Screwtape on the Digital Age

My Dear Wormwood,

It seems as though you are doing a marginal job with the patient lately. I was much pleased to hear of his newly acquired “facebook” habit. Much good has been accomplished by our Father Below in this newly developing area. Not only do the little animals not realize that they are wasting what short time they have, but they actually believe that they enjoy it! Be very careful though my dear Wormwood. You must remember that every temptation is a gloriously perverted tool originally created by the Enemy to bring the humans foul happiness. Hours of self-centered entertainment can easily be converted into a retched social discovery if not monitored carefully.

Never before have these animals been able to communicate with such ease. The cooperation and cohesiveness that is attainable in this the digital age is enough even to make the most senior tempters uneasy. Your patient must never realize that his hours of useless meandering, if slightly altered, could bring him untold satisfaction. Complacency is the greatest tool in our Father’s arsenal. The same principle applies here my young nephew. Think back to my advice concerning prayer.  The best thing to do when the patient is an adult, recently reconverted to the Enemy’s party, is to remind him of his parrot-like prayers from his childhood. Otherwise, he may be persuaded to aim at something spontaneous, inward, informal, and un-regularized. These prayers result in answers from the Enemy and retched happiness and satisfaction to the patient. The same principle can be utilized in your current situation. Never let the human see the opportunities that lie before him. Remind him that he is comfortable with the amount of interaction he has with his cyber peers. Foster in him an attitude of fear (another formidable arrow in the quiver) towards public information. Work to convince him that being cooperative is dangerous and inferior to other forms of research and production.

Hornswallow and Greenfleck have spent considerable effort convincing a very aristocratic group of academia that social media is a somehow lesser form of communication and research. Brilliant, isn’t it? Their most influential voices in literary circles believe that this treasure trove of information is worthless because it is informal. Remember, Nephew, to instill a feeling that difficulty to access information equates value, as opposed to the veracity of the content. We have won many battles in this war on free thought. Firstly, one of our greatest victories is that there are volumes upon volumes of disgustingly brilliant ideas created by these little monsters hidden safely behind restricted access databases, unsearchable to all but a few with even fewer who know how to find the information they seek. Secondly, we have convinced humans that the idea behemoth called the blogosphere is “unreliable” and “a passing trend.” The fools! Even one of their authors - a Mr. Nicholas Carr - has written that the internet is making humans stupid. He is correct to a point. But only because we, through temptation, and this ruling academic class have taught them to use their tools to their own destruction.

I think that this is enough tutelage for now, Nephew. It is imperative if your patient begins to see the worth of his now idle pastime you may find yourself with a much greater problem of an enlightened, informed, and connect patient.

Your Uncle Screwtape