Book Review: Habits of the High-Tech Heart
Habits of the High-Tech Heart, published in 2002, by Quentin Schultze preaches against developing technology and the cyberspace community. He says that the purpose of the novel is to inform readers about the sins associated with rapid innovations and technology. Schultze’s argument is society has become too dependent on information and, as a result, less concerned with relationships. He said that the idea of “informationalism” is corrupting society and defacing people of their moral senses. In his book, Schultze, a Calvinist, attempts to answer problems of technological over-consumption. His formal style conveys a stern and somewhat threatening tone, warning of serious societal problems as a result of technology. The book’s structure explains his opinions through topics of discerning informationism to nurturing virtue in community. These subjects reflect Schultze’s interest in suffering communication through technology.
Schultze is the Arthur H. DeKruyter Chair and a Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI. Over the last 30 years, Schultze has served as a communication professor, writer, speaker, and consultant. “I explore what it means to communicate wisely and well,” he said on his personal webpage (quentinschultze.com). He has a Ph.D. in communications research from the University of Illinois. Schultze says that through Habits of the High-Tech Heart he is “trying to reclaim a sense of moral proportion amidst informational overindulgence” (13). He concentrates on cyberculture, “the technique-laden values, practices, and beliefs of people who spend a great deal of time in cyberspace and who perceive themselves as informationally well connected” (18). Schultze focuses on this topic of moral wisdom through a lens of from Hebrew Christian traditions and moral conscience (21).
The theme of Habits of the High-Tech Heart is that technology, if allowed to progress without sacred restrictions, will completely destroy society’s moral and ethical values. Schultze says that technology, specifically the Internet, consists merely of “fragmented information,” fabricated and truthful news combined in no cohesive way (47). He says there is no morally acute or logical organization to the Internet; thus, consumers cannot grasp insight from it or use it in a way that is meaningful. He believes that humans lose themselves in the abyss of cyberspace in an unhealthy way. “Without responsible frames of reference, we turn information technologies into cold machines that destroy our capacity to think wisely, feel empathetically, and act virtuously. Our statistical imaginations tell us that we are progressing, while we fall into moral chaos,” Schultze says (38). Just because consumers have access to a multitude of information, does not necessarily mean that these facts are being used in a meaningful way. He says that as people become more concerned with taking pieces of information, they will reflect less and less and their values will evaporate.
The way in which we take and produce information further supports Schultze’s problem with technology. He says that people use cyberspace irresponsibly. Consumers take and produce only what they want in cyberspace; furthermore, in the process, they act foolishly. “The Internet, in particular, has become a portal to evil where many people learn that incivility is fun, crudeness is a game, and the individual alone should be the only arbiter of truth and justice” (20). People have the ability to re-invent themselves online once, or multiple times. Through those virtual identities, they can act out fantasies and indecent actions. Schultze says that this emphasis on individual power and virtual operation is dangerous because “information technology becomes a means of manipulating the world to get what we want” (33). Selfishness, he says, shields consumers’ away from any deep meaning or reflection inspired from technology. Because people sign online solely to find and grab information they wish to see or act with immoral behavior, they miss an element of the whole. People are not using technology to learn more about the physical world around them or even on the whole of the Internet world, but rather all focus on themselves. Through e-mail, personalized applications, and Web space, consumers create a cyberworld revolving around their interests and their virtual life. Furthermore, each person gains only what he/she wants to know from technology and suffers from a biased perspective of life, Schultze says. The Internet provides “information but no insight” and promotes the idea of “observation over intimacy” (31). Technology has the capacity to connect the world, but is being used in an isolated way.
Because the Internet is so individualistic, each person who enters the Web has substantial influence on the information conveyed. There are millions of opportunities for individuals to create web space that sends opinionated information to the masses. In this way, cyberspace rejects authenticity (130). An example of the individualistic (as opposed to expert) input online is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that informs individuals based on information that other individuals (anyone with access to the site) write and deem important. “Cyberspace further blurs the distinction between information and propaganda” (62). Schultze says the Internet is not helpful because false information appears as important as hard facts. Additionally, individuals have the ability voice their opinions and ideas about most any subject matter. Schultz says it is this “individual interpretation rather than shared interpretation” that can be particularly destructive (64). Today’s culture does not place emphasis on authenticity or facts, consumers just want information in a quick, easy accessible way. Schultz says information without authenticity is useless and will create more harm than good.
Cyberspace is not only an information source, but it is also a social network. Schultze says that virtual communities are particularly dangerous because a real sense of relationship cannot be found online. He said that just like information is fragmented without meaning, small communities are isolated and meaningless if they solely exist online. “Real community is marked by lay participation over expert control, geographic proximity instead of disembodied messaging, open dialogue rather than one-way messaging, neighborliness above bureaucratic authority, and cross-generational continuity instead of intra-generational myopia” (23). Because there is no overarching referent, these communities have no moral direction. Thus, communities use cyberspace in a foolish way. “Informationism encourages informational promiscuity: impersonal relationships based on feigned intimacies and lacking moral integrity” (35). He says that e-mail, instant messaging, and comment posting are not elements of true intimate relationships. The selfish and immoral relationships created through technology are re-defining the idea of relationships. “Instead of intentionally embedding cyber-technology within existing cultures, we let cyber-technology shape our ways of life” (20).
Schultze says that technology permeates almost every inch of individuals’ lives. More information, fast is what appears most important to modern society. He said this idea is seriously flawed. “Slowing down our rate of retrieving and disseminating information is a necessary but insufficient step toward reclaiming the habits of the heart” (69). If we can’t slow down, we will have “thinner lives,” lives without moral conscience (68). Schultze places great importance on listening in relationships. However, he said that a fast-paced society, as promoted by technology, discourages listening because there simply is no time allowed to stop and care about others. He says that one must listen above the noise to be truly human. “A faithful listener no longer hears information and technique as ends in themselves” (80). Pausing to reflect on information is the answer he provides for individuals wrapped up in cyberculture.
The book made me think about “fragmented information” in a way that I had not before. To me, googling only the information I wanted to grab from the Internet never seemed like a selfish or biased pursuit. More importantly, I clutter my life with information that I do not take time to reflect on. I agree that our culture is too concerned with a fast-pace lifestyle, but I do not solely condemn technology for this trend. While I understand his logic about specific communities within cyberspace, I do not think that technology is destroying communities in any catastrophic way. I use technology to re-enforce and supplement my physical relationships. For example, thanks to my Facebook updates, I discovered that today is my friend’s 21st birthday. I immediately messaged my friend and also received an invite via my message box to her birthday party. Without such technology, I would have missed out on an important social experience with my friends. Technology helps me stay in touch. Also, I am convinced that without the help of technology, my friendships would not be as strong because we would never have time (I didn’t say I don’t enjoy a busy lifestyle) to communicate in person as much as we do online. I wish that this book would have covered the social aspect of cyberspace from both sides of the issue, because I think that his view was incomplete.
This book fits well into religious discussions covered in the class Religion, Ritual, and Virtual Reality because Schultze voices specific religious messages to readers in regards to virtual reality and how it is shaping our culture. He says that technology will ultimately render us emotionless, without any spirituality or religion. “If we are not careful, our uses of information technology can transform distinctly religious practices into instrumental habits devoid of heartfelt knowing” (73). He also discusses virtual worlds similar to those talked about in class such as SecondLife. He says that worship and religion can never be fulfilled through virtual means. He said people cannot go through rituals online because a physical element is essential to spirituality. “Religious traditions could never exist purely in cyberspace” (74). He even says that the use of technology in brick and mortar churches impedes the religious experience because it distracts more than assists with the sermon (97).
Schultze believes that cyberspace will ultimately lead to moral evaporation. “Data storage will replace human memory. Data will be the only intelligence our species will need” (148). He says that unless consumers take time to stop, reflect, and listen to information presented to them, they will become cold and machine-like themselves. Instead of maturing into more informed individuals, people are becoming fragmented and isolated pieces of society. “Unless we focus as much on the quality of our character as we do on technological innovation, potentially good informational techniques will ultimately reduce our capacity to love one another” (19). He predicts a life of machines and computers that replace emotion or conviction of any kind. To change his predictions about a cyberspace technology, Schultze says more attention must be paid to the physical self as opposed to the cyberself.
