Enjoyed a fleeting moment of time with my son last night. I was finishing up the last of the Call the Midwife episodes available currently on Netflix, and he joined me in watching it.

If you haven’t seen it – it takes place in a poor district of London during the 50’s, telling the story of midwives and the nuns of Nonnatus House, a nursing convent.

There was a scene when two nuns were discussing the decline of girls choosing that particular vocation.

My son uttered “Good!” from the couch opposite to me.

That didn’t sit well with me.

“You realize that when you vehemently oppose or degrade another point of view or belief, you are impacting the validity of your own? People who are confident in their beliefs, don’t feel the need to protest so much.”

This began a conversation that touched on Religion and Technology. Our views differed – and that was okay. The dialogue was amazing.

I am not a religious person. Organized religion is not for me. But, having said that, I have respect for those of Faith. I find facets of most religions to be interesting and good.

We spoke of the benefits of being raised with something to believe in.

Of there being a place in the heart of a community where people came together.  We spoke of those who do evil in the name of their God.

We spoke of community, humanity and family.

Then technology.

My opinion was that community, humanity and family was being adversely affected by it.

My son disagreed and started to say that my opinion was formed unfairly.

I interrupted.

I told him my opinion was based on personal experience.  I was reminded of this scene  from Good Will Hunting.

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“So if I asked you about art, you’d probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life’s work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I’ll bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that.”

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I have.

I have traveled – not just googled pictures of other countries.

I have helped those in need, not just clicked ‘like’ or ‘share’ on a cause on Facebook.

I have seen world events unfold before my eyes in the Middle East – not just read an edited version of the story online.

I pointed out that most nights, we sit with our ipads and when there is a ‘ding’ we are distracted.

I am guilty of this.

I’m guilty of typing out a quick ‘Happy Birthday’ on someone’s Facebook page, instead of taking the time to remember for myself, shop for a card – handwrite my best wishes.  Guilty of Instant Messaging my own son when he is just a room away!

On a personal level, I reminded him we used to play. Together. We used to go places and give each other our full attention.

He argued that technology has brought more people together – and I could not deny that. I also cannot deny that technology is fun. Technology gives us access to information. But at what cost?

We play alone. We learn from other people’s information.

Spoon fed.

Increasingly forming foundations for values, opinions, and beliefs not from our own tangible experiences anymore.

That scares me.