrior in Africa with a iPhone in 2015 has access to more information than the US President had only 20 years ago, and he also has better mobile communication than the US President had 26 years ago.  For 100,000 years, more information and better communications consistently made us healthier, wealthier, and more tolerant.  Our ways of communicating provided information in doses we could digest – the drum, smoke signal, cave painting, horse, town crier, carrier pigeon, newspaper, photograph, telephone, radio, and film.

David Shenk writes that around 1945, we began to produce information much faster than we were able to process it.  The invention and technological improvement of the computer, microwave, television, and satellite have produced too much information – a glut.  The amount of knowledge available and the speed of reaching this information provides great benefits, like instant communication with family and loved ones all over the earth.  Yet the information overload we experience leads to confusion, stress, and even ignorance.

Phillip Novak says, “Super-abundance is grand, until we understand that it can rob us of the peace that is our spiritual birthright.”  Children and teens view more than 40,000 ads per year on television, the internet, billboards, and in magazines.  Research has shown children younger than 8 are intellectually and psychologically defenseless against advertising, like television commercials for toys.  Social media sites like Facebook create conflict in marriage and families.   In this video, Manuel Costa, MFT, author of “A Path to Life’s Fullness: A New Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus,” describes the impact of technology on marriage and family.