“Digital natives” is a phrase I’ve just encountered. I find that the term has been around since 2003, and refers to anyone born after 1980. What makes this group of people different is that screens have always been a part of their lives (generally speaking). They’ve cut their teeth, so to speak, on information and entertainment conveyed by computer monitors, smart phones, and digital readers.
At first that might not sound too significant. My own generation was the first to grow up with telephones and televisions; was that so bad? Arguments pro and con could be suggested, but most of my generation feel we’ve developed in a normal manner.
An article recently published on Fastcodesign.com (“Everything Science Knows About Reading On Screens”) points to a potential problem of reading via digital media versus reading words printed on paper. Citing a 2005 study by San Jose State University researcher Ziming Liu, a warning is given that “this style of reading may come at a cost. … sustained attention seems to decline when people read onscreen rather than on paper, and that people also spend less time on in- depth reading.”
Another study noted this: “Nonlinear reading might especially hurt what researchers call “deep-reading” – our in-depth reading of text that requires intense focus to fully understand it …” We develop a tendency to skip through the reading, looking for key words instead of reading the material closely. In the process we lose much.
Reading is a key component of our faith. Paul declared, in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” That was written when few could read; most gained information by hearing what others said. Implied in his statement is that reading is the gateway to the faith that will save us. We must work to gain the information God has revealed, or we can’t please Him (see Hebrews 11:6).
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Those seeking to please God must also be aware of this admonition: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
To rightly divide the truth suggests there is a wrong way to divide it. Peter spoke of this possibility when noting the writings of his fellow-apostle Paul, “… in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16). Some will be lost in spite of their reading habits, for they haven’t been careful in their reading.
Should we therefore ditch our digital reading devices? Not necessarily. But we do need to be as careful as we can to read God’s word deeply, devotedly.
Timothy D. Hall
