Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age
By Felicia Wu Song (IVP Academic)
In Exodus 4:2, the Lord asks Moses, “What is that in your hand?” In Restless Devices, Felicia Wu Song responds to that same question today. Noting the average person checks his or her phone at least 150 times a day, the Westmont College professor asks questions: “Do we own our smart phones or do they own us?” “What does our digital footprint replace?” And do we “sneak a peek” because something better might be happening?
Song fills the pages with Scripture, personal confession, examples gleaned from students in her “Internet and Society” course and academic research. Throughout the book, the cultural sociologist of media and digital technologies inserts exercises titled “The Freedom Project: Experiments in Praxis.” The practices, many of which she uses with students, include a goal, digital experiment, actions and reflections designed to help understand device impact.
In casting a vision for spiritual formation and faith communities, Song saturates the volume’s second part with the good news: Individuals can choose communion over connection; God’s faithful presence continues; and sacred spaces should be treasured. The volume concludes with 10 practical “Commitments to Ordered Digital Life” that can be adopted over time.
If Restless Devices were fiction, readers might skip to the last chapter to see how the narrative ends. Unfortunately, the story persists, as technology continually encroaches on the space of individuals, families, churches and society. Fortunately, Song offers guidance in fostering healthy relationships with our devices, devoting ourselves to being fully present with God and loved ones, and imagining a hoped-for future and the challenging steps to get there.
Kathy Robinson Hillman, former president
Texas WMU and Baptist General Convention of Texas
Waco
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