Avoid technology pitfalls in small groups

In Luke 4:16, Jesus comes to Nazareth, to the synagogue in the town where he’d been brought up. He stands up to read, someone gives him a scroll, he unrolls it and finds a particular verse, gives the scroll back to the attendant, and sits back down.

What Jesus says at this point—claiming to be the one anointed by the Spirit of the Lord—is extraordinary, but have a look at the technology that he’s interacting with. There’s an attendant who looks after the scrolls, there’s the process of everyone watching the reader as they search through a scroll to read, and there’s the handing back the scroll and sitting down. 

We often look at the technology of a generation ago (e.g. printed books, landline phones) as if it had always existed. Old technology is comforting and trustworthy, while new technology is distracting and new. I remember a letter to a magazine in 1985 where a returned missionary was talking about the distraction of digital watches ‘beeping’ during the worship service.

When considering including a new technology in your small group meeting, it’s helpful to think through the following pitfalls, and consider how you’ll handle them.

Distracting interface

All technology has an interface. A scroll (like its successor, the codex, or its great-grandchild, the book) has a surface with words written on it. It is light-reflective, slow to search, and (especially for ancient documents) hard to skim-read when trying to find your place. 

Move this same body of text onto a smartphone or tablet screen, and you’re adding an additional light source plus regular animations (depending on how the tablet is configured). You want to reduce the number of flickering lights in the space your group is meeting in as much as possible: they’re a distraction for everyone. If your tablet has brightness controls, and an option to reduce the amount of animation, use them so that the tablet’s interface has the lowest level of distraction possible, because your device has the potential to distract not just you but other people in the group who can see your screen.

Set some ground-rules for your group around when devices should be on and when they should be off. It might be helpful to take notes on what you’re praying about to store on a tablet, but there should be at least some time while you’re meeting together when the devices are all put away and you can interact without that distraction.

Distracting opportunities

One of the gratifying parts of meeting for Bible study where my group does is the lack of internet access; we meet in a place where there’s little to no cellular reception, and I don’t have the wifi password. This dramatically limits the opportunities for checking Facebook status updates or researching points of interest that arise during the study, and keeps me focused on what’s going on around me.

If you can switch off the network access for your device while you’re meeting together, you will have fewer opportunities to be distracted. You might need to download the Bible (or passages) and any other study materials, but you’ll be glad you did.

Remember to look up from your device periodically to make eye contact with other people in the group, and see what they’re thinking and feeling. You’re gathering together as a community, and it’s harder to build community when everyone is distracted with their online lives.

Matters of conscience

One other issue that a new technology can raise is that of the conscience of the weaker brother or sister. The question might reasonably be raised “Could the money spent on this device be better used?”. This is something each technology buyer needs to answer for themselves, and not everyone can afford the latest amazing device, or indeed any device at all.

If you have made peace with that decision, there may be other people who think that a Bible study group (or other Christian gathering) is not a suitable place for your particular piece of technology. This could be an opportunity for conflict and asserting our own freedom, or one for humbly submitting to the other person so they’re not distracted by what they have determined is wrong.

In our rush to make the most of new technology, let’s not lose sight of why we’re gathering together in the first place: to be making disciples of Jesus as we seek to follow him.