Latest / Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland / Meta, Adding Boredom, and Protecting our Hearts

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Meta, Adding Boredom, and Protecting our Hearts · Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

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Speaker 1: Purposely Your life, God's Purpose. Listen at purposely dot com.
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Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Gospel Tech Podcast. My
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Speaker 2: name is Nathan Sutherland and this podcast is dedicated helping
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Speaker 2: families love God and use tech. Today, we are diving
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Speaker 2: straight into some tech news. Then we're going to talk
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Speaker 2: about some parent questions and get our gospel reminder. So
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Speaker 2: tech news, we're going to go Meta, We're going to
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Speaker 2: talk about making space for boredom. We're going to answer
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Speaker 2: the parent question on how does my child communicate with
0:41
Speaker 2: friends without a smartphone, and then our gospel reminder coming
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Speaker 2: out of Mark Today. All right, tech news, So this
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Speaker 2: is actually going back to twenty twenty five, Meta, the
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Speaker 2: parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said we are all
0:55
Speaker 2: in on VR and we are growing rapidly and we
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Speaker 2: are super excited. They announced their new metaglasses, these augmented
1:03
Speaker 2: reality glasses where you can get ray bands, but they
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Speaker 2: have cameras in them and they can project a small
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Speaker 2: image up so that just you can see the AI
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Speaker 2: processing in real time both your words and the words
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Speaker 2: of other people. It can give you real time translations,
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Speaker 2: real time suggestions. It can scan our room for images
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Speaker 2: and objects like very interactive with VR, so they're all in,
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Speaker 2: like to the tune of they've spent eighty billion dollars
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Speaker 2: building out their VR platform. Then enter February twenty twenty six,
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Speaker 2: they're like, yeah, we're not so all in on VR,
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Speaker 2: and this is big for us because it's both the
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Speaker 2: state of virtual reality, which is not going away, by
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Speaker 2: the way, but this is a massive pivot for a
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Speaker 2: trillion dollar company to say, hey, our bosses kind of
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Speaker 2: pet project is they call it getting right sized, But
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Speaker 2: that right sizing comes with cutting fifteen hundred of your
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Speaker 2: eight thousand employees that work specifically on VR. So keep
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Speaker 2: that in mind as we look at the world around us,
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Speaker 2: that this is a major company taking a step back
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Speaker 2: and saying, hey, we're here for profit and this isn't working.
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Speaker 2: Keep also in mind that they're going to keep pushing
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Speaker 2: VR whether you want it or not. They truly are
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Speaker 2: convinced as a company that VR is the future. It's
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Speaker 2: going to be involved in whatever the next platform is,
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Speaker 2: so VR is here to stay. On that note, they
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Speaker 2: are pivoting to mobile, which is wild because they basically
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Speaker 2: were like, we're going to make great you know, and
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Speaker 2: great content that is ingenuitive that is new that no
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Speaker 2: one else is doing, and we're going to make it
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Speaker 2: on this platform, and we're going to make it so
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Speaker 2: designers can think big thoughts and get out there. And
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Speaker 2: then they literally in their news announcement like we're going
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Speaker 2: mobile and we're super proud for pushing things like steal
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Speaker 2: a Brain rot. Keep that in mind, Meta is throwing
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Speaker 2: its dollars behind traction at all costs. They're going to
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Speaker 2: mobile because there's more people. They have something like three
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Speaker 2: billion people across their platforms as active users, and all
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Speaker 2: those people at least have access to mobiles. So if
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Speaker 2: they create mobile games now, they can push those games
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Speaker 2: out to everyone that's already in their ecosystem, whereas currently
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Speaker 2: you have to buy a couple hundred dollars object. At
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Speaker 2: least you're asking someone to buy a new device to
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Speaker 2: participate in a game, whereas you could just push it
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Speaker 2: to devices there to own. I understand that. Just keep
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Speaker 2: in mind when you put your kids into these spaces,
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Speaker 2: please know what they're engaging. Really, there's three things you
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Speaker 2: must have in place before you let your child play
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Speaker 2: a mobile game with a friend or get into a
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Speaker 2: VR world. There's three features that you have to have
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Speaker 2: before a child can enter independently into these spaces. First
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Speaker 2: is we have to know what that child is playing.
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Speaker 2: And I want to pause on this because in my
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Speaker 2: kind of deep diving into the meta, I got into
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Speaker 2: the weeds because I'm not on VR, I don't play
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Speaker 2: video games right now, and so I needed to do
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Speaker 2: a little more research, and specifically just on the ones
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Speaker 2: that meta is referencing. They're like, no, no, we still
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Speaker 2: have great developm because they're announce was made specifically to
4:01
Speaker 2: devs was the one that got me interested. So developers, hey, developers,
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Speaker 2: We've got all these games. They're going really well. Here's
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Speaker 2: some examples, and they gave three and I just went
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Speaker 2: down to reviews. It's a first person shooter game. I
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Speaker 2: wanted to name it, but you do need like these
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Speaker 2: are the five star reviews. It's first one just says
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Speaker 2: body physics. Make body physics settings so you can body
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Speaker 2: slam and break bodies over knee. Also jaw physics, so
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Speaker 2: a punch breaks the jaw. Okay, it goes on and
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Speaker 2: the rest I don't think I can read, So okay,
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Speaker 2: that's weird, but what else happens? Just going down? Amazing
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Speaker 2: game but and this is, by the way, that first
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Speaker 2: one was from twenty two days ago. Second one is
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Speaker 2: March twenty seventh. I love this game. It's so much fun.
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Speaker 2: We need a violence update. One bone breaking okay, like
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Speaker 2: all right, and then again the next one down love
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Speaker 2: it and then goes through and yes, bone breaking is
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Speaker 2: one of this person's suggestions. So like these are five stars.
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Speaker 2: This is a game that metas like, this game's going
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Speaker 2: great for us. Again, I didn't find this like in
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Speaker 2: the Weeds. This was one of the games listed in
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Speaker 2: the like here's three games that are doing really well.
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Speaker 2: And these are the good reviews of this game that
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Speaker 2: they said is going really well. Without perntal controls, your
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Speaker 2: child could just pick this game up or just watch
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Speaker 2: the review of the game, which itself is insanely violent
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Speaker 2: and probably not something you would let your child just play.
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Speaker 2: So like in the game Shop, this game is real
5:27
Speaker 2: time just streaming video of gameplay. Know what your child
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Speaker 2: is playing. You need perntal controls to be able to
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Speaker 2: say yay nay. The second thing we need with whatever
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Speaker 2: device our children are engaging the Internet with, be it
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Speaker 2: a personal tablet, be it our phones, be it vrtvs,
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Speaker 2: gaming consoles. We need to know what they're playing, and
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Speaker 2: we need to know who they're playing that with, both
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Speaker 2: in real life like oh, I'm playing with this friend
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Speaker 2: from school, Like we want to know who they're playing with,
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Speaker 2: but also if these games are multiplayer or if they
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Speaker 2: allow them to engage others, we need to know who
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Speaker 2: those people are. And this is the problem with Roadblocks.
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Speaker 2: The problem with Roadblocks and Fortnite is doing this Now
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Speaker 2: and any number of other things is that there's fan
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Speaker 2: made content. So the companies are not making the games anymore.
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Speaker 2: They provide a platform, a sandbox, and then people build
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Speaker 2: games using their rules and physics and then release those
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Speaker 2: games to the public. So they're portal games, meaning I
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Speaker 2: go to this kind of server. Now Roadblocks is now
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Speaker 2: a server. I join the server, and there are player
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Speaker 2: made games, player made content on there. So that's the
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Speaker 2: know what your child is playing. The hard part with
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Speaker 2: Roadblocks is not that every kid has a bad experience.
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Speaker 2: There's no way to ensure that your child has a
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Speaker 2: safe experience. There's just no way. The game has not
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Speaker 2: built that in. And yes there's some like facial recognition
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Speaker 2: stuff happening. They're trying to limit who joins which groups,
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Speaker 2: so they keep you adults with adults and kids with kids.
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Speaker 2: It's not working great, but that doesn't actually change the
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Speaker 2: in game problems that we've got. Again, this is a
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Speaker 2: problem with anything that's fan made, where it's just masses
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Speaker 2: of people roadblocks. Fortnite has fan made content as well.
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Speaker 2: We need to be able to say yay and nay.
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Speaker 2: So the best example of this would be app stores
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Speaker 2: for Android devices, where you can release one at a
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Speaker 2: time rather than entire categories of apps. You can just say, hey,
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Speaker 2: this is an acceptable app for you for this stage,
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Speaker 2: for where you are in your health and tech maturity.
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Speaker 2: None of the rest of them fit. I love that
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Speaker 2: sort of release, and that's great. It's not unlike I mean,
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Speaker 2: if we're doing audio books, we don't want our child
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Speaker 2: to have access to every audiobook. So we pick an
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Speaker 2: audiobook and you can lock the device into that audio
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Speaker 2: to book using something like guided access. That's great. So
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Speaker 2: had they got to listen to Willy Wonka yesterday using
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Speaker 2: my device, and that's wonderful, or a Bluetooth speaker or whatever.
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Speaker 2: But we do not want just limitless internet opportunities for
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Speaker 2: them and their curiosity and even their just trying to
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Speaker 2: use it well, but the tech fights them on that.
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Speaker 2: So that's the first piece in tech news is that
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Speaker 2: we have a trillion dollar company with an eighty billion
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Speaker 2: dollar investment who said, that's not it. We're going mobile
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Speaker 2: because of traction, and that traction includes content that probably
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Speaker 2: is inappropriate for your children, because that's not what they
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Speaker 2: care about. They care about traction more bodies using this
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Speaker 2: device more often, or using this platform more often. So
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Speaker 2: we want to know what our children are playing, to
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Speaker 2: know who they're playing it with, and set clear boundaries
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Speaker 2: that if the tech we're using doesn't let us do
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Speaker 2: those three things, it's fighting you on good decisions. That's
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Speaker 2: part of their model. They didn't put it in there
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Speaker 2: on purpose. No one forgets these at this point in development.
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Speaker 2: Everyone knows these are options. So if they refuse to
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Speaker 2: include them, please refuse to use that product. Moving on,
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Speaker 2: we need to make sure as we head to summer,
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Speaker 2: as we get new technology in our lives, that we
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Speaker 2: are making space for boredom. This is going to happen.
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Speaker 2: I like to say that have fun at the pace
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Speaker 2: of real life, but boredom is important for our brains.
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Speaker 2: It allows us to recalibrate from overstimulation. This pursuit of
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Speaker 2: pleasure at all costs hedonism leads to anhidonia, the inability
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Speaker 2: to experience pleasure. And so your body actually has this
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Speaker 2: kind of balancing between receiving boredom a form of stress,
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Speaker 2: and receiving pleasure. Otherwise it'll just make up its own
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Speaker 2: And so that premise is true for our children in
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Speaker 2: their digital spaces, and the real world is a fine counter.
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Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be mean or arbitrary, it doesn't
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Speaker 2: have to be like go dig a hole, but it
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Speaker 2: probably does involve work. So the example from this last week,
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Speaker 2: Henry not on technology, but just around the house, Like, Hey,
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Speaker 2: we're going to go plant some plants, and he's like,
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Speaker 2: I don't think I want to. He was in the
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Speaker 2: middle of a project, so like, great, go finishry little project.
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Speaker 2: You've got X amount of time. And after like fifteen minutes,
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Speaker 2: like great, you're coming out now, And we started planting plants.
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Speaker 2: And I chose this particular one because I know that
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Speaker 2: planting plants is something Henry has historically loved to do.
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Speaker 2: And it's springtime. This is only happening this one time,
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Speaker 2: Like I want you to be part of at least
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Speaker 2: this part of it. You don't have to do all
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Speaker 2: of it, Like, this isn't me putting my child to
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Speaker 2: work while I know, drink some tea over in the shade.
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Speaker 2: Sometimes that's perfectly appropriate, but this was not that scenario.
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Speaker 2: I was planting with him and we got part way
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Speaker 2: into it and he's like, Dad, this is one of
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Speaker 2: those things when someone brings it up and you're like,
10:19
Speaker 2: that sounds terrible, and then you do it and you're like,
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Speaker 2: this is fun, and I love that wise words, son.
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Speaker 2: I feel like that's a lot of the real world
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Speaker 2: fun is. It's stuff that when you're not doing it,
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Speaker 2: you're like that sounds like work. I don't really want
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Speaker 2: to and then while you do it, and after you
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Speaker 2: do it, you're like, oh, this is really good. I'm
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Speaker 2: getting a lot of joy from this. And so please
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Speaker 2: think about where you can build in space for boredom.
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Speaker 2: A lot of times it's not happening during our sports
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Speaker 2: because our sports are all about engagement and keeping kids active,
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Speaker 2: and then we're just on all the time, or they
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Speaker 2: literally have their technology during the sport. We talked about
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Speaker 2: this previously. It's not happening a lot in our classrooms.
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Speaker 2: It's not happening a lot when our friends hang out
11:00
Speaker 2: or our kids hanging out with friends. So we need
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Speaker 2: to actually find the space for them to be bored
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Speaker 2: and build it into our calendars, a space where we
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Speaker 2: say no to other things, where we say no to
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Speaker 2: being gone and to be being busy, and we're just
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Speaker 2: going to be home. Maybe it's just from one to
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Speaker 2: five on a Saturday or whatever like, but in that
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Speaker 2: time we're turn the TVs off, we're and take the devices.
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Speaker 2: We're gonna be intentional. Maybe it's a family walk, or
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Speaker 2: maybe it's just everyone does ninety minutes of independent time,
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Speaker 2: and in that time you will be bored. There's buffers
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Speaker 2: on it. We know this will end. It's not a
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Speaker 2: full day of just staring at the ceiling and questioning life.
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Speaker 2: But build time to be bored. It is important for
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Speaker 2: your child. It is a gift, and frankly it's good
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Speaker 2: for us too. No, mom and dad, we don't get
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Speaker 2: to hide in a room and be on social media
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Speaker 2: or video games or shows or just work email during
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Speaker 2: this downtime. This is downtime. We're going to be bored too. Parents.
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Speaker 2: As we strive to raise kids who love God and
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Speaker 2: use tech. It's intimidated and to look at this next
12:01
Speaker 2: stage of life and think about what academics may look
12:04
Speaker 2: like for them.
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Speaker 3: When you're thinking about college, considered George Fox.
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Speaker 2: University for your children because of three things.
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Speaker 3: First, it's going to give you a more intimate, known
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Speaker 3: environment where they have a focus on being known personally,
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Speaker 3: academically and spiritually.
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Speaker 2: Your child will grow in their faith. Ninety three percent
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Speaker 2: of undergrad students at George Fox last year through the
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Speaker 2: twenty twenty five academic year said that being at George
12:27
Speaker 2: Fox has helped them grow in the relationship with Jesus.
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Speaker 3: We also want them to grow academically, which means being
12:33
Speaker 3: a part of a university with rigorous academic standards and
12:36
Speaker 3: opportunities to be engaged. They have a nationally recognized engineering, nursing,
12:41
Speaker 3: and education programs, as well as chances to study abroad
12:44
Speaker 3: here within the US and then internationally and finally personally,
12:47
Speaker 3: to be part of a vibrant campus atmosphere where you
12:50
Speaker 3: can play intramural sports or part of their NCAA Division
12:54
Speaker 3: three athletic programs with twenty three sports available. The goal
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Speaker 3: here is to go to a place that's going to
13:01
Speaker 3: support your goals, not try to make you support theirs,
13:05
Speaker 3: to have that goal be to raise you up to
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Speaker 3: be all God's called you to be, and to truly
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Speaker 3: equip your young person with my in my case, my
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Speaker 3: sons or my daughter to love God and then from
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Speaker 3: their love of God to go wherever God has called them,
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Speaker 3: and that includes being equipped with a degree that'll help
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Speaker 3: them do that, to be missionally equipped to love and
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Speaker 3: serve others, to lead where God has planned the man,
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Speaker 3: to know the Gospel for themselves to be able to
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Speaker 3: share it with others. So George Fox University is an
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Speaker 3: amazing resource for our kids, for our community here in
13:33
Speaker 3: the Northwest, and for anyone who's looking to raise up
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Speaker 3: a young person who can love God and from that
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Speaker 3: love others. Number three, how can my kids communicate with
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Speaker 3: friends if he doesn't have a phone? And that's the
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Speaker 3: question actually said, how does my child communicate with friends
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Speaker 3: when he's the only one without a phone? First, and foremost,
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Speaker 3: the odds of your child being the only one without
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Speaker 3: a phone very slim. There are always kids.
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Speaker 2: In fact, this is already happening, and I already hear
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Speaker 2: the sixth graders being like, I'm the only one without
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Speaker 2: a phone, but there's like six kids saying it at
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Speaker 2: the same time. What they're trying to communicate is I
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Speaker 2: feel left out, and I get that, and I want
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Speaker 2: to acknowledge that you do feel left out, Like we
14:13
Speaker 2: all feel left out when we find out that other
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Speaker 2: people were on social media or video games or shows
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Speaker 2: and we don't know what's happening there. Just because they're
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Speaker 2: super engaged doesn't mean it's going well. I'm assuming if
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Speaker 2: you're not giving your child a smartphone, your child, uh
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Speaker 2: isn't in a place where that would be a good choice.
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Speaker 2: Either they're too young or they're not mature enough in
14:35
Speaker 2: some part of their reset their relationships, emotions, sleep, enjoyment, time,
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Speaker 2: not ready for digital freedom yet, or the apps that
14:44
Speaker 2: they're asking to use are not age appropriate. They're like,
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Speaker 2: I'm thirteen and I really want to be on TikTok
14:48
Speaker 2: with my friends. No, that's probably not a net gain.
14:52
Speaker 2: But for whatever reason you've made that choice, this is
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Speaker 2: not a good choice right now. Within that choice, how
14:58
Speaker 2: do your friends communicate or your child's for communicate with
15:00
Speaker 2: him or her through your device or in person? Like
15:04
Speaker 2: these are perfectly reasonable. You can let your child use
15:07
Speaker 2: your phone to communicate with that child and whatever means
15:11
Speaker 2: maybe they're emailing or I don't think anyone emails, texting
15:15
Speaker 2: messaging through an app. That you have parental controls and
15:18
Speaker 2: you have the ability to ensure that things are going fine,
15:22
Speaker 2: excuse me, and it's perfectly reasonable to let your child
15:25
Speaker 2: message back and forth in person, meaning yeah, I'll set
15:29
Speaker 2: it up through social media, through your child's sorry, through
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Speaker 2: your apps with that child and say, great, that child's
15:35
Speaker 2: going to come over. You're going to go over there,
15:37
Speaker 2: We've set up play dates. It's going to happen in person.
15:39
Speaker 2: Third is I've mentioned this before, but we have got
15:43
Speaker 2: this thing. We got it at Christmas called ten Can.
15:45
Speaker 2: It's a wirelessly connected landline. They're not a sponsor, but
15:50
Speaker 2: we like the premise and it has worked. It's been
15:52
Speaker 2: interesting to watch. There's still some kinks in it, like
15:55
Speaker 2: you have to clear people's numbers so that they can
15:58
Speaker 2: call you and you can call them, so I like that,
16:01
Speaker 2: but when it rings, like it rings it inconvenient time,
16:03
Speaker 2: so then you have to set this like buffer, like
16:05
Speaker 2: you can't call us after nine thirty, but that includes
16:08
Speaker 2: your child's ability to call your phone. So if you're
16:10
Speaker 2: on a date night, you have to say, like, oh,
16:12
Speaker 2: we're going to be out till nine thirty, so like
16:14
Speaker 2: we're going to move the timer. So otherwise it will
16:17
Speaker 2: say the phone is down. Like the phone goes down,
16:19
Speaker 2: there's no nine to one. One will still work. But
16:21
Speaker 2: like you can't call mom and dad. I'm sure that's
16:23
Speaker 2: a software feature for the future where they'll be like
16:25
Speaker 2: these are the three bypass numbers. They can call it
16:27
Speaker 2: any time of day. There are still some kinks, but
16:29
Speaker 2: it is very cool to be able to call. We
16:31
Speaker 2: have two sets of cousins that are on those landlines
16:34
Speaker 2: and they can call each other and learn that talking
16:38
Speaker 2: on a device is different, right, like just the long
16:41
Speaker 2: pauses as they like wait for the other person to
16:43
Speaker 2: pick up the conversational slack like, it's great. These are
16:45
Speaker 2: real life skills. These are skills that we actually aren't
16:48
Speaker 2: getting behind a screen when all we do is text
16:50
Speaker 2: Like these are still real time synchronous conversations. They just
16:55
Speaker 2: happen to be happening over a phone. And sometimes it's
16:57
Speaker 2: a Hadley wants to make sure she and her cousin
16:59
Speaker 2: wear the same clothes. Sometimes it's own as a question
17:02
Speaker 2: about Airsoft for one of his cousins. Sometimes it's Henry
17:05
Speaker 2: just wants to say hi. Like those are great, and
17:08
Speaker 2: those are always we can communicate. They can communicate if
17:12
Speaker 2: you're a child. Let's say I have a twelve year
17:14
Speaker 2: old so sixth grader all quote unquote all of his
17:17
Speaker 2: friends have phones. How does he communicate with those friends
17:20
Speaker 2: through your device? Through a secondary safer tech something like
17:25
Speaker 2: a tin can. It's I think ten or eleven dollars
17:28
Speaker 2: a month to be able to call just all the
17:30
Speaker 2: phone numbers you want, or you can just call people
17:33
Speaker 2: who have ten cans and that's just the cost of
17:36
Speaker 2: the device. We can set up in person hangouts with
17:39
Speaker 2: these people. Oh, you want to talk to so and so, Like, great,
17:41
Speaker 2: let's set that up. Let's make sure that we can
17:43
Speaker 2: hang out. Works best when those people are in proximity,
17:46
Speaker 2: and if they're school people or church people, there's a
17:48
Speaker 2: good chance they are. And then there is a fourth option,
17:51
Speaker 2: which is they are not actually as involved as those
17:54
Speaker 2: other peers. There is a difference between being friends and
17:59
Speaker 2: being can nient. This is the lie we believe of
18:03
Speaker 2: my child has to be on that social media platform
18:05
Speaker 2: or has to be on that video game in order
18:06
Speaker 2: to have friends. That is not true. But I do
18:08
Speaker 2: know that to be involved with their peers sometimes that
18:11
Speaker 2: is true, Like this is what their peers play, so
18:13
Speaker 2: they need to be engaged. We have taken a stance
18:16
Speaker 2: of no, we are not going to be engaged in
18:18
Speaker 2: some of those activities. I mentioned roadblocks already in this conversation.
18:22
Speaker 2: We said no, it is not worth the risk, it's
18:25
Speaker 2: not worth the over stimulation, it's not worth the poor
18:27
Speaker 2: game design. So that's my hot take on roadblocks. If
18:30
Speaker 2: you love it and you've decided the level of safety
18:32
Speaker 2: for your child, then please engage that intentionally and make
18:35
Speaker 2: sure that those three are true. You know what your
18:38
Speaker 2: child is playing, you know who they're playing it with,
18:40
Speaker 2: and you can set content boundaries. But that's when we
18:43
Speaker 2: just said no, Like I get it. Your friends around
18:44
Speaker 2: there and there's a lot of kids playing it and
18:46
Speaker 2: it is a good time and no, but if you
18:49
Speaker 2: want to communicate with them through a ten can or
18:51
Speaker 2: through our device, or if you want to have them over,
18:53
Speaker 2: we would love to make that happen. No is still
18:56
Speaker 2: an option. You need to hear that as a parent,
18:58
Speaker 2: that you can simply say no. We're going to engage
19:00
Speaker 2: in these other ways, and if there's really a friend
19:02
Speaker 2: who's not willing to engage with you, then that person's
19:04
Speaker 2: not a friend. Like that's hard to hear, but it's
19:07
Speaker 2: better we know it now because that kid is just
19:09
Speaker 2: looking for convenience, not for a relationship. So please do
19:12
Speaker 2: know that those are our options for communicating. There are
19:15
Speaker 2: facets of this like yeah, but my kid's getting bullied
19:17
Speaker 2: because of this, or I would have questions on what
19:21
Speaker 2: that looks like and what the extent we want to
19:24
Speaker 2: mitigate that is. Obviously, telling the safe adults and getting
19:28
Speaker 2: a school involved is going to be important, But the
19:31
Speaker 2: idea that your child's the only one without device is
19:33
Speaker 2: probably not true. And we don't need a lot of
19:35
Speaker 2: people who aren't on devices to be able to have
19:37
Speaker 2: a real world community. We need one to three other
19:39
Speaker 2: people who are on the same page with us. And
19:42
Speaker 2: then talk to your child about what does it mean
19:43
Speaker 2: when we feel left out? How can we be engaged?
19:46
Speaker 2: How can we think about others when they feel left
19:48
Speaker 2: out of things? And really be deliberate with that. Our
19:51
Speaker 2: gospel reminder today comes out of Mark seven, and it
19:54
Speaker 2: is Jesus talking to his disciples, specifically his disciples and
19:59
Speaker 2: the Pharises talking about the Pharisees were concerned about, Hey,
20:02
Speaker 2: you're not following these laws. We had these rules to
20:04
Speaker 2: protect the Sabbath and to make sure that people follow
20:08
Speaker 2: God's laws, and you're not really following the laws that
20:11
Speaker 2: we've set there are supposed to be a buffer for
20:14
Speaker 2: other people. He says, hear me, all of you, and understand.
20:17
Speaker 2: There's nothing outside of a person that is going into
20:19
Speaker 2: him that can defile him. But the things that come
20:22
Speaker 2: out of a person are what defile him. Skipping down,
20:26
Speaker 2: he says to his disciples, then you also are without understanding.
20:29
Speaker 2: Do you not see that whatever goes into a person
20:31
Speaker 2: from outside cannot defile him since it enters not excuse me,
20:37
Speaker 2: since it enters not his heart but his stomach and
20:39
Speaker 2: is expelled. Skipping forward, what comes out of a person
20:44
Speaker 2: is what defiles him from within. Out of his heart.
20:47
Speaker 2: Out of the heart of a man comes evil thoughts, sexual, immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.
21:00
Speaker 2: All of these things come from within, and they defile
21:02
Speaker 2: a person. Again, This is mark seven, fourteen through twenty three,
21:06
Speaker 2: and then I skip just a couple verses there in
21:08
Speaker 2: the middle. This is really important because one, this is true,
21:12
Speaker 2: what we consume doesn't make us unclean on the food side,
21:15
Speaker 2: and what we consume in technology is actually a reflection
21:19
Speaker 2: of a heart attitude. And this is kind of interesting
21:21
Speaker 2: because it would be easy to say, well, this game
21:23
Speaker 2: can't make me bad and be like, well, that's true,
21:27
Speaker 2: but why are you playing that game? Is actually the question,
21:30
Speaker 2: and the answer is it's a heart issue. Your heart
21:32
Speaker 2: revels in. When I read those VR game reviews, there
21:36
Speaker 2: were players reveling in the grotesque violence, like this is amazing,
21:41
Speaker 2: but the only thing to make it better is bone breaking.
21:44
Speaker 2: I need to be able to And then they walk
21:46
Speaker 2: through very clearly what their hearts desire, what they yearn for,
21:50
Speaker 2: what they've set their minds on, what would give them
21:53
Speaker 2: pleasure and joy, and it's grotesque, it isn't good, And
21:57
Speaker 2: did the game make them experience that? They probably had
22:01
Speaker 2: something that found this game and said this would be great.
22:03
Speaker 2: They played it like, oh that was so good, and
22:06
Speaker 2: remember these were all five star reviews, and you know
22:08
Speaker 2: what would be even better? And then they dreamed up
22:12
Speaker 2: things that would give them more pleasure. And they were
22:14
Speaker 2: grotesque and they were violent, and they were vile, but
22:17
Speaker 2: that came from inside them. Did the video game cause it? No?
22:19
Speaker 2: Did the video game give it fuel and encourage it?
22:24
Speaker 2: Apparently because they're leaving the review and hope that this
22:27
Speaker 2: video game will continue to extend their enjoyment. When Jesus
22:30
Speaker 2: is talking about what comes out of our hearts, we
22:32
Speaker 2: need to recognize that technology can reflect our hearts back
22:37
Speaker 2: to us. Watch what we're consuming, Watch what we're celebrating,
22:40
Speaker 2: Watch what we're playing and listening to and encouraging others
22:43
Speaker 2: to do the same with our money, with our time,
22:45
Speaker 2: and with our actions. What are we celebrating saying this
22:48
Speaker 2: is good, this is praiseworthy because it is it like,
22:53
Speaker 2: we want to think that out. And then there is
22:55
Speaker 2: this reality that we now know with technology, that technology
22:59
Speaker 2: can pivot our heart's desire so we can be on
23:01
Speaker 2: there with good intentions, that we can play this game
23:04
Speaker 2: or go on that platform, or be in this space
23:06
Speaker 2: because we want good things. And it's not necessarily our
23:10
Speaker 2: heart's going to bad place, but the technology itself feeds
23:13
Speaker 2: bad parts of us. It feeds greed, It feeds envy.
23:17
Speaker 2: You go on Instagram long enough, you will feel worse
23:19
Speaker 2: about your life.
23:20
Speaker 1: You just will.
23:22
Speaker 2: You could have only Christian content on there, and you're
23:24
Speaker 2: gonna feel bad about how you love God because you
23:26
Speaker 2: don't love God like that person loves God. That's how
23:30
Speaker 2: the platform is built. It is the intention of it.
23:32
Speaker 2: It's to keep you scrolling. It's to keep you engaged,
23:34
Speaker 2: to keep you following, it's to keep you commenting. That
23:37
Speaker 2: is the point. The worse you feel about your life, actually,
23:39
Speaker 2: the more likely you are to live in someone else's
23:41
Speaker 2: through social media. Instagram is really really good at that
23:45
Speaker 2: that platform. Yes, we have faults in our own hearts,
23:49
Speaker 2: and it is looking to cultivate those faults. Keep this
23:53
Speaker 2: in mind as you go about it. I still have
23:55
Speaker 2: content on Instagram. I have to be very deliberate in
23:58
Speaker 2: how I use it and how I post it. I
24:00
Speaker 2: going to tell you I do not use Instagram very often.
24:03
Speaker 2: I go on Meta's business platform and I post content
24:06
Speaker 2: and schedule it and then I walk away. Or Anna
24:09
Speaker 2: goes with her app and she'll post it because she's
24:12
Speaker 2: not me, and I do worse on social media than
24:15
Speaker 2: she does. Like we have to be really intentional. Why
24:18
Speaker 2: do we keep posting there because we know there's a
24:19
Speaker 2: lot of people there looking for hope and answers, so
24:21
Speaker 2: we want them when they're scrolling for God, to find
24:24
Speaker 2: content that points them back to God. That's our current approach,
24:28
Speaker 2: similar to how we use Facebook and YouTube, and we
24:31
Speaker 2: know those spaces are not good for everyone and they
24:34
Speaker 2: don't always produce good fruit. When we think about our technology,
24:37
Speaker 2: let's be intentional. What bad comes out of us is
24:40
Speaker 2: coming out of our hearts. We repent of it. If
24:42
Speaker 2: there's technology that is causing more of that, we cut
24:46
Speaker 2: it off and we gouget out. That's Matthew five twenty
24:48
Speaker 2: eight through thirty. If it causes us to sin, if
24:52
Speaker 2: it is the cause of our jealousy, of our dissension,
24:54
Speaker 2: of our anger, of our lust, of our rage and
24:58
Speaker 2: joy at violence, we repent and we cut it off.
25:01
Speaker 2: We delete the game, we remove the app, we drop
25:05
Speaker 2: the technology, and move on with our lives because God
25:08
Speaker 2: told us tells us it's not worth gaining that tech
25:11
Speaker 2: and losing our souls. If it causes us to sin,
25:14
Speaker 2: it's expendable. If it's exposing what's in our hearts, we
25:17
Speaker 2: repent and say, Lord, I repent of this. This is
25:20
Speaker 2: coming up. I give this to you, this is not
25:22
Speaker 2: worth holding on to please take it and make me
25:25
Speaker 2: look more like you. And then he is going to
25:27
Speaker 2: call excuse me for faithful action and cause conviction for
25:31
Speaker 2: faithful action. And it will involve removing some tech, will
25:36
Speaker 2: involve adding some boundaries. So my hope and challenge for
25:40
Speaker 2: you is that you will use all the tech that
25:42
Speaker 2: helps you look more like Jesus and we will help
25:44
Speaker 2: your children do the same. My prayers this conversation was encouraging.
25:48
Speaker 2: If you have any questions for me, you can reach
25:50
Speaker 2: out Nathan at gospeltech dot net. Maybe your question will
25:53
Speaker 2: be next weeks a question in this Q and a
25:57
Speaker 2: format for the podcast, and I can respond on that
26:00
Speaker 2: in a future podcast. If you would like to reach
26:02
Speaker 2: out there, it's Nathan at gospeltech dot net or at
26:06
Speaker 2: Love God Used Tech on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. And
26:08
Speaker 2: you can join us next week as we continue this
26:10
Speaker 2: conversation about how we can raise kids who love God
26:13
Speaker 2: and use tech. I'll talk about the day