Technology at Work: Dismantling the Bad Rap of Technology

My phone bing-bongs like a melodic harp running scales, alerting me that the time I decided to rise has now arrived, and I must crescendo out of bed.

I shuffle to the kitchen, avoiding creaky floorboards, lest a sleeping child hear me and wake before the sun. I pull the antique bronze ball hanging from the dangling chain, igniting my favorite desk lamp and my senses awake.

In soft glowing light, I slide my finger across my phone to initiate functionality. I find the brown Holy Bible icon in its familiar bottom left corner and tap the digital Good Book to begin my daily reading. I’m soaking in Scripture this year in a new-to-me translation in order to perceive the Word with fresh eyes. I haven’t been able to buy a printed edition yet so the gift of changing versions with a finger’s flick is one I don’t take for granted.

Verses light up on my small rectangular screen, and my day begins with the peace, truth, and perspective God alone can give.

In other words, I start my day with technology.

My use of man-made devices that scroll and click, download and connect, continues throughout the day. I hand green and white Leap Pads to little brothers huddled under an epic blanket fort; they delight in bashing numbers and brushing gooey green germs from pixelated teeth; I gain thirty minutes to log on to a remote medical billing site and quickly input data for the latest payment batch.

We take a break to take a walk, breathe in fresh air and smell yellow daisies. We spy on neighborhood cats and pick up twelve rocks and seven ninja sticks. I pull my phone from my back pocket and click photos of this search for ordinary glory—our neighborhood wonder hunt.

A moment captured is a moment remembered.

Remembering helps me give thanks, helps me learn the could-easily-be-missed lesson God is speaking to my heart through little feet running free or a somber, cloudy sky.

Later, after lunch is fixed and fed—and tuckered-out toddlers are tucked into bed—I find my favorite photo and crop it square to share with Instagram and Facebook friends. I do so to reach out. To be seen, yes. But more than that, to invite a conversation to see. To say, "you’re not alone! I see you!"

Seeing each other reminds me that God sees us. Reminds me of the most important eyes who watch and wait for mine to lock back tight.

My little ones also long to be seen. They know how to glide through a photo stream like iPhone pros. Four-year-old fingers pause at one, tap together then spread out wide to zoom in on the wonder of a worm rescued from a driveway puddle. “Remember when it rained, Mom?” he shouts. “That worm was awe-some!!”

At dinner we play the thankful game, and my mini middle man gives thanks for his new friend, the worm.

After teeth are brushed, stories read, and bedside songs three times sung, I return to where my day began: my desk where technology waits to lend me a hand.

I download more billing batches scanned in the last few hours. Set my HP LaserJet to print. While white paper feeds through and spits out black ink numbers, I answer an email from a reader. I check Facebook and smile over a friend’s new baby and stop to pray for a grandparent’s home-going. Then I press black laptop keys in a touch-typing flurry to get out the God story I feel stirring

I use technology.

Often iPads and iPhones and MacBook Pros get a bad rap; often for good reason. Technology, when not wielded mindfully, can monopolize our lives.

I struggle to maintain appropriate boundaries for myself and family.

But I’m a writer and freelance editor. I’m a part-time, work-from-home medical biller. And most importantly I’m a mom to my three God-gift sons.

Technology blesses me in all of my jobs.

Do you see technology as a gift to be unwrapped or a trap to be avoided? How does it bless or stress your daily life?

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Becky Keife is mama to three of the most spirited, dirt loving little boys the Good Lord ever made. She’s a passionate storyteller and loves encouraging women from an in-the-trenches perspective. She writes to slow time, give thanks, and awaken to God's daily wonders and grace at www.beckykeife.com.

This post originally appeared on the blog of Becky Keife. Becky submitted it as a part of our High Calling linkup on Technology at Work.

Photo by Tim Miller. Design by Jennifer Dukes Lee.