Show Notes
This week, Jake and Bob are joined by Andrew Laubacher, the Executive Director of Humanality, to explore how our digital world is reshaping our attention, attachments, and relationships. After stepping away from social media and smart phones to overcome addiction, Andrew realized that healing sometimes requires more than better habits, fasting, or more prayer—it requires recovering the way God created us to live and relate. Together, they discuss the false intimacy of online community, the loneliness epidemic, and why technology is never as neutral as we assume. Andrew also shares practical steps you can begin today to live intentionally with technology.
Key Points: Modern technology offers a false intimacy while leaving us increasingly isolated, lonely, and craving real in-person community. Human beings are biologically designed for face-to-face connection, not constant digital interaction. Technology is not neutral because every platform is intentionally designed to keep us using it. AI offers remarkable benefits but also presents significant dangers when it replaces authentic human relationships. Healing requires real encounter, attention, and attachment that technology can never fully provide. Many of today's mental health struggles exist alongside a broader crisis of addiction and overstimulation. Constant digital stimulation weakens our capacity for focus, presence, contemplation, and prayer. It also affects sleep, physical health, eyesight, and overall well-being. Living intentionally with technology allows people to recover creativity, purpose, authentic relationships, and a deeper encounter with God.
Resources: Humanality
Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 06:49 How Technology Diminishes our Humanity 14:04 Artificial Community and False Intimacy 21:03 Can AI Heal Us? 31:10 The Tension of Virtual Communication 36:54 Attention, Attachment, and Addiction 52:33 Reclaiming Your Attention 57:07 Resources and Encouragement
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