The Circle

There’s nothing like a good read.

I’ve just finished Dave Eggers thriller The Circle.

I won’t spoil it for you in case you’re reading it or thinking of reading it but I will say it’s a sort of rewrite of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World for the social media generation.

We are ‘the connected generation’ but as such we’re prey to subversive influences through the internet which this novel points up dramatically. ‘The Circle’ is Google-gone-wrong writ large with the whole world gripped by social media gone mad.

It got me thinking about how social media both serves and hinders my connecting up with others. As a Christian I see Christ in my neighbour and my allegiance to other people is linked to that. Connecting up with others is what Church is all about.

There are many digital networks and even churches with members who just meet online. All the same, the way we are as humans, in bodies present in one place and time, makes for a prioritising of physical presence one to another as in friendship, marriage, family, church and so on.

I want to live connected – and the internet is one great option for connecting -  but  I can’t connect effectively without space and time away from social media. Computers don’t waste time but humans have to, both with one another and with God.

Lord thank you for connecting us up through the internet. Give us wisdom to make that connecting serve you as well as our own well being for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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