Facebook Delimma

"There are only two industries that call their customers users: illegal drugs and software."

When does technology cross the line from existing as a tool used to increase our productivity, to a temptation that drains our productivity?

The cultural mandate given to Adam and Eve in the garden (to exercise dominion over all creation) necessitated the use of tools. We cannot exercise dominion over the grass in our front yard without the use of tools, let alone the fish in the sea. When we stop looking to use technology in this way, to exercise dominion over some task, to be more productive, to further our reach, or to bring things closer to home that otherwise would not be - we would do well to take a step back and evaluate.

"Tools make it possible for our radius of fruitfulness to extend much further than it otherwise would."- Douglas Wilson: Ploductivity

Sin is inherent in man, not in tools. When we sin, however, in close proximity to a material object, we find it convenient to blame the tool - Weapons for murder, alcohol for drunkenness, slow traffic for the anger, photography for lust, the list could continue into oblivion. This makes no more sense than for us to blame the baseball bat for missing the pitch. 

Meghan and I evaluated our use of Facebook and found it to be a tool that we were no longer using to 'extend our radius of fruitfulness'. In fact, we were not using it as a tool at all. It had become something reaching out to us, begging for attention. Facebook again is not all bad, the sin is not in the tool but in the man. This does not negate the fact that some tools should decisively be placed in the back of the shed, amongst the cobwebs.