Reclaiming attention
Alexis Hiniker, Jacob O. Wobbrock · interactions · 2022
Christianity: 1) portrays a living God who invites each person into a close relationship with him, 2) calls on all people to cultivate intimate and loving relationships with one another, and 3) extends this relational model to the natural world, charging each person to be a caring steward of God's creation.Here, we reflect on ways-both positive and negativein which the design of technology currently collides with the Christian priority of cultivating these three loving relationships: with God, with others, and with creation (Figure 1).Technology has the potential to support the challenging work of relationship building, and yet too often, it undermines it instead.We consider both possibilities and reflect on how HCI designers might pursue relationally enhancing systems. THE CHRISTIAN PRIORITIZATION OF RELATIONSHIPSIn relationship with God.A thread that runs throughout Christian doctrine is the idea that God invites each of his Christianity is the world's most practiced religion.Its followers hold that Jesus of Nazareth was the divine Son of God, who was resurrected from the dead following his crucifixion, thereby fulfilling the Jewish messianic prophecies as foretold in the Hebrew Bible.Christians believe that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine, and that his resurrection demonstrates that the faithful will not perish but will instead enter an eternal life with God after death.The current wave of human-computer interaction research seeks to support people in living a life of meaning, and billions of people-spanning continents and millennia-have derived great meaning from a Christian faith that they have made their life's foundation.What animates the Christian worldview and causes it to resonate with so many?We examine one possible answer to this question and consider how HCI designers might respond to and support what Christians find meaningful in their faith and life.Centrally, Christian teaching and practice is deeply preoccupied with human relationships.As we describe below, Insights → Christianity is fundamentally about our relationships with God, others, and creation.→ Many of today's interactive technologies consume our attention and erode, rather than edify, those relationships.→ Rethinking technology design to be relationally edifying requires changing how our attention is monetized.