Technology is my shepherd; I shall not want.

It makes me lie down in front of the high-definition screen.

It leads me with incessant noise.

It makes me feel significant.

Though I walk through the valley of no cell-phone coverage,

(Can you hear me now?) you are with me.

My Blackberry, my laptop, they comfort me.

You set wireless access before me in the presence of my family.

You anoint my head with Blue Tooth; my e-mail overflows.

Surely Microsoft and Verizon will follow me all the days of

my life

And I will dwell in the database forever…

Technology has become godlike in our culture. Daily we bow down at its altar and give it homage, not realizing that by buying in to its power, we have sold our souls for a lie. Has more and more technology really made our lives easier, as it promises to do? Sure, there are many wonderful ways technology has enhanced the quality of life in the Western world, but what have we sacrificed for it?

… Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley may not be a household name, but you definitely know her work. She wrote a novel about a man who tried to create life from non-life, whose little experiment turned tragic and led to his ultimate demise. The man’s name was Frankenstein, or “Frahnken-steen” if you’re a Gene Wilder fan.

The problem was not with Dr. Frankenstein’s creation, per se, but with his negligence toward the monster he created. Though fiction, this story shows us the reality of how frightening thoughtlessly managed technology can be. Technology in and of itself is not the problem; rather, it is our inability to keep it harnessed that threatens to master us—instead of the reverse.

…Shelley was prophetically ahead of her time when she warned against abusing the power that comes with increased knowledge—and technology is indeed “increased knowledge.” Movies such as Jurassic Park, War Games, and I, Robot echo this techno-gone-wrong theme. Have we, like poor Victor Frankenstein, created a monster we can no longer control?

At times I sit and watch television simply to veg out. I find that when I do, I’m using technology to escape into another story—any story besides my own.... Don’t we often use the tube as a diversion or to avoid being alone with our thoughts? And we just as easily use the computer, too; e-mailing or instant messaging over and over can give us the sense that we are accomplishing something or at least connecting with others…. In reality, truly knowing someone requires spending actual time together eating, playing, laughing, crying, being silent, and simply experiencing life.

If we rely on the constant buzz of high-tech toys for escape or relationships, or reassurance or validation of our own significance, we’re headed for trouble. The toys can’t deliver. They’re not meant to. Again, I’m not advocating a rejection of all technological Progress [I am writing these words on a Dell Inspiron laptop, with my Motorola cell phone and Blackberry nearby.], but I am suggesting that the answer to our deepest needs lies elsewhere. According to Abraham J. Heschel, “The solution to mankind’s most vexing problems will not be found in renouncing technical civilization, but in attaining some degree of independence of it.”

…We will cease to be controlled by technology and techno-toys when we can live without them. How do we know we can do without them? By seeking to balance the appropriating of technology with abstaining from it. In a word: moderation…. We may readily admit the dangers of eating too much or getting drunk, but we let our addictions to technology slide under the radar. It’s time to wake up…