Does Technological Change Unify the World, or Pitt Us Against Each Other?

is a new age of industrial revolution. New inventions have come out that are straight from the imaginations of science fiction writers. Phones that are small computers, computers that are flat and thin as a pancake. Television shows are stored on our phones too, and new vaccines come out for each type of flu strain that evolves. It’s a fantastic era of innovation, with new ways to communicate over vast lanes of social media. As Mark Fischbach aka YouTube personality Markiplier has stated, “The global, shining goal of the internet is to combine everybody, and let everyone talk with everyone, and unite and make cool stuff together.”

That may be true. Many of the most popular internet sites have the main goal of socialization. People from opposite hemispheres can Skype or FaceTime, leading to immediate real-time responses, infinitely faster than the way pen pals used to work. But according to Rob Bell, we have the same issues as we’ve always had. Even though we can be closer than ever before with people from across the country, we still want separation.

Perhaps it’s because many people are fighting this new technology, and that’s pretty easy to see. Almost everyone has heard someone complain about Facebook and Twitter, saying but it’s not real communication. You’re not talking to real people. Even though that is what it is. People are still learning about new cultures and new places from Twitter and Snapchat, and citizen journalism has taken off with live-tweeting of major events.

Rob Bell’s newest book is How to Be Here: A Guide to Creating a Life Worth Living.