technology is not the problem

It’s easy to pit wildness against artifice, wilderness against civilization, nature against technology. But I think it’s important to point out that technology is not responsible for the spiritual drain that threatens to deplete our capacity to generate good things in the world.

Technology is the practical application of knowledge. It is a fusing of expertise with a solution. The problem is that many of the solutions on the market solve problems that are not that urgent. Others promise shortcut solutions that short-circuit the hard work of living life with purpose and vitality. But technology is not inherently problematic. The problem is our frenzied relationship to solutions.

Rather than scapegoating technology I think the more challenging approach, and one that will do more to form our spirits and benefit our world, is to embrace our responsibility as stewards of our own relationship with technology, along with wildness.

Think of tools like cameras and binoculars, like skis and bicycles, or of practices like yoga and mindfulness: these are all technologies that people often employ to cooperate with, rather than compete with, life giving rhythms. We have the agency to be creative in our relationship with technologies of all sorts.