{"id":187,"date":"2014-04-03T16:14:39","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T16:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=187"},"modified":"2014-08-11T22:13:08","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T22:13:08","slug":"the-telephone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-telephone\/","title":{"rendered":"The Telephone"},"content":{"rendered":"

When many people think of new forms of media they might think of Twitter, Skype or whatever is the latest and greatest in communication (Holograms <\/a>are next maybe? ). But to only think of those forms that are new for OUR current time and place is to miss some valuable lessons learned from studying when \u201cold media\u201d was first introduced. New Media: 1740 to 1915<\/em> is a series of essays that does just that, it examines what happened to society when things like zograscopes and phonographs were introduced.<\/p>\n

One case that I found particularly interesting was when the telephone was introduced into the Amish and Mennonite communities of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There was\u00a0a\u00a0big debate within those religious communities about whether this new form of communication should be allowed (it had already been accepted by the community at large). What was fascinating to me were some of the deeply rooted religious and cultural issues that were brought to the surface with its introduction. Many were against it because:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Ungodly lifestyle – the Elders and leaders in many of these communities preached and mandated that their church members were not to use this technology because it was \u201cassociated with profit, comfort, and pleasure\u201d (144).<\/li>\n
  2. Who\u2019s in and Who\u2019s out \u2013 There was a great desire to be separate from the broader world and to view oneself as distinct and holy and to avoid the trappings of the world.<\/li>\n
  3. Individual vs. Communal \u2013 Many argued for the telephones rejection because it would ultimately hurt the community. It was feared that it would lead to the end of face-to-face communication.<\/li>\n
  4. The God Card \u2013 Some argued that it would lead to less of a dependence on God and more on society and weaken one\u2019s faith.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Because the telephone is universal and most people have one on their person at all times, it\u2019s easy to look back at the advent of the telephone and roll one\u2019s eyes at those who fought against their use. But after reading some of the arguments against, I think some of their fears were justified.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Ungoldy Lifestyle – Consumerism and Materialsm are rampant in our society and Phones can be an expression of that. Ever seen a 24k gold Iphone? \u00a0Yep they actually exist.\u00a0\"\"<\/li>\n
    2. Who\u2019s in and Who\u2019s out \u2013 Is it me or does the bulk of our society want to see themselves as \u2018in\u2019 and others as \u2018out?\u2019 I think technology can exacerbate that tendency. Think about how intrigued you are when you see a new model of the IPhone or how you special you feel when you get the latest and greatest Droid?\u00a0 Do we always need a new one? Probably not. But certainly Apple and others want us to think we should be part of the \u2018cool\u2019 or \u2018insider\u2019 group. We are often afraid be distinct or as one author said \u2018salt.\u2019<\/li>\n
    3. Individual vs. Communal \u2013 This is so easy to point out in our society it\u2019s almost unfair to call attention to it. How many times have you been sitting in a room and had a text conversation with someone who\u2019s in that very room? Or, called them so you didn\u2019t have to have a face-to-face conversation with them?<\/li>\n
    4. Lack of Faith in God \u2013 As odd as this might seem, I think the detractors were really on to something here. Personally, I feel uncomfortable, maybe even a little fearful, when I don\u2019t have my cell phone on me. I think, \u2018what if there\u2019s an accident and someone needs to get a hold of me?\u2019 Or, \u2018what if there\u2019s an emergency and I need to call the police?\u2019 When push comes to shove, my hope and trust are as much in our societies social systems as they are in God and I\u2019m not sure how I feel about that.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      When new media forms enter the world they do more than enter a world at a tabula rasa<\/em> moment. They enter a particular religious and cultural context that\u2019s embedded with values, judgments and fears. New forms of media\/communication\/technology have a tendency to stir those things up Before being quick to dismiss those we might want to think are luddites, we should probably listen carefully to their arguments, because they might have a bit of truth in them (sometimes much more than a bit) that can help inform how we adopt something new into our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      When many people think of new forms of media they might think of Twitter, Skype or whatever is the latest and greatest in communication (Holograms are next maybe? ). But to only think of those forms that are new for OUR current time and place is to miss some valuable lessons learned from studying when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,76],"class_list":["post-187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-gitelmanpingree","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1504,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187\/revisions\/1504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}