The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place

by Andy Crouch

Technology is in its proper place when it helps us bond with the real people we have been given to love.

Technology is in its proper place when it starts great conversations.

Technology is in its proper place when it helps us take care of the fragile bodies we inhabit.

Technology is in its proper place when it helps us acquire skill and mastery of domains that are the glory of human culture

Technology is in its proper place when it helps us cultivate awe for the created world we are part of and responsible for stewarding

Technology is in its proper place only when we use it with intention and care.

One key part of the art of living faithfully with technology is setting up better nudges for ourselves.

Because technology is devoted primarily to making our lives easier, it discourages us from disciplines, especially ones that involve disentangling ourselves from technology itself.

every generation before us, we are made for relationship with one another and with our Maker. Like every generation before us, we live in bodies that are both beautiful and burdensome. Thousands of years ago “Moses, the man of God” wrote these words: “The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (Ps. 90:10). Those words are as true for our time as they were for his.

Family helps form us into persons who have acquired wisdom and courage.

(“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing personal opinion” [Prov. 18:2]—which also sounds a lot like social media.)

No matter how big your house, it’s not big enough to hide your foolishness from people who live with you day after day. We misunderstand each other, we misunderstand ourselves, and we certainly misunderstand God (when we remember him at all).

And yet a second amazing thing happens in families at their best. Our foolishness is seen and forgiven, and it is also seen and loved.