In Flickering Pixels, author Shane Hipps sets out to show us how the technology that we use and so readily embrace actually ends up using us. As we strive to share God with the world around us we end up becoming less effective because we have forgotten that the medium IS the message. Our presence with a person, real live connections, are what the world so desperately craves.
While reading Flickering Pixels I was challenged to think a bit more about the priority that I have made social networking in my own life. I find myself on Facebook several times a day, Tweeting many times a day, and uploading photos to various sites at least once a week. All of this connectivity can, without us even realizing it, create a false sense of relationship.
At the end of the book Shane makes one very profound statement in regards to social networks:
When we realize, for example, that digital space has the extraordinary ability to create vast superficial social networks, but is ill-suited for generating intimate and meaningful human connection, we may treat it more like dessert than the main course.
I tout myself as a deeply relational person and yet all too often rely far too heavily on Facebook to connect with people. I post pictures of my newborn son online and then forget to share the same pictures with close friends who have not yet been drawn in by these sites. As a result I end up leaving these close friends feeling left out, shunned, or just plain disconnected. While that has never been my intention after reading this book I do believe that this new year will be one of more intentional face-to-face connections.
I found this book to be challenging and very encouraging at the same time. If you choose to read this book I believe you will also, and that will be a good thing…