Media philosopher Marshall Mcluhan used to say "the medium is the message", by which he meant that the medium – e.g. TV – changes the content of whatever message is presented through it. The medium is a message itself, not just the content presented through it. So, before the TV was invented there was radio and newspaper, and the average person wouldn't be able to recognise their politicians on the street, but could recognise them by their writing. But when the TV came in, very few could recognise their writing, but they could all recognise them on the street—and their three word slogans! Some would say the TV dumbed down the level of conversation, and they'd be largely correct. The medium totally changed the conversation, regardless of what worldview they were coming from.

We all know that having a serious discussion through Twitter, which originally forced soundbites to 140 characters (now 280), was (and still is) all but impossible. The medium—Twitter—encouraged a headline approach to information, favouring sensationalist news rather than well thought out pieces. It fosters super fast public communication, similar to shouting from a rooftop.

An email is much like a letter, in that it is a one-way communication where, even though someone may reply, that reply is likely to be at least a few minutes later: and that's not how we would talk if it were truly 2-way. So emails, like letters, tend to work best for non-collaborative work, such as sharing news, finished documents, and advertisements. Sorting out sensitive or controversial issues tends not to work because the medium doesn't help you understand each other, and when you're stuck, you can just take longer to reply—exacerbating the misunderstanding as you go off on a tangent, uncorrected.

Life is like this too. Consider a typical house, whether detached, a townhouse or apartment. As each of them are bought invididually, they are geared towards the distinct family or couple. If you want to live life as if we're a community, there are very little options. You can't just buy several houses next to each other, except in a new development which may be too costly, not where you want to live, and still not ideal for living together. Others have created a new medium of building which embodies community, called co-housing. This is a collection of houses that also contains a communal space. That space might have a large kitchen and dining for regular communal meals together. It might also have a large open area for activities—perhaps for kids to play together each day; or perhaps for a study or business that you decide to work on together. The communal nature of the building helps facilitate working together. This is the craft of embodying our values in the technology that we use.

Here are some examples of embodied values:

1. The single house embodies independence

2. Co-housing embodies community

3. Twitter's character limit embodies fast-paced sensationalism

4. Facebook's endless scrolling with like-able content embodies an addictive drug (they actually employed psychologists to make it addictive)

5. The Internet's connectivity embodies globalism and a respect for everyone's opinion

6. Google's search increasingly embodies it's own politically-correct secular humanist version of information

7. Blogs embody a preacher or teacher

8. A small closet that you transform into a prayer room embodies intimate conversation

9. Project management software embodies orderliness for work

10. Reporting and record-keeping software embodies accountability

So technology is never neutral. They embody particular values. We must be aware of these values, first, and then we can choose whether we want to keep them in our lives or look for (or invent) better technologies.

We can also create (design, engineer) rituals and processes that are also a type of technology (someone had to invent them):

11. A church service that follows the same process each time embodies orderliness

12. A church service that is 'open to the Spirit' in what they do embodies the Spirit's direction, and our deference

13. A church which focuses on church services and programs embodies a sacred-secular divide

14. A church which focuses on doing life together embodies the Body of Christ

15. A sermon that helps understand a book of the Bible bit by bit embodies objective grounding in the Word

16. A sermon that is based on a word from the Spirit embodies the Spirit's direction, and our deference

17. If you wrote down God's laws and precepts on your doorposts, gates, and clothes (Deuteronomy 6:6-9), you are embodying respect for God's laws, and education of those laws

18. If you had a confessional booth, not for the purpose of actually bringing about forgiveness through a mere man, but for the purpose of beginning a healing process through confession, this would be embodying repentance

19. While mowing itself embodies mastery over nature, if you prayed for God to show you what you need to cut from your life as you mowed the lawn, or pruned trees, you are embodying repentance and penitance. Here, using the lawn mower or clippers in a particular way (for giving time and opportunity for God to convict you) makes this into a ritual that embodies a new value

20. If you use red wine to symbolise Jesus' blood and a thin wafer or bread to symbolise Jesus' body in a communion service, the ritual embodies reverence and worship for Jesus

There are too many to document systematically—where can we uncover them?

How to spot embodied values

A lot of newer businesses these days exhibit their values loudly, showing off their beliefs proudly. One of these is The Herd Coworking in Warragul. It's a coworking space which means that you can rent a desk and work there for the day (or week or year), amongst other workers from different businesses.

One of the first things you notice are the stickers on the front door. One of them sports the 6-colour rainbow that has come to indicate support of a previously discriminated against group. Stickers are a technology that help to communicate broad concepts or brands (like logos) quickly. They are often symbols, rather than themselves embodying anything. Nevertheless, even this small level of communication embodies inclusiveness to this group of people. It's like a warm smile.

I also get a literal warm smile when I come in and am greeted by one of the staff members. This also embodies inclusivity, which is further expressed in how they try to make every effort to accommodate different workers' needs by providing extras such as a (secondary) monitor, keyboard and mouse, and talking and walking you through everything cheerfully.

They clearly embody values such as community, relationship and working together. They did this by numerous things such as:

• Having lots of people together in the one room, rather than each person having an individual closed spaced;

• Having collaborative spaces, some open, some in separate rooms, fostering groups of people working together;

• Including a shared kitchen with plenty of space and seating for chatting with others (they could have forced people outdoors to numerous cafes, and had more desks for quiet work, for a less relational and more work-oriented approach)

They also value sustainability and local business. So they have fairtrade coffee, Gippsland milk, toilet paper that donates to others who don't have toilets, and Thank You products (that donate profits to the less fortunate). Many of these items cost a lot more than equivalent non-local and standard process goods—they put their money where their mouth is. In addition, much of their operation and furniture appeared to come from local suppliers, local grants, and conveyed a sense of sustainable design.

Their commitment to sustainability also comes across from their bins. Typical businesses have at best landfill and recycling bins. The Herd also have organic waste, and split recycling into paper and 'mixed'—with explanations as to why this is good.

The place is decorated with various artworks which I would describe as creative, wacky and sometimes even pornographic. I believe that last category is designed to show feminist empowerment. This female empowerment also comes across in how much of the place is run by women. Having artwork, as well as creative spaces such as a lounge area (not just desks), helps infuse a sense of creativity.

By infusing their values into their space, they help to reinforce their values, and also encourage newcomers to share and copy these values. Such is the power of embodied values.

When we're looking at our own homes, churches or workplaces, consider the areas The Herd has looked at, and more:

• Stickers, posters, signage, logos: what values do they convey? What tone do they set?

• Greeting, or lack thereof; onboarding and introducing a newcomer: how is it designed to make you feel? What is it designed to educate you on?

• Architecture, spaces, rooms: what do they help you achieve? What would be frustrating to do in them?

• Products, consumables, furniture, appliances: are they cheap? Local? Sustainable? High quality? Beautiful? Sacred?

• Services and processes: are they efficient? Absent? Enforced rigourously, or lackadaisicly? Designed to what end—honour someone or something? Teach? Experience something?

Many areas of life are difficult to see where their embodied values are, or what they may be, but if you go to a different culture, the differences are stark. Try and work at a new place, or even just walk through a 'strange' area, and by way of contrast, work out what they've changed to what you're used to. It's often in those changes that different values show up.

Making technology work for us

There are multiple options available to us to make technology serve our values, and embody our values. By modifying a model of political action first seen at the Australian Christian Lobby, I've come up with 16 ways we can make technology work for us.

Using a political model is useful because it realises that technology is just an extension of people and our values.This concept is from Marshall McLuhan, and is expounded in his book “Understanding Media: the extensions of man” As such, if we want to change technology, we need to think about the politics of the situation. Sometimes, we will largely agree with a technology and will be happy to cooperate (column 1—see table below). However, if we don't agree with some aspect of it, there are different ways forward: subvert (column 2), expose (column 3) or separate (column 4).

Each of these stances will look different depending on whether we choose to dialogue with the technology makers (row 1), create our own technology (row 2), demarcate our own use of the technology (row 3), or restore a higher standard to the technology (row 4).

The table describes 16 examples in short, and below I have written out some more specific examples I have discovered in my research to spark inspiration.

Cooperate-Dialogue

There are plenty of technologies out there that already serve our interests. Often it's just a process of finding it, or being skillful enough to use it well. We do this all the time, such as when we purchase something from a shop and use it as-is.

Cooperate-Create

There are plenty of occasions where the current technology is pretty good, but it doesn't quite have all the features that you want as a Christian. A typical building may not have a prayer room, though that could be arranged using existing technology. CRM software may not have small group management as a feature, but you could add an extension to do that if it does everything else you want. A meeting structure may be perfect, except that you may want to dedicate your time in prayer to the Lord at the start.

Cooperate-Demarcate

When we choose to use our hands to help rather than to punch, we are demarcating a line that we will not cross, in favour of a smaller subset of uses for our hands. We often demarcate using filters that remove adult content from our searches online. We may only allow certain people to speak in our formal church services. We may only allow privacy-oriented apps on our phones. It's still the same technology, but we just use a smaller subset of it.

Cooperate-Restore

Sometimes, a technology doesn't have something that we think it needs. Perhaps it doesn't have that filter for pornography that needs to be in place before we feel comfortable using it. Perhaps outdoor advertisements need to be G-rated (a technology of process rather than material). If conversations are shallow, a set of questions might help a group to go deeper. Perhaps we'll only buy from a certain supplier because they're ethical.

Subvert-Dialogue

Apple has a monopoly via its App Store. You can't easily install an app on your iPhone apart from it. That wouldn't be so bad if it was only using that monopoly to enforce wise standards and eliminate viruses and malware. It even makes sense that they would take a cut from the purchase of an app. But Apple went another step and demanded that if you had any other product available on any other digital platform, you had to also offer it on their App Store—and pay them their cut. Essentially, Apple wanted a cut of your entire business! So Epic Games strategically created the next version of their popular game Fortnite with their own store, knowing Apple would not approve it, and triggering a lawsuit. They were aiming to undermine Apple's monopoly through an order of the court. (They had mixed wins.See Wikipedia Epic Games v. Apple for the results of the litigation efforts so far: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games_v._Apple#Reactions)

Subvert-Create

In the 1800s, workers were suffering from exposure to a toxic form of phosphorus in match factories leading to jaw necrosis dubbed “Matchmaker's Leprosy”. When it was clear that direct appeals to the business owners were not working, the Salvation Army stepped in (in 1891) to create their own safe workplace which did not use that chemical. This may have been the turning point that influenced consumers to only buy safe matches, and provoked a search for an alternative, found in 1898 by French chemists.Safeguarding the rights of workers, David d'Lima, August 2008, 3; Inside ‘Phossy Jaw,’ The Deadly Condition That Plagued 19th-Century Matchstick Girls, Genevieve Carlton, 4/2/2021, updated 26/7/2021, https://allthatsinteresting.com/phossy-jaw; Phosphorus sesquisulfide, accessed 20/1/2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorus_sesquisulfide

Subvert-Demarcate

Apparently some drug dealers are using dating app Tinder to their own ends, not seeking a date, but a person to sell weed to.Surprising, Unintended Ways People Are Using Common Technology, Jordan Breeding, The Modern Rogue, 10/09/2018, https://www.themodernrogue.com/articles/2018/9/9/surprising-unintended-ways-people-are-using-common-technology They are using the communication facilities for an entirely different reason to which it was created. Some Christians have chosen to be vaccinated for health reasons, but to live as though they were not, identifying with the unvaccinated. They actively remind people of the coercion going on, using the vaccination as a lever through which to undermine people's religious-fervour toward the government.

Subvert-Restore

Someone figured out that on Facebook, you could get rid of the central feature, the endless scroll of curated information, by unfollowing everyone—not unfriending or banning them, but just unfollowing them. There was no tool to do this, so he had to do it manually at first, but then he created an extension that automated it. Facebook banned him and served a legal notice to force the extension out of existence. But he bent Facebook to his will. He created a version of Facebook that didn't feed his addiction, and allowed him to connect with others and see what he wanted to see, and then leave satisfied. He restored Facebook to its central value of connecting with friends. (You can still do this, through various ever-changing tools.)

Expose-Dialogue

When Facebook first came out, everyone who knew about it thought it was a great way to connect with their friends and family. It was difficult to see the embedded values in it because it was new, and not many people were addicted to it, so few knew it had an ugly side. A major turn was when a whistleblower exposed Facebook for knowing that their product Instagram makes their body image issues worse. That sparked a national conversation, Senate enquiries, and product changes. Many other exposés have shown beyond doubt that Facebook actively works to advance it's version of good around the world.See the Wall Street Journal's 'The Facebook Files' for some examples of how Facebook has constructed their technology https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039

One of the other great ways of exposing through dialogue is through sarcasm. JP Sears is a successful comedian who exposes idiotic government policies and cultural practices.See https://awakenwithjp.com/

Expose-Create

We don't often think of church services as 'technology', but when you realise that they are deliberately designed in a particular way to serve particular purposes, it makes sense. I find the Pentecostal church service to be deliberately setup to expose the lack of the Spirit in conservative churches. They give time for the Spirit to move. They expect the unexpected. They cry out to God to show up. They testify about what God has been doing amongst them. They encourage the spontaneous. Showing a conservative person this way of doing things exposes their lack of the Spirit. On the other hand, exposing a Pentecostal to a typical sermon of a good conservative church exposes their lack of the Word. In the best sense, this is how "iron sharpens iron" and healthy competition exposes areas to improve and grow.

Expose-Restore

Consumers around the world, particularly in the face of Apple products being intentionally created irreparable, are advocating for the 'right to repair' technology. When there are essentially no options on the market to replace your old battery in your phone, forcing you to get a $700 phone instead of a $30 battery, that is a good time to expose greed and restore the community expectation of the ability to repair the technology you have bought.

Expose-Demarcate

Workplace unions have been an important Christian invention of the modern era, despite how some have become corrupted. The best use of unions is to use the threat of exposing poor workplace pay and safety as a way to restore the balance of power between employer and employee. You draw a line in the sand to say that you will not work unless you are paid a fair wage, and given a healthy place to work.

Separate-Dialogue

Sometimes the issue is not about exposing, but that the technology allows or encourages something bad. Boycotting the use of it, or its beneficiaries (say, those providing ads on their service), may be an effective way to start a dialogue to effect change.

Separate-Demarcate

Can you make a gun work in a peaceful society? It's a bit hard because it's solely designed to kill. This is a big reason why we say that technology is not neutral: you can't use something solely designed to maximise human tissue damage for something that builds people up. The Bible in fact says that weapons will be remade into farming tools, in an era of peace (Isaiah 2:4; Joel 3:10). Sometimes, tools are unable to be used for good purposes and they will need to be transformed into something else before they are useful. (Notwithstanding, there is an argument that says that guns bring peace, because people are afraid you might retaliate if you do anything bad to those with guns. Americans bring that one up! But I think my point remains.)

Separate-Create

Sometimes we have to create completely separate technologies. When Christian conservative social media platform Gab was targeted, banned from using banks, and verbally abused, they created their own infrastructure to restart. They aim now to create a “parallel Christian economy”, as they have been forced to create their own methods of payment, ads, and communication.What is Gab?, accessed 20/1/2022, https://news.gab.com/what-is-gab/

Separate-Restore

Many businesses today choose an ethical approach to supply chains, product sourcing, environmental benefits, and so on, separating themselves from the rest to restore a perceived lost ethic. Fair trade products aim to restore fair wages for the farmers. This might be subversive if the aim is to influence others, or, simply different to appeal to people who have different values.

Conclusion

Next time you want to engage in a difficult conversation, consider the medium you use, and its distinct message. If you don't want it to devolve into a shouting match, don't use technologies that restrict you to short messages.

If you want to embody community and the Body of Christ, we need to construct our buildings and rituals in ways that encourage meeting together and doing life together.

If what's out there tempts you towards something not helpful, consider ways in which you can change it—you may not have to go without. If there is something on your heart you want to see, consider one of the many ways you have your disposal to effect change.

Consider the world around you and whether what you use day to day looks like Christ. If there are things that aren't Christlike, I hope these strategies will help you to mould and shape them.