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What happens to virtue in an age of social media?

January 18, 2021January 15, 2021

In the old days, we used to be able to travel and meet in person to discuss interesting and important issues in theology and ministry. During that time, I hosted several Festivals of Theology, at which we heard seven or eight fascinating presentations on a range of subjects. This is a revised version of Alastair Robert’s …

What is wrong with surveillance capitalism?

November 24, 2020November 20, 2020

Mark Ireland writes: Our dependence on technology has been highlighted by the lockdown, as many congregations have discovered the benefits of Zoom, YouTube and Facebook. However, two events in the news recently have shown the digital revolution has dangers as well as benefits, in a world where knowledge is power. In the UK the exams fiasco …

What is the meaning of ‘online church’?

March 26, 2020March 23, 2020

So, the first day of the new era of ‘online church’ has come and gone! It feels as though our children’s children will one day ask us ‘What did you do on the first day of online church?’ After our morning online service yesterday, I asked of the experience of others, and most of the 300 …

What does Christian use of social media look like?

July 5, 2019July 3, 2019

To a little fanfare, and quite wide coverage in the media, the Church of England has launched guidelines on the use of social media, and a social media charter, to which I have signed up. The guidelines offer nine directions for how to enable the world of social media to be a better place (though …

Does theology help makes sense of Artificial Intelligence?

October 2, 2018October 1, 2018

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already all-pervasive in our daily lives. From social media algorithms, to medical equipment detecting heart conditions. But the ‘robots’ in our lives look very different from the robots imagined in science fiction: they look like servers hidden away in secure buildings, and for most of us they look like our computer …

Can we be virtuous in an age of social media?

February 5, 2018February 2, 2018

At the recent Festival of Theology, we heard eight fascinating presentations on a range of subjects. This is a revised version of Alastair Robert’s presentation on virtue ethics in a virtual age and offers a brilliant insight into the dynamics of social media and their impact on discipleship. The Promise of Virtue Ethics Over recent …

What’s the use of Facebook?

March 5, 2011March 1, 2011

I am half way through watching The Social Network (with my daughter…!) and can already see why it has won awards. So far the most interesting observation is that Mark Zuckerberg aimed to replicate online the sorts of social things that people do in real life. In the film this arises from a conversation with his friend, who is wondering who is in a relationship with whom, from which Zuckerberg adds the ‘In a relationship’ feature to his programme.

So what are the kind of ‘human relating’ things that we can use Facebook for? Here are examples of how I have used Facebook in the last few weeks. What about you?

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