Day 5: Community

I talk to a lot of very connected people—people who, from a distance, look like they have more friends than they know what to do with. But most of them tell me they are actually lonely and wish they had more friends. We are the most digitally connected generation in the history of planet Earth and it would not be a stretch to say that we are also the loneliest.

Watching groups of friends choose to stare at their phones rather than engaging with each other when they are together is, if you think about it, insane. If you had beamed into our current reality from 1980 and saw friends doing that, you would think they were avoiding each other because they didn’t want to be together. This is a problem.

The Amish will never have this problem because they won’t allow themselves to. They aren’t anti-technology; they are pro-community. So they weigh the potential value of every piece of new technology before allowing it.

We don’t have to give up technology to have community, but we can be more intentional about the limits we place on technology that may be hindering us in finding true community. If you don’t have a thriving community where you live, I have good news—you can find one. If you do have a thriving community, I have good news for you too—you can make it better.

Prayer

Lord, please give me guidance and wisdom as I seek to have community with those around me, and please help me wisely place limits on the technology I allow to come into my life. Amen.