In a recent article on Medium called What World Are We Building?, Danah Boyd writes,

I grew up in small town Pennsylvania, where I struggled to fit in. As a geeky queer kid, I rebelled against hypocritical dynamics in my community. When I first got access to the Internet, before the World Wide Web existed, I was like a kid in a candy store. Through early online communities, I met people who opened my eyes to social issues and helped me appreciate things that I didn’t even understand. Looking back, I think of the Internet as my saving grace because the people that I met — the strangers that I met — helped me take the path that I’m on today. I fell in love with the Internet as a portal to the complex, interconnected society that we live in.

Her exposition of the gains and losses of a technologized society is worth the rather extended read. Advocates of the poor — as we of the Vincentian Family claim to be — should take note of how we are affecting the less “tech-privileged” in all our societies. Says Boyd,

Data is power. Increasingly we’re seeing data being used to assert power over people. It doesn’t have to be this way, but one of the things that I’ve learned is that, unchecked, new tools are almost always empowering to the privileged at the expense of those who are not.

1. What World is the Vincentian Family Helping to Build?
2. Do you consider assuring access to the poorest?
3. Does use of technology aid or prejudice your ministry?

Read the whole article here.