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Information DegradationIf you are reading this, (which, of course, you are!), then you are part of that information rich World Wide Web. Not perhaps since William Caxton launched the printing press has so much been available to so many by so few. Access to and control of information has always been an instrument of political power. The unregulated nature of the Web was its original and prophetic character. However, this leveller of information, (at least for those who can afford the technology), is now being harnessed to commercial interests. Politicians have nonetheless largely steered clear of the Web because each individual controls his exposure and politics is only interested in the mass dissemination of ideology and spin. The television and tabloid press remain the main vehicles for the formation of opinion. Nonetheless the Web is, I suspect, shrinking in its empowerment of individuals as it expands in its globalising commercialisation. Information overload is not as worrying as information degradation. Never has there been so much choice; but, on the other hand, never has there been so much trash. Parallel developments can be discerned in other digital media, particularly non-terrestial TV. Of course there is always the "off" button, but much trashy information is mesmerising in its very banality. It tends to send us to sleep, not physically you understand, (although that sometimes!), but spiritually. We are far less likely to ask the "Big Questions" if our minds have been numbed by the shallow and inconsequential ones. Soaps, they say, imitate life. No, they replace and subvert life. We still have "bread and circuses." Today, it's the TV Quiz Show. Perhaps we put too much of a premium on "communication" anyway. Communion is at the heart of the Orthodox life, not communication. We are saved by our union with God, (our progressive theiosis), not simply by knowing things about God, (or the world). Natural knowledge and human intercourse has its place but it can be no substitute for that transformative encounter which is at the very heart of our walk with God and each other. Perhaps all this communication is just a diversion, a distraction from the real business of life. Perhaps we should turn off our computers, disconnect the phones, cancel the papers for a week and devote all that extra time to prayer. Webmaster, heal thyself! Fr. Gregory |
