Tom Beaudoin, in Virtual Faith, explores the medium of cyberspace as a place for theologically significant communities of faith for Generation X. Instead of face to face community, we’re talking about community mediated by the screen.
In his chapter on experience for Generation X, Tom takes the quest for speed (note this was 1998) and full presence and connects it with the quests for full interpersonal interaction and transcendence of human experience. I’m not convinced that many internet users would see their online experience in theological terms. But I do believe that behind the growing compulsion to connect online there is the hunger that Tom alerts us to.
The blogging community that connects the Emerging Church movement around the world, particularly in the United States and UK. To break into it one has to establish not just a web presence (read web site) but take part in conversation on a weekly if not daily basis. As a blogger I know that people will not read what I write unless it is updated regularly and relates to fresh experience or new material. Take Tall Skinny Kiwi as an example. He’s just turned up at an Emerging Church conference and met people who comment on his blog. Yesterday’s blog consisted of greetings from them all!
The development of online presence is being taken seriously by the Gen Xers, but is being taken further by the Millennials. I’m experiencing that in my own home. Livejournal is addictive. Visiting other journals, commenting, and responding to comments is a time consuming business. But even more addictive is the Neopets chat boards scene. A user can be sucked in with the anxiety that people will forget you if you don’t participate. There are so many people out there to connect with. And of course, online games are designed to be addictive.
The positive attraction of the virtual community is that you can search for and connect with people who have similar interests and passions rather than the people who live in the same street or suburb. An internet user can try out different personas as he or she reinvents himself. This means that religious or spiritual conversation can be part of reinvention. However, as Beaudoin points out, we should not avoid the difficult religious tasks of loving and seeking justice in the ‘real world’.
The phrase ‘real world’ does have problems. The people I connect with online are real people. The issues we deal with are real. Some of these are flesh and blood relatives. Others are people I will never meet. But that does not diminish the reality of our connection. It’s the embodiment that’s missing. However, is there not a case for expressing the incarnation in cyberspace? I’d be keen to find another phrase that helps us distinguish between online and offline community. Maybe I’ve used the terms that most accurately describe what I’m looking for.
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