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The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion

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One of the most important issues facing the Church today is how to engage with the culture and to bring it the saving message of the gospel - without becoming like the culture. This issue has special relevance with regards to the digital communications that seem to govern and rule our lives.

I can't think of a person better qualified to address the place of the Christian in the midst of this digital explosion than Tim Challies. Challies is both a solid Christian with a Reformed background, as well as someone who is intimately familiar with the effects of the digital world on the lives of Christians. Challies is not only a web designer but also a very popular Christian blogger and book reviewer.

This past year, I've read a large number of books dealing with exactly the issue of how Christians should engage the digital world all around us: "The Next Story" is to date the best book I've read on the issue. There are a number of reasons for this. First, Challies ties what he says back to a theological foundation for what he writes. He brings a distinctly Christian perspective that avoids the extremes of jumping on the digital bandwagon or of being afraid to use the new technologies. Instead, he advocates what he calls "disciplined discernment," a trait that he himself manifests throughout the entire book. Second, Challies deals with a large number of relevant issues. While he provides something of a theological basis for what he says, he also writes about the particular issues that are most relevant to the digital world. In this way, "The Next Story" bridges the gap between theory and practice, between theology and real life. Third, Challies has provided what I think is the best overall discussion of the impact of the various digital technologies on our lives and souls - as well as the best discussion of some of the things that we as Christians must practice if we are not be to distracted and led astray by this omnipresent digital world. Throughout "The Next Story," Challies has read and interacted with the best thinkers in the area of media and its influence in our lives.

Let me be more specific about a few of the issues with which "The Next Story" deals. While the book is a little slow in the beginning, Challies really hits his stride in Part 2 of the book when he shows us how to put the theory into practice. In Chapter 4 on Communication, Challies hits the nail on the proverbial head when he dissects some of the ways in which digital communication can become idolatrous: we have fashioned idols of productivity, significance, and a desire for information.

Chapter 5 is even better, when Challies discusses the nature of the mediated world we live in. He sustains an important discussion of the way that digital technologies are disembodying us or "disincarnating" us. One all too real example is the notion of how in the digital world identity is fluid and something we create for ourselves. We take "avatars" for ourselves, and multiple ones at that. We begin to think of ourselves as something apart from our bodies and as beings we can re-create in any image we desire to. We also pursue "networked individualism," based not on a real community but only on the basis of similar, ephemeral shared interests.

Chapter 6 deals with Distraction, a topic I'm keenly aware of as a father of five children and as a high school teacher. Distraction, Challies argues, leads to shallow thinking, which in turn leads to shallow living. And the truth is that we are all more distracted by our digital technologies than we recognize. Even multi-tasking turns out to be highly overrated as a strategy for dealing with our communication overload.

One of my favorite chapters is Chapter 8, on Truth and Authority. Challies' reflection on the "authority" that Wikipedia has developed for itself is worth the price of the book all by itself. Isn't it a little scary that the number one page that shows up on Google for almost any search is Wikipedia, an encyclopedia which has only relatively poor oversight and which has been known to have inaccuracies? What happens when authority is based on popularity, rather than expertise, tradition, or revelation?

Make sure you read the Epilogue, in which Challies reveals to us some of the ways in which he personally has learned to combat the challenges of the digital world. In so doing, he begins to teach us some of the spiritual disciplines we will all need to undertake if we don't want the digital technologies to distract us from Christ. Challies also provides additional suggestions at the end of each of the chapters in Part 2 of the book.

Highly recommended for any Christian who wants to live more faithfully in this digital world!

Here's an outline of the book so you can better see the flow of Challies' thought:

Part 1

Chapter 1 - Discerning Technology

Chapter 2 - Understanding Technology

Chapter 3 - A Digital History

Part 2

Chapter 4 - Speaking, Truthing, Loving, Living (Communication)

Chapter 5 - Life in the Real World (Mediation/ Identity)

Chapter 6 - Turn Off and Tune In (Distraction)

Chapter 7 - More is Better (Informationism)

Chapter 8 - Here Comes Everybody (Truth/Authority)

Chapter 9 - Seeing and Believing (Visibility and Privacy)

Epilogue- The Next Story and the Next Story after That . . .

If you are interested in how a Christian worldview sees the current tsunami-like influx of media technology, this is a book to read.

What is wonderful about the book is that it won't tell you what to think about technology, but it strives to help with how to think, theologically, philosophically, and technologically, about different facets of the information tidal wave.

Seeking to help us gain a better understanding of the nature of our current technological scene, Tim gives a brief overview history of the progression of technology, offering good insights such as the fact that prior to the nationwide expansion of the railroad, no information in the world travelled faster than a horse. (Though, I'd question the outcome of a race between a horse and carrier pigeon perhaps?). This was followed shortly on by the telegraph, the telephone, the radio, the television, and the Internet. In short, in a short 150 years, the entire nature of information flow has been fundamentally altered.

We are not dealing simply with a new tool we need to know how to master, we are dealing with a new reality, requiring new skills, new disciplines, new discernment, and fresh thought. Ironically, if we are to succeed, we must implement these new modes of operation using ancient wisdom. Tim helps bring this to bear.

He then goes on with some practical implications of this new reality, again not giving us methods and how-to's, or what-to-think's but rather the more helpful how-to-think-about's. One of my favorite concepts he unpacks is the idea of "mediacy". Most of our communication no longer happens face-to-face, but through a medium (e-mail, text, phone or voice chat, video chat, etc).

This medium, by definition acts as a "mediator" (something that stands between), and it has effects on the communication. As I learned in my 101 speech class in college, the medium literally distorts the message, and so requires effort on the part of the communicator and receiver in order to understand properly. Understanding how various media impact your communication will help you apply the correct effort.

This book is worth a read.

Like many of us who are not true digital natives, Challies is a fully assimilated digital immigrant struggling to manage the limitless opportunities this new digital world provides.

I have read a lot about technology and social media. From Neil Postman to, more recently, Nicholas Carr to Marshall McLuhan's seminal works, I've read a lot.

I have also been a user of social media for close to 20 years, stretching back to the early 90s and that wonderful forerunner of the Internet known as the BBS. I even do some consulting and speaking on the topics of technology and social media.

I mention all of this to make a point: I have read a lot about technology and have long embraced the technologies that Tim Challies writes about in "The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion" and I still learned a lot from this book.

Why? Because Challies is concerned with more than just how wonderful new technologies are (there are plenty of books that will tell you that), and he's concerned about more than what effects - positive and negative - these technologies might have on the scope of human progress. He takes care to examine the effects that these technologies might be having on our souls as well.

Challies is well qualified to address the topic. As the sole content producer of a blog that registers over 15,000 hits per day, he is one of the most widely read and trusted voices in the Christian blogosphere. Add to this the fact that he is also an elder in his church and it gives him a unique perspective.

His analysis of current technologies and their effects is concise, his prescriptions for dealing with the implications of these technologies are well researched and wise. He speaks as one with authority on these matters because he is one with authority in these matters.

Citizens of the Digital World

The great strength of the book lies in the fact that Tim Challies is like so many of us who inhabit the same digital world: he's excited about the prospects of new technologies while at the same time deeply aware of their potential to harm the health of our relationship with God and the human beings closest to us. Like many of us who are not true digital natives, Challies is a fully assimilated digital immigrant struggling to manage the limitless opportunities this new digital world provides.

"More and more of us are finding that we just can't stop long enough to read. We can't sustain our attention long enough to study," he says, "Where prayer used to be the first activity of every day, we now begin our daily routine by checking e-mail. Where the Bible used to be a special book we read and studied, now it's an e-book that competes with our voice mail, text messages, e-mails, and the ever-present lure of the Internet."

He points out that we cannot blindly embrace every technological advance as "progress", but neither can we simply shun and ignore them and pretend they don't exist. Instead, we must be wise in using technology to advance the Kingdom of God and avoid uses that lead us in the opposite direction.

Technology, like every good gift, is a gift from God. And as we're prone to do with God's other good gifts, we can make an idol of this one as well. "The challenge for the Christian," says Challies, "is to learn to use these media with all the opportunities they bring to speak and to tell of this God who speaks through us."

Another great strength of the book is that it goes beyond mere analysis and calls you to action. In his epilogue Challies examines his own life and habits by the standards he has set in the book, relating his experiences of self-examination and the life changes he has made as a result of his findings.

Summary

"The Next Story" is not a beginner's guide to digital technology, but it is also not written in a way that a newcomer to these technologies will find intimidating. There is enough here for both the newcomer and the veteran to make it a worthwhile read.

If you are a newcomer to digital technology and social media, I recommend this book to you as a great way to get up to speed on the digital world. Read it and use it to guide your navigation in this vast new place we call "cyberspace". It will help you to steer clear of many of the mistakes we digital veterans have made along the way.

If you are a veteran of digital technology and social media, I recommend this book to you as a wake-up call to examine your use (and probable OVER-use) of these new technologies. Read it and ask yourself the tough questions that Tim Challies, a fellow traveler in this new world, has been asking himself.

Of course very few books about current technology can be timeless, but "The Next Story" will have a longer shelf life than most because it establishes biblical principles for living with and using technology for the glory of God.

If "The Next Story" has the same effect on you that it had on me, it will cause you repent of some of your technological habits, to refine many others, and to refocus your attention on the true goal of all that you do, both online and off - to bring glory to God.

Digital technology is everywhere. We all know it; we see it (or not), experience it, live with it, use it, and are surrounded by it all the time. From cars to cell phones to shopping to reading, 'the digital explosion' is as good a phrase as any to characterize our time. However, there are many important questions to ask in the face of this explosion. Questions like: How has life and faith been changed by these technologies? How does out constant connected-ness affect us? And what does it mean that we are under surveillance most of our lives? These, and more, are the questions Challies addresses in this book as he seeks to help the reader know how to think about technology as a Christian.

Challies first spends three chapters examining how we have arrived at this place of digital explosion. He then lays out three principles to keep in mind while evaluating technology. 1. It is a good, God-given gift. 2. It is under the curse, just like everything else. 3. "It is the human application of technology that helps us determine if it is being used to honor God or further human sin." With these in mind, Challies explores 5 major issues: speaking the truth in love (communication), mediation and identity, distraction, information, truth and authority, and, lastly, visibility and privacy.

Next is a book which contains some great insights; it is an important addition to Christian literature. There is a great need for teaching and good material on how to think about technology rather than what to think about technology. There are simply too many new things coming at us to fast for us to rely on other people to determine for us what we ought to think and how we ought to react to each new item. This is, above all else, the great strength of Next: That it seeks to aid the reader in just this way, despite only succeeding at times.

Challies words were particularly penetrating as he spoke, in various places throughout the book, about how technology or information can easily become idols in our lives. Of all the problems of technology this age-old issue is the worst; it is a must-have discussion in most of our churches.

Unfortunately, Challies has also written a very inconsistent and, at times, shallow book. He does not keep to his own definition of technology, nor the list of three points he makes about technology (which I noted above). At times he speaks as if it is the application which makes a technology good or bad, and at times he does not. Frankly, I find point number 3 to be naive at best; the instrumentalist approach to technology is widely and, in my opinion, rightly rejected. The fact that we can use technology for good or ill is an obvious, and overstated, truth. The deeper truth is that technologies affect us in ways independent of how we use them. Challies bounces around the instrumentalist approach, affirming it here and denying it there. He notes that technology is a good gift of God but several times writes as if it were merely a necessary evil. Which is it? Further, his thoughts on mediated vs. unmediated communication are a muddle at best; skip that chapter.

Overall, the best chapters in this book were on distraction and information. This is where Challies theological insight is keenest and where he focuses on idolatry and how technology, in general, is affecting us. The rest of his book was both philosophically and theologically weak. Yes, technology is under the curse, but what do we do with that? Challies never says. His conclusion is that we just need to think better about technology. While this is certainly true it is not enough. In many cases, technology itself inhibits better and deeper thinking. I would put a much stronger emphasis on digital fasting than Challies did, as well as on several other time honored practices of the Christian faith.

Conclusion: 3.5 Stars. Conditionally Recommended. This is a good, and needed, book on the intersection of technology and faith. It is worth reading. Be aware, however, that it contains a subtle but extremely negative view of technology and has embedded within it several areas of naivety in regards to what technology is, how it affects us, and how we can or should respond.

Thanks to EngagingChurchBlog for the chance to review this book.

If you want to know what water is, do not ask a fish." So goes the ancient and sagacious Chinese proverb. We are often rendered oblivious to that in which we are immersed. We then become incapable of wise judgments about our environments. Habituation replaces critique, and our lives consist in second-nature reactions devoid of discernment. Of course, the living of life requires that we not critique every commonplace (lest we paralyze ourselves); yet as Christians we are emphatically and repeatedly exhorted by Scripture to unmask and avoid worldliness. What is common may be ungodly--or at least unprofitable. Jesus went so far as to proclaim to the Pharisees that "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight (Luke 16:15; see also 1 John 2:15-17). James also declares that "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world" (James 1:27).

Most Christians take such warnings to apply only to doctrinal deviation or immoral conduct. We must hold firm to "the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people" (Jude 3) and not be "blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming" (Ephesians 4:14). This is true. However, worldliness is often more insidious than what is conveyed in overtly false teaching or modeled in blatantly immoral living. Worldliness, that which makes the ungodly seem normal and the godly seem abnormal (David Wells), can seep in under the door, crawl in through the cracks, and flow in through the vents--all unannounced. This afflicts us when our taken-for-granted habits engender sensibilities (modes of thought, perception, and conduct) that make us less likely to hear God's voice, to do God's will, to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16), and to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom (Psalm 90:12).

Lest all this concern about subtle worldliness seem too abstract or pedantic, consider my testimony concerning the strange effects of contemporary digital media. My Anglican church celebrates communion every Sunday, and considers this shared sacred event to be the climax of the liturgy. All are invited forward to receive the cup and the bread (or a blessing if one is not a baptized Christian). One morning, I noted a young family walking up the isle for communion. One child was being carried and another was taken by the hand. As they moved toward the chalice and the bread, the father began gazing at his glowing cell phone as he walked toward the minister. He finally looked away from whatever was entrancing him and looked up to be told by the minister that he was now receiving "the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ." Even several years ago, such a bizarre scene would have been impossible, since telephones were tied to land lines or because cell phones were just phones and not miniature entertainment consoles. But this bemused soul could not turn his phone off even in preparation to receive communion, which the Bible warns is a very sobering matter (1 Corinthians 11:17-34). Even taking communion was subjected to the multitasking afforded by digital technology.

Popular blogger, author, and pastor Tim Challies offers a tonic for these kinds of aberrations in his short, clear, and compelling book, The Next Story. While Challies is very much at home in the world of digital media (his blog is one of the most popular in the Christian community), he realizes that the recent profound changes in our means of communication (all empowered by the Internet) pose momentous challenges to Christian integrity. In the terminology of Neil Postman, digital media have an ecological effect. They do not simply add new gadgets and gismos; they change the whole atmosphere of communication and life in general. This book winningly contributes to a small--but it seems growing--literature of Christian critiques of media technology. Fifteen years ago any critical analysis of the Internet was typically dismissed as cranky primitivism ("You cannot turn back the clock"). But in recent years, I am heartened to find more secular and Christian assessments of the Internet that are less messianic and more skeptical.

Challies addressed digital technologies in their historical, functional, and theological dimensions. He challenges Christians to consider technology as both a gift and an area of moral discernment. Unlike the majority of evangelicals, Challies realizes that each technology shapes its message and the ones who use it. That is, technologies are not neutral vessels for communication. In Marshall McLuhan's justly well-known words, "The medium is the message." Therefore, each technology should be scrutinized (or exegeted) concerning its often invisible but substantial effects. To give us some perspective, Challies provides a brief but insightful overview of the rise of electronic technologies, looking at how previous technologies such as the telegraph and camera radically altered society.

Challies brings together three features of technology for assessment: our everyday experience of technology, a sound theory of technology, and a wise practice of using technology in its various forms. His focus throughout the book is not merely sociological or psychological; he also develops a biblically faithful and God-honoring understanding and practice of technology. To that end, he includes an "application" section in the chapters of Part 2, as well as questions for discussion, which makes the book ideal for small group study. Early in the book, Challies explains that technology can easily become an idol, and warns the reader of this sin throughout the work.

In Part 2, Challies offers the meat of his concerns, discussing matters of communication, distraction, information, visibility and privacy. These chapters offer much wisdom about the nature and effects of digital technologies, and resonate with the influence of savvy media theorists such as Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman, as well as more recent writings. (It is difficult to stay current on rapidly-changing Internet technologies, but Challies astutely takes the pulse of cyberspace.) While embracing the benefits of things like email, blogs, twitter, Facebook, etc., he warns of the dangers of becoming distracted by trivia, of losing our embodied relationships, and of being betrayed by careless things posted on line.

Having written on and studied in this field for some time (see The Soul in Cyberspace [Baker Books, 1997]), I found little with which to disagree--and much that was familiar to me. What stood out to me, however, were Challies's observations in chapter eight: "Here Comes Everybody (Truth/Authority)." In The Soul in Cyberspace, I worried about "the fate of truth in cyberspace." But that was before the emergence and dominance of Google and Wikipedia, the two main sources of authority on the Internet today. Since the Bible teaches that God reveals truth in various ways to make himself known and to thus advance his Kingdom, Christians should be especially alert to ways in which the Internet can distort truth and hinder knowledge (justified true belief).

Challies contrasts the old Encyclopedia Britannica with Wikipedia. The former was expensive, took up much physical space, could only be updated through the printing of expensive new editions, and was rooted in recognized authorities for its thousands of articles. By contrast, Wikipedia is free (if you have Internet access), takes up no physical space, is updated constantly, and is written by anyone who wants to contribute to or originate articles. Furthermore, unlike the Encyclopedia Britannica, which had a set number of entries, Wikipedia entries expand endlessly on all topics. Challies notes that "The wiki model is increasingly regarded as the best means of arriving at truth, of building a repository of knowledge" (p. 163). Yet this should trouble us, since this model is undisciplined by intellectual authority--even if some limited content control is offered. (To offer an example of the unreliability of Wikipedia not included by Challies, I know a seminary professor whose biographical entry briefly [and falsely] included a reference to his marriage to a pornography star.) Challies aptly summarizes the problem by arguing that Wikipedia presents truth as consensus. However, the majority may be wrong. As Exodus 23:2 states: "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd." Truth is a property of statements that rightly represent reality. False statements (however popular) fail to do so. Truth is not determined by democratic vote or Wikipedia consensus. (For more on the nature of truth, see chapters three and four of my book, Truth Decay [InterVarsity, 2000].) While Wikipedia has some limited usefulness in tracking down more reliable sources that are linked in its articles, it should not be viewed as a legitimate authority on anything. For several years I have had to lecture my students on this, since they sometimes use Wikipedia in footnotes.

Similarly, Challies comments that Google presents truth as relevance--another deeply defective concept. A Google search will reveal a ranking of cites based on algorithms that detect the number of links to a particular page (to oversimplify). For example, Challies says that when he searched for "What is Truth?" on Google, the second result was the Wikipedia entry, which offered multiple views, of which the "Christian conception was just one option among many" (168).

While Challies does not use the term, his discussion of Wikipedia's and Google's sense of truth and authority concerns epistemology: the discipline investigating the sources, standards, and limits of knowledge. Although his treatment of this question is preliminary and not academic, it is, nevertheless, indispensible for those who desire to possess and exhibit cognitive virtue. This consists in habitually comporting one's mind and senses in ways that discern truth and reject error. As the Apostle Peter said, "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13, KJV; see also Romans 12:1-2). This is no easy task, especially when one enters the digital domain where information overwhelms, but where truth and wisdom are much harder to find.

Despite its often trenchant critiques of digital technology, one feature of the book itself betrays the less than salutary results of technological influence. Most on line writing, particular in blogs, dispenses with indenting the beginning of paragraphs. The Next Story does so as well (perhaps to imitate Internet style). When I add a post to The Constructive Curmudgeon (one of my blogs), I have no choice but to use non-indented paragraphs. The technology makes that (bad) decision for me. However, books are produced with more typographic options, and I find no good reason not to indent paragraphs. Not to do so is aesthetically displeasing and defies tradition unnecessarily. Further, although it may be unrelated to technological influence, the inner front cover and first page of the book are black instead of white, thus ruling out note-taking on these surfaces. This is annoying to anyone who is accustomed to making their own index at the front of a book. (The book also lacks an index and bibliography, but does include footnotes.)

I have one last quibble. Challies commendably takes a humble approach throughout the book, confessing his own mistakes in relating to technology and affirming his own need for God's wisdom in these efforts. Near the end of the book, he writes of how he "sought to reduce inputs and to spend more time encountering the best information and less time encountering the least significant" (195). Challies unsubscribed from many blogs and tried to de-emphasize email. These were wise moves. But his next choice struck me as odd and against the grain of the book: "I even cancelled delivery of the newspaper" (196). As Challies himself claims, one of the problematic features of text on screens is that they tend to be skimmed instead of read, and so encourage less rigorous analysis. (This point is made in more detail in Nicholas Carr's book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains [W.W. Norton, 2010].) One way to counteract this tendency to skim and surf written material on the Internet is to remain immersed in printed material: newspapers, magazines, and books. I am sure that Challies has not abandoned print (he often reviews books on his blog), but perhaps he should have kept the newspaper.

The Next Story is an accessible, smart, and spiritually-provoking exploration of the effects of digital technologies. If you want to know what water is, do not ask a fish. But if you want to know what digital technologies are and what they are doing to us, ask Tim Challies (among others).

Pastor, author and blogger Tim Challies asks three important questions about technology. He deals mainly with the impressive development of the technology of the CPU, Internet and digital communication. The three questions are (1) 'if technology was somehow taking over my life', (2) 'if it was remaking me in its image', and (3) 'if it was making me a tool of my tools'. His approach to answering these three questions is systematic as he deals with the theory, theology and experience of technology in the areas of (1) communication, (2) mediation/identity, (3) distraction, (4) information, (5) truth/authority and (6) visibility/privacy. Though there is scope for a wider work, the questions by its design imply his personal experiences and reflections.

Whether we are in a post-digital explosion era or still in the digital explosion era may still be argued. The social media is still expanding and the next 'killer' apps may be just below the horizon. The digital revolution, for all its hype is still limited to a few prosperous countries while the majority of humankind is not able to read or write, least of all to use a computer.

Are we in the 'next story' is also open to debate. Technology does not change human nature, only the means for human nature to achieve their purposes. One would not call the era after the invention of the printing press which is the technology similar to the present digital revolution the 'next' story. It is still the continuation of the human story.

Challies' experience with the digital is an interesting read but is hardly representative. He was right that his book was descriptive but it contain just too much history and facts about the digital revolution. Unfortunately there are too many of such 'descriptive' books in the market. However I have enjoyed his 'prescriptive' and learned much from his suggestions for Christians in the use of the digital media. One idea that stands out his is suggestion that we become accountable for our blog postings. I have never though of that though I have accountability groups for other aspects of my life. The book will may be better if it is more prescriptive.

Challies asked three important questions that need to be considered. Will the digital technology enslave us, keep us in bondage and force us to worship idols. With respect to Neil Postman and Marshall McLuhan, I believe that human nature has not changed since the time of creation. At present, we just have more toys to play with. We have in our human nature the propensity to addiction. Digital technology offers yet another thing to be addicted to. Living in another time, those who are enslaved and addicted to digital technology will have found something else to be addicted to. What has changed is the way we live. We have always multi-tasked. Most of us can walk and talk at the same time so it is not something new. What is new is that we can walk and talk at the same time with someone on the other side of the world with our mobile phone.

I was expecting a lot from The Next Story; but it has far surpassed my expectations.

Thinking that I already knew quite a lot about the subject, and also confident that I already knew much of Tim Challies' thinking on it, when I first saw the book I thought, "Hey, I'll skim this in a couple of hours."

I've not read a book so slowly for a long time.

Not that it's difficult to understand. It is just so substantive and thought-provoking. It took me to a whole new level, even dimension, of thinking about the impact of digital technology on me and my world. I found myself reading a paragraph, pausing, reflecting, praying; reading a paragraph, pausing...etc. Three hours later, I was only at chapter three. Two weeks and many hours later, I've read the book through twice, and already know that it's going to join my small pile of annual re-reads (if I can get it back from my wife).

I certainly want my teenage sons to read it; and I look forward to discussing it with them as I try to set them on a good foundation of digital virtue.

I'd also recommend that congregations buy quantities of the book and ensure that each family gets a copy. It could be the best bit of pastoring you do this year

The Next Story by Tim Challies is a book that all Christians who are involved with social media (and that is many of us) should read. It is a very informative, well-written book that examines social media in all its forms, and how we as Christians need to handle it so that we don't allow it to overtake our lives and distract us from living our lives out loud for the Lord.

The Next Story took me a long time to read through. Not because it was a difficult read but because it is loaded with information. Combining theology, philosophy, and technology you will learn about how to create a healthy balance between social media and the Christian life, how to be discerning in what we choose to use and how to use it to glorify God.

I have come away from reading The Next Story really looking at what social media is costing me, and how I can better use it. Although I am on Facebook, Twitter, and blog, I am realizing that I need to become much more conscious of the time spent on these things and if it is truly worth the time spent. Ultimately, no it is not, when it takes away from my relationships, both with family and friends but especially with my God! As a result of reading this book, and praying through much of what Challies has stated, I believe many changes are coming my way. I was reminded through reading The Next Story that anything (whether it is social media or not) that takes my focus off of Jesus Christ, is an idol and I have to let go of those idols to refocus. It's just a matter of reworking my priorities and sticking to the changes. I am thankful to God for His servant, Tim Challies, and the work being done through this book and his blog. I also plan to re-read this book in order to really grasp all that Challies is writing about.

I highly recommend this book and give it a huge thumbs up.

Author Tim Challies puts technology in its place in his book,"The Next Story: Life and Faith after The Digital Explosion". Technology, its applications and devices are tools given by God to bring Him glory, not to hide behind, idolize or be a slave to. How do you view technology? Whether you embrace technological innovations or avoid them, this book is an eye-opening read, revealing how technological devices and applications, as well as the Internet are turning us into a society of distracted, multi-tasking and shallow individuals where just about anyone can be an author, subject matter expert, researcher or journalist. The end result of this self-promoting approach to authorship is that the Truth can be distorted, hidden or buried.

Challies prompts readers to examine how technological tools are used everyday, and to consider the roles they play in family, work and worship life. It is all too common that tech tools, under the guise of improving `productivity' can be, misplaced, misused and damaging to relationships with family, children and friends. I found the following quote in the book that describes this phenomenon, (ironically on my e-reader device which apparently at the time of writing this review had been highlighted by 89 other people), "That iPhone in your pocket is not an "evil" device. Yet it is prone to draw your heart away from God, to distract you and enable you to rely on your own abilities rather than trusting God" (Challis, 2011, p 24).

Another point Challies emphasizes is the problem of information overload. We can be swallowed and buried in the deluge of information that is available at our fingertips 24/7. Challies highlights that only with careful consideration and discernment can information be turned into knowledge, and that wisdom only comes from studying God's word in light of this knowledge. The author goes further and identifies the crux of the matter, that we are becoming a culture which relies upon a collection of facts created by one of thousands of `authors', where there is no authority or acknowledgement of experts or leaders.

Though one might be discouraged at the direction our `Digital' culture is moving us, away from relationships with people to relationships with devices, Challies ends his chapters with a 'Talk to Your Tech' segment which prompts the reader to analyze his or her own behavior and use of technology, providing advice and guidance for putting God first, and technology in its rightful place.

This review first appeared at TGC Reviews, an online publication of The Gospel Coalition.

I have that feeling to look over my shoulder, yet I know there's nothing lurking behind me, because I know right where it is. It's in my pocket, in my car, in my office, and on my desk. It's at my local coffeehouse and even in the air at the park where I take my girls in the afternoon. The world we live has been forever changed by digital technologies. Though we live in a digital culture, technology is nothing new. So why a sense of mounting pressure, strain and stress? Shouldn't this reality make our lives easier? In The Next Story, author and blogger Tim Challies explains how and why our society has become reliant on digital technology, what it means for our lives, and how it affects the Christian faith.

The book's first section takes up technology in the areas of theology, theory, and experience. When we begin to understand our purpose in being created, remember the consequences of the fall, and recognize the power of our own sinful desires when we use technology, then we will have a theological foundation to use technology in a distinctively Christian way. Second, when we see that every technology always involves benefits and drawbacks, understand the medium is the message, and realize that technology changes the structure of life, then the theoretical edifice is in place. The first section concludes with a historical overview of how the digital revolution came about.

Part two takes up areas of application specific to the Christian life, "showing how we can live with wisdom and virtue in this digital world, using our technologies without being used by them." Each chapter ends with penetrating questions fueling action based on what we just read. Challies works to get his readers into the sweet spot where theology, theory, and experience intersect. This occurs when a person uses technology with an understanding of both the affect it has upon life and how God intends technology to function in his world.

There is plenty to praise in The Next Story. First, it is a wake-up call. Some families, knowingly and unknowingly, are enslaved to technology. Challies graciously comes alongside those who do not see it and helps them understand what has happened and what is at stake. On the other hand, those who do know it but don't know what to do about it, will not only find help in coming to grips with why its easy to be enslaved to technology, but will also find help in turning the tables on it, making it serve us and our end of glorifying God in all things. Pastors and parents will find wise council in how to raise up disciples of Jesus who will master technology rather than be mastered by it.

Second, technology's power to turn our hearts to idolatry is highlighted. As we know, the heart is always looking to raise up new gods. Digital technologies have such potential to help us go hard after God, "but far more commonly, digital technology is a means to further the power of other idols. Technology, a good gift from God, is a gift that gets perverted and used to satisfy our selfish and evil desires." A gut-level response may be to flee or avoid technology as the idols of significance, information, and productivity abound. Challies rightly calls Christians to follow Christ by the light of his Word to use technology to the glory of God and the spreading of the fame of his name across the globe.

Another strength is the examination of the relationship between technology and human identity and character. Challies looks at the perpetual connectivity in our day and shows how much danger is lurking. It is remarkably easy to speak or type or text words devoid of any substance or biblical character. It is remarkably easy to live for the next upgrade or new gadget and quickly establish a device as part of our very identity. Challies calls the church to speak the truth in love at all times in this age of pervasive communication. He challenges us to find our identity in what God reveals to us in his word rather than in what we do or do not have.

This book is filled with wisdom that will help people of all ages understand the digital revolution and how it has changed our world. Challies readies his readers to be discerning Christians in their use of technology by continually going back to our hearts. In the church, it is easy to reject technology or completely embrace it. Challies does a fine job preparing people to walk the middle road of biblical discernment. The Next Story is an excellent resource for pastors, parents, and many others as they seek to use technology and help others use it for the glory of God in this strange, new, digital world.