Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

Addictive video game design isn’t some kind of voodoo magic. It’s a science. We can look at a game and very quickly assess whether it is designed to be unhealthy—whether the game is more than just a great story or engaging gameplay, but in fact is programmed to extract time and money from those who play it.
This episode is a practical approach to understanding the health of our gaming choices and habits.

RESOURCES: 

Resource for making a family tech framework
Verse for today: “‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things are helpful. ‘All things are lawful,’ but not all things build up.” (1 Corinthians 10:23)
Gospel Tech Episode 63: Can Video Games Be Addictive
Example of a game with fast feedback: Candy Crush.
Great overview of the four types of rewards used in unhealthy game design: Ben Lewis-Evans, UX Researcher, Epic Games (Fortnite), Psychology PhD.
Call of Duty Prestige Ranks
Marshmello's Fortnite Concert
Clash of Clans, a game who has benefited greatly from microtransactions
In 2018 both Belgium and the Netherlands banned Loot Crates

As parents we want answers. We don't want theory, we want actionable steps we can take right now. 
If my kid isn’t sleeping I don’t want a bunch of research about sleep, I want my 8 hours of sleep back. Now! 
If my kid has a bad attitude I don’t want general facts about child development, I want concrete actions I can take to help win my child’s heart.
This episode will address actions you can take, starting today, with your family to answer the question: "What should I do about tech in my family?”.

Resources referenced:

Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity. Ward et al, 2017
Philippians 4:8: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Help making a family tech framework: gospeltech.net/resources 
Other resources on the subject: gospeltech.net

There's a lot of news and information available in the digital world. What we don't need is one more talking head telling us what to think about current goings-on. We need to be reminded of the Gospel and how it applies to the way we consume our news and information.
We absolutely must engage the news and the world events around it, but we don’t serve the news. We don’t worship any individual, outlet, or even country over the name and power of Jesus, his blood that redeems us, and the power of the Holy Spirit he has won for us. In Jesus we are indwelled by the Living God. In Jesus we are Children with a full eternal inheritance in addition to being brand new creations—we want new things, we say new things, we get rid of the old things.
And that needs to be something we actually DO when it comes to our news.
Join in our conversation today as we talk about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ must change the way we engage our news.

We need to understand this conversation in order to apply the Gospel to this area of our tech. We need to understand:

what we mean by addiction
what make video games unique from other activities
what we can do with this info to help us raise healthy youth in a tech world


Here are the resources referenced in this episode: 

intro of Animal Crossing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AkEFot5UF0
Epic Games (Fortnite) UX researcher, Ben Lewis-Evans, talks rewards, feedback, and video game engagement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjHl8Vrfrfk&list=WL&index=1


Resources:

https://www.gospeltech.net/resources/
RESET: https://www.gospeltech.net/how-do-i-know-if-my-childs-tech-use-is-healthy/ and there is also a podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882?i=1000504369124
Articles: gospeltech.net/blog


Podcast episodes referenced in this episode: 

Analog adventures: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882?i=1000465922282
Books - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882?i=1000500046640
Board games - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882?i=1000498958510
How to reclaim healthy tech
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882?i=1000507413497
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882?i=1000508299547
kids and smartphones: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882?i=1000516915359
social media: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882?i=1000514056394

Today's podcast is dedicated to answering a listener-submitted question (Thank you amazing listeners!), and it also happens to be one of the more common questions we hear from parents: When should my child get a smartphone? 
This conversation is foundational to applying the Gospel to our daily tech lives and we'll tackle it in three parts:
1) the big picture around smartphones
2) weighing the upsides
3) engaging this conversation within your home

Resources: 

Gospel Tech resources including the game review resource: https://www.gospeltech.net/resources/ 
The online workshop to help your family build a tech framework: gospeltechworkshop.com
For online accountability we strongly suggest Covenant Eyes with Android smartphones and home computers: https://www.covenanteyes.com
For an additional layer Circle is a great resource to help maintain safe wifi access at home: https://meetcircle.com/app/

We talk a lot on this podcast about how we can intentionally raise healthy youth in a tech world. We talk a lot about the Gospel and how it empowers our actions, but what about when our child makes poor choices on purpose? What if we've done all the right stuff and they simply refuse to go along with it? 
Today's conversation is dedicated to the reality that sometimes our children are prodigals: They make bad decisions on purpose. They do so openly, and they are not sorry or repentant. Join us today as we dive into how we can process this as parents and should, and shouldn't, do when trying to love a tech prodigal. 

note: Nathan tried to mix his enthusiasm for this topic with using big words. Please forgive his misuse of the word "glut" at 9:38. He meant deficit.

Modern life often requires we adopt digital tech, but some tech has been slow to drop the Drool tech and enhance the Tool tech. Today we talk with Chris Kaspar, founder of Techless and the Wisephone—a phone for those who want a phone, pure and simple. 
Chris talks to us about his experiences in the tech industry, what inspired his creation of Wisephone, and how we as loving parents can use tech such as this to encourage and support healthy tech in our lives as well as the lives of our kids. 

resources: 

The Techless Website
article: The Dangerous Riches of Our Smart Phones

When we go online we need to act out of the truth of the Gospel. The Gospel transforms us, it changes who we are, what we want, and why we want it. So when we go online, the same is true.
Today we walk through how the Gospel changes our social media use. We’ll base our discussion out of Matthew 22:35-40 and look at what it can mean for us to truly love God and love our neighbors in this online, digital world.

We need to learn how to talk about tech, especially in our marriages. Today we talk about lessons we learned from a reason tech-instigated kerfuffle and how we can all apply these lessons to strengthen our resolve to truly love one another as God has called us to, and use tech in the process.

Today’s podcast is going to focus entirely on a question asked by a concerned parent: “What are the best tools, workshops, and tips for protecting our families [from sexual content online]?”
Today we’re going to talk specifically about online accountability, pornography, and some specific tools, workshops, and resources you can use to equip and support your family in this critical area.

Resources: 
website:https://fightthenewdrug.org
check them out on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fightthenewdrug/
S.3, Ep.8: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882?i=1000495377769
S.3, Ep.4 talks about that if you’d like a general overview: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882?i=1000492084424
gospeltechworkshop.com
Tools:

Covenant Eyes for accountability (it's the one I use personally),
Meet Circle for help with home wifi,
Swap any smartphones to something like the Wisephone or Gabb Mobile.