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Surviving the Tech Tsunami [Gary Miller]

by August 15, 2025

       In 2007, the IPhone revolutionized cell phone technology. Now 15 years later, it’s almost hard to remember the world without apps, touchscreens, and fast internet. In the few short decades of its existence, the internet has torn down our world and built it anew. Surviving the Tech Tsunami, by Gary Miller, calls us to consider how the tech revolution is also shaping us, our families, and our churches.

       Is technology inherently good, evil, or neutral? Progress or regress? “We don’t all agree on which technology is a blessing and which is a curse,” says Miller, “most of us like technology that has been around a long time, but are suspicious about recent inventions” (30). Each technology comes with its own risks and benefits that must be weighed. Obviously, not all technology is equal in this regard. (A hoe and a computer have vastly different potential for use or misuse.) Yet even the best inventions come with unintended consequences. Inventors make new technology to solve problems, but in the process, “they are changing people’s view of themselves, their fellow men, the world, and they are also creating new problems” (27). 

       Miller’s book focuses primarily on the internet and related electronic technology. These innovations shape more than our physical world; they shape our relationships, our ability to think, our brains, and our emotions in outsized ways. We like to think we’re more enlightened than idol worshipers of old, but are we really? Social media offers us unlimited relationships on our terms. Google answers all our questions. Movies, music, and mindless games keep boredom at bay. Click, click; craving satisfied. “Could it be that some of these technological advances are threatening our spiritual lives in ways we struggle to articulate?” (36).

       What sets this book apart from other tech-skeptical literature (and there are a lot of good resources out there) is Miller’s research. In the last section of the book, Miller looks at how Anabaptist churches are responding to the tech revolution. He interviewed youth and church leaders from churches across the Anabaptist spectrum and compared the results. One not-so-surprising takeaway: youth are consuming a lot more pop-culture than their pastors think they are. Miller divides churches into four categories, from Regulated to Permissive. The only churches responding well to this cultural moment are those who deliberately cultivate the vision to resist the flow. This happens through intentional teaching, strong relationships, and community accountability.

        Returning to that idea of risks and benefits, Miller reminds us that God redeems man’s technological “progress” for his glory. Consider the opportunities we have to share the gospel around the world today! Yet we must also beware the danger. Indeed, “God may call you to abandon something that initially had advantages” (212). Miller’s book gives us a thought provoking and necessary message for our time.