Don't be ashamed to hang onto your pen!

photo credit

I don't feel old, but maybe its a sign of the reality of my age as I pass another birthday that puts me closer to 5 decades than 4, that I still prefer to sometimes hold a book and a pen in my hand rather than an electronic device.

I get excited when my 4 year old African 'grand-daughter' (who is proficient at playing learning games apps on her dad's touch screen smart phone) , comes to visit and says 'Gogo, I want to write!' ....so she goes and gets her little pink plastic 'lap table' from under my day bed with her pens and pencils and crayons and notebook and colouring book to 'write'!

('Gogo' is the Shona word for Grandma and is pronounced closer to a goo-goo sound as in 'book')

I spend hours at my laptop each day, researching, reading and typing away and there are many times I am very thankful I was taught typing so I can speed type - it means I can get thoughts down much faster and with less hand strain, than using a pen and paper.

But there are times that a keyboard and computer screen just don't 'make the grade'.  Drawing a chart or diagram on a computer is often too slow for me to get down what is whirling around in my mind. I need a pen and paper for that.  So alongside the files buried in the computer hard-drive is a ringbinder file full of 'jottings'.

I must say, that in our modern world of technology its almost too easy to feel ashamed if you don't use an iPad or iPhone and instead you carry a pen and notebook in your pocket.

But I want to say 

DON'T FEEL ASHAMED!   

&  

 DON'T GIVE UP YOUR PEN AND PAPER!

My hairdresser commented the last time I saw her, that our huge local power problems have reminded her that all our access to information is subject to power!  If Google was to collapse, or our power supply fails suddenly, we have no access to data. But this is not the only reason to not give up your pen.

Our brains actually function differently with our fingers on a keyboard and looking at a screen than with a pen and paper in our hands...and the pen and paper comes out on top!

I found a TedTalk on YouTube about the importance of the pen, by a young guy in his 20s, Jake Weldmann, who is the youngest Master Penman and an advocate of keeping the pen 'alive'.

He also explained that writing with your own hand is better for imprinting data into the brain than typing it.  He warned that although he is also a user of technology, if we are not careful, our 'clever' modern generation might find that technology is fast-tracking ourselves into illiteracy!

Watch the video here

He isn't the only one finding negatives with our 'attachment' to the electronic keyboard and computer screen.

Some University lecturers are even prohibiting tech devices in their lecture rooms and forcing students to take hand written notes.  (we are encouraged, since we do the same for certain parts of our discipleship programs).

An article in the Washington Post tells of a Professor of Media Studies at New York University, Clay Shirky who "allowed his students to bring laptops, tablets and phones into class and use them at will. But he just told students to put them away. He explains why below in a piece that first appeared on medium.com."

Writing on paper and reading a hard copy book is also good for our eyes.  While there are times I value the bright clear computer screen and the ability to enlarge the font, there are also other times when my eyes welcome the restfulness of a real book.  Sleep is also assisted by reading a 'real book' but is significantly hindered by the light of the screen in reading an e-book.

MedicalDaily  in a recent article listed some points about why we should put aside the ''e-reader' and start reading paper books again.

1. You're missing out on important information: "A 2014 study found that readers who used Kindles were less competent in recalling the plot and events in the book than those who used paperbacks."
2. E-books get in the way of sleepytime: "A recent study out of Harvard University found that reading an e-book before bed lessened the production of an important sleep hormone known as melatonin. As a result, people took much longer to fall asleep, experienced less deep sleep, and were more fatigued in the morning."
3. Screens=Stress: Reading helps you de-stress faster or just as fast as listening to music, taking a walk, or having a cup of tea or coffee, according to a 2009 study. When researchers measured heart rate and muscle tension, they found that people relaxed just six minutes into reading.But reading on a device might cancel out this effect, and may even impact your stress levels negatively.

And what about the effect of technology on our devotional and church life.  

Although there are electronic forms of the Bible and Commentaries etc etc and they are extremely helpful (I use them), and there are Apps to help organise your prayer life (which I don't use but some folk say they find helpful), I wonder about the distance we are putting between ourselves and our real paper bible and a pen in our hand. ...the tactile reality is better to imprint truth into our brain and the distractions are fewer. 

A pen and paper are also not as socio-economically exclusive as technology devices.  While many in the Western world have the access and funds to be able to buy such devices in multiple forms, there are many in the world that don't have that privilege.  If we aren't careful we may sadly make 'books' and knowledge the privilege of the elite!...

And here is a note to preachers - as much as there may be some positives in preaching from an iPad, I would like to suggest differently.  It is much more tangibly clear that God's word is the authority when the 'flock' can see that their shepherd is speaking from his open Bible.  

If you are visiting Africa to preach, please don't use your iPad for your notes out in the village church, or maybe even in the city church.  Please don't set a standard that the 'most honourable' and 'high' positioned preachers must use technology - because that is how it will be viewed by most who will see you.  Allow the most poor and 'lacking in technology' listener to know that power in preaching doesn't come from access to technology but from God and His word.  Let them see that they are equal to you and we are all one in Christ Jesus - neither Jew or Gentile, neither slave or free............neither user of iPad or Pen! 

It seems I'm not alone in my concerns, as just today I received an email highlighting a link to an article by African-American Pastor HB Charles Jr about 'Little Screens and Corporate Worship'. That article and another by him a while back, On Technology and Transcendence, reveal the issue is not one we can just turn a blind eye to.  He said :

"While I am grateful for all the ways the technology makes our lives easier, I am concerned about anything that aids our trivialization of the Almighty. And any medium that gets in way of the message. As we integrate our gadgets into our worship lives – or before we do so – we should think long and hard about whether our gadgets dull our sense of the majesty of God in worship or help us to see and sense the supremacy of God more clearly and deeply and joyfully. Could it be that using mobile devices in worship can be just as dangerous as texting while driving?"

So whether you are a mum who likes to read, a student at University or a Pastor preparing sermon notes......don't just 'go with the flow' in our world's rivers of technology.  

As Christians we should be the ones to 'consider our ways', the ones to want to allow ALL to access knowledge, and to encourage literacy (both reading and writing).  

Maybe we should consider, for all the immense knowledge and power of God, He chose to write with his own 'finger' into stone when he gave Moses the Law - you can't get more tactile than that.  I'm not saying we must all go and carve into stone, but we should not be too quick to leave the 'tactile' behind.

So.....Think before you turn on the screen, and instead reach for a real book, paper and pen.