{"id":14986,"date":"2011-10-26T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2011-10-26T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christandpopculture.com\/?p=14986"},"modified":"2011-10-26T08:00:15","modified_gmt":"2011-10-26T12:00:15","slug":"what-memes-mean-a-magazine-is-an-ipad-that-does-not-work-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christandpopculture\/2011\/10\/what-memes-mean-a-magazine-is-an-ipad-that-does-not-work-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"What Memes Mean: "A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work\u201d (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Each Wednesday in\u00a0<\/em>What Memes Mean<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, Kirk Bozeman questions the significance, humor, and subtexts of viral videos, memes, and other Internet fads.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/iframe><\/p>\nThe child in the video above is having trouble distinguishing between iPad and magazine functionality. It\u2019s humorous and telling.<\/p>\nFirst thought: Cute kid. Momma, be proud.<\/p>\nSecond thought: This video is an obvious bullet-to-the-gut parable on how digital technology is changing the way we obtain and experience information, and it\u2019s well worth discussing.<\/p>\nAlthough Steve Jobs and Apple\u2019s iProducts have made the portals we use to access digital information more tactile and much prettier, the iPad itself didn\u2019t cause the change. The shift started way back in the \u201970s and \u201980s when we started digitizing data and displaying it on personal computers, a shift now referred to as the Digital Revolution. Though digital computing had existed previously, the idea of a \u201cpersonal computer\u201d would have been an oxymoron until this time; thus, the change had yet to reach the common man. So the issue isn\u2019t really that \u201ca magazine is an iPad that does not work,\u201d the issue is the entire spectrum of digital-print media\u2014i.e., \u201ca book is a document that\u2019s not in a computer.\u201d<\/p>\nThere is no question that the Digital Revolution has changed the way we obtain and experience information, with the word experience <\/em>being the key idea up for discussion here. Just like the curious infant in the video, subsequent generations will be left to deal with the ramifications of this massive change, perhaps having little to no knowledge of the good ol\u2019 days when paper was king and the boundary of their information\u2019s format.<\/p>\nA man I greatly respect once referred to Christianity as an \u201cepistemic faith.\u201d Though this phrase may seem strange, his point was that to be a Christian, you must<\/em>\u00a0know and believe a certain piece of information: \u201cJesus is Lord.\u201d Obviously this belief must be vital and real and must produce certain effects, but the bare informational aspect cannot be divorced from Christian faith. Even at our most pietistic, we are still grounded in Divine Information, and without knowing the right information, we cannot even begin to know that Jesus is the Son of God.<\/p>\nI relate this anecdote to say this: I believe that because Christians are a people dependent on and proclaiming Divine Information, Christians need to examine this change in information delivery and experience\u2014the Digital Revolution\u2014very seriously, or we may unintentionally do the Gospel of Christ a severe disservice.<\/p>\nOver the next few weeks, I\u2019d like to discuss some aspects of the \u201cdigital revolution fallout,\u201d though we may skip a week or so depending on what other weird memes present themselves (you never know what\u2019s coming down the pike\u2014case in point). Here are some questions I\u2019d love to hear your thoughts on (though any other thoughts are certainly welcome):<\/p>\n\u2022\u00a0What are the positives and negatives of the Digital Revolution for society, the church, and for you personally? \n<\/em>\u2022\u00a0Is an e-reader and Instapaper a boon for learning and soul-building? Or is it a cancer that\u2019s going to kill culture and damage the church in the long run? Or is it something in between? \n<\/em>\u2022\u00a0What experiences will we lose if paper dies, and what experiences will we gain?<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Digital technology is changing the way we obtain and experience information.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1250,"featured_media":6944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,20],"tags":[363,365,392,1435],"class_list":["post-14986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asides","category-viral","tag-digital-information","tag-digital-revolution","tag-e-readers","tag-what-memes-mean"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>What Memes Mean: "A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work\u201d (Part 1)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Digital technology is changing the way we obtain and experience information."\" \/>\n<meta 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