John Dyer, PhD

Writing

A Meaningful Distraction: The Beeper that Wouldn’t Stop

By John Dyer on November 5, 2009March 5, 2020

In the course of studying the nature of technology, I am often faced with the negative side of our tools. So, for this blog’s first birthday (happy birthday, blog!), IContinue readingA Meaningful Distraction: The Beeper that Wouldn’t Stop

SimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World by Douglas Estes (Review)

By John Dyer on November 2, 2009March 5, 2020

As an aside, I’ve just added a Books & Resources section that has a brief bibliography of books that address technology and faith. Recently, Douglas Estes posted on CT’s Out ofContinue readingSimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World by Douglas Estes (Review)

The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community (Review)

By John Dyer on October 30, 2009March 5, 2020

Jesse Rice is a former worship arts director from California, and he’s just released one of the first books that directly addresses Christian community and identity in the social networkingContinue readingThe Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community (Review)

Testing Out Four Philosophies of Technology on Twitter

By John Dyer on October 27, 2009March 5, 2020

In the philosophy of technology world, there are quite a few theories and descriptions of technology. In an attempt to simply (and most likely butcher) the dozens of highly nuancedContinue readingTesting Out Four Philosophies of Technology on Twitter

Updating Postman’s Future: Terminator vs. Matrix

By John Dyer on October 20, 2009March 5, 2020

Postman’s Genius In the introduction to Postman’s classic Amusing Ourselves to Death he compares the futures presented in two sci-fi novels to make a point about the direction he seesContinue readingUpdating Postman’s Future: Terminator vs. Matrix

Running Without All The Noise

By rhettsmith on October 2, 2009March 5, 2020

The following is a guest post by Rhett Smith in a series called Media Ecology Experiments in which we encourage each other to use technology creatively and differently so thatContinue readingRunning Without All The Noise

Did You Know 4.0

By John Dyer on September 21, 2009March 5, 2020

Last week an update to the popular “Did You Know” videos was released by the XPLANE group: Here are the earlier versions: Did You Know 3.0 (November 7, 2008) DidContinue readingDid You Know 4.0

Pornography Is Not Just About Lust:The Emotional Power of Images

By John Dyer on September 17, 2009March 5, 2020

Why? I will skip the statistics about how many pastors struggle with pornography, how early boys are exposed to their first pornographic image, and how destructive it has become toContinue readingPornography Is Not Just About Lust:The Emotional Power of Images

iPhones, Health Care, and Hope

By John Dyer on September 10, 2009March 5, 2020

Every June, I Get Anxious Last fall I bought a second generation iPhone which was the coolest phone I had ever owned – right up until the third generation iPhoneContinue readingiPhones, Health Care, and Hope

On Tornadoes, Piper, and Godwin’s Law

By John Dyer on August 23, 2009March 5, 2020

Crash, Bang! In case you missed it, there were some storms last week. First there was a tornado. Then John Piper offered an interpretation of the tornado and a biggerContinue readingOn Tornadoes, Piper, and Godwin’s Law