Breaking The Digital Spell

Austin Gravley

5.0 (1)
CHRISTIANITY
UPDATED MONTHLY

A podcast that explores the way technology and media shape our thoughts about God and our neighbor. Available wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube. Visit bio.link.com/digitalspell for extra podcast resources or to support the podcast with a Buy Me A Coffee tip or subscription!

02/07/2022

SA-8: How Churches Can Break the Social Media Prism

In the last decade, churches have been on the back foot when it comes to responding to changes in the technology and media landscape. There are too many things changing far too fast, and as soon as a trend appears, it ends as quickly as it came. And yet, churches easily feel the worst effects of this rapidly changing landscape: distraction, confusion, and above all, polarization and division among its members. Our pastors and ministry leaders cannot compete with the number of voices available to disciple us, nor the amount of time we spend with them each week. But what if fighting information with information, and tribalism with tribalism, wasn't the only option on the table? What if cutting through polarization and division was less about giving people better information, and more about giving people a better identity? What if many of the solutions posited for polarization and division were solutions that churches - and Christianity - are uniquely positioned to provide? After three episodes of bad news and diagnosing serious problems, now it's time for solutions - and this time, churches have the advantage. Episode manuscript: https://digitalbabylon.substack.com/p/how-churches-can-break-the-social-media-prism -------- Subscribe to Passing Through Digital Babylon, a Substack of insights and reflections from passing through the digital empire while journeying towards the heavenly city! Purchase a copy of Chris Bail's "Breaking the Social Media Prism" and check out the Polarization Lab! “Forget the Echo Chamber - Social Media is a Prism” on FaithTech. “What Is Media Ecology? A Conversation with Austin Gravley” on YouTube Connect with Austin and Breaking the Digital Spell * Twitter: @DigitalSpell and @gravley_austin * Instagram: @breakingthedigitalspell * YouTube: Breaking the Digital Spell * Facebook: BtDS Facebook Page * Email: breakingthedigitalspell@gmail.com Support the show

1h 59m
01/03/2022

SA-7: Internet Trolls and the Quest for the Inner Ring

Episode manuscript: https://digitalbabylon.substack.com/p/internet-trolls-and-the-quest-for The amplification of extremists and the muting of moderates. When it comes to social media's impact on American politics (and many other subjects), Chris Bail argues the two biggest effects of the social media prism feed into each other, making political extremists embolden and empowered to troll anyone they can and for moderates to give up hope that nuanced political dialogue and opinions are possible anymore. What drives Internet trolls to be trolls? What gives moderates the impression that discussing controversial topics online is so risky despite being the largest voting bloc in the country? What if both Internet trolls and the average American use social media in completely different ways because they're both looking for the same thing - and what if a Christian writer named C.S. Lewis had something to say about all this more than 80 years ago? —— Buy Me a Coffee and keep Breaking the Digital Spell a high quality ad-free experience! Leave a one-time tip (without making an account) or unlock exclusive content with a $5 monthly membership at buymeacoffee.com/digitalspell! Purchase a copy of Chris Bail's "Breaking the Social Media Prism" and check out the Polarization Lab! “Forget the Echo Chamber - Social Media is a Prism” on FaithTech. “What Is Media Ecology? A Conversation with Austin Gravley” on YouTube Connect with Austin and Breaking the Digital Spell * Twitter: @DigitalSpell and @gravley_austin * Instagram: @breakingthedigitalspell * YouTube: Breaking the Digital Spell * Facebook: BtDS Facebook Page * Email: breakingthedigitalspell@gmail.com Support the show (http://buymeacoffee.com/digitalspell) Support the show

1h 1m
12/06/2021

SA-6: Distorted Beyond the Funhouse Mirror

Episode manuscript: https://digitalbabylon.substack.com/p/distorted-beyond-the-funhouse-mirror When you stand in front of a funhouse mirror, your image in distorted in some bizarre and unusual way. Whether you get huge legs or a giant head, you know a funhouse mirror is not meant to give you a true reflection of yourself the way a normal mirror does. But what happens when a society or culture mistakes a funhouse mirror for a mirror capable of accurately reflecting culture and society around us? What if social media gives us outsized views of polarization, extremism, or other distortions of ourselves while pretending to be a truthful mirror, and what if - unlike a normal funhouse mirror - those distortions we see in social media stay with us even after we've stopped looking in the mirror? What direction do those distortions go, and how do they change how we see ourselves and those we disagree with? —— Purchase a copy of Chris Bail's "Breaking the Social Media Prism" and check out the Polarization Lab! “Forget the Echo Chamber - Social Media is a Prism” on FaithTech. “What Is Media Ecology? A Conversation with Austin Gravley” on YouTube Connect with Austin and Breaking the Digital Spell * Twitter: @DigitalSpell and @gravley_austin * Instagram: @breakingthedigitalspell * YouTube: Breaking the Digital Spell * Facebook: BtDS Facebook Page * Email: breakingthedigitalspell@gmail.com Support the show (http://buymeacoffee.com/digitalspell) Support the show

43 min
11/01/2021

SA-5: Stepping on the Glass of Broken Echo Chambers

Episode manuscript: https://digitalbabylon.substack.com/p/stepping-on-the-glass-of-broken-echo Political polarization and tribalism are on the rise, and social media appears to be the chief culprit. The ability to customize our social media feeds to only hear the voices we want to hear has lead us into echo chambers of increasingly one-sided viewpoints and unchecked misinformation - at least, that's what cultural wisdom suggests. But is that actually true? What actually happens when people step outside their "echo chambers"? Is information really the driving force behind the rise of political polarization, radical viewpoints, and extreme behavior on social media? Or, as secular sociologist Chris Bail and Christian philosopher James K.A. Smith both argue, are our behaviors and actions driven by something deeper than simply what we think - and how does the Gospel give the church an advantage in addressing polarization? —— Purchase a copy of Chris Bail's "Breaking the Social Media Prism" and check out the Polarization Lab! “Forget the Echo Chamber - Social Media is a Prism” on FaithTech. “What Is Media Ecology? A Conversation with Austin Gravley” on YouTube Connect with Austin and Breaking the Digital Spell * Twitter: @DigitalSpell and @gravley_austin * Instagram: @breakingthedigitalspell * YouTube: Breaking the Digital Spell * Facebook: BtDS Facebook Page * Email: breakingthedigitalspell@gmail.com Support the show (http://buymeacoffee.com/digitalspell) Support the show

37 min
10/25/2021

Can Content Warnings Make Instagram Safer for Kids? (Buy Me a Coffee Member Preview)

When the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook knew that Instagram was toxic and harmful to teen girls, it lit up a firestorm greater than any of the other stories the Journal would break in it’s “Facebook Files” series. Nick Clegg, VP of Global Affairs, recently went on to CNN to discuss the Journal’s report and revealed that Instagram would be rolling out several features that will help curb Instagram’s harmful impact on teenage mental health. But will things like warning labels for harmful content or nudges to “take a break” actually make a difference? Is Facebook’s emphasis on problematic content a sincere attempt to fix the issue, or a diversion from the true source of the problem? Episodes like this are an example of the bonus content you can expect with a Buy Me a Coffee membership to Breaking the Digital Spell. For $5/mo, you can support the podcast and receive extra episodes, commentary, behind-the-scenes previews, and more. Media literacy is the biggest gaping hole in our discipleship, and every dollar of your support (even a one-time tip!) goes towards creating content and (one day) resources that will help close that gap! —— Buy Me a Coffee and keep Breaking the Digital Spell a high quality ad-free experience! Leave a one-time tip (without making an account) or unlock exclusive content with a $5 monthly membership at buymeacoffee.com/digitalspell! Purchase a copy of Chris Bail's "Breaking the Social Media Prism" “Forget the Echo Chamber - Social Media is a Prism” on FaithTech. “What Is Media Ecology? A Conversation with Austin Gravley” on YouTube Connect with Austin and Breaking the Digital Spell * Twitter: @DigitalSpell and @gravley_austin * Instagram: @breakingthedigitalspell * YouTube: Breaking the Digital Spell * Facebook: BtDS Facebook Page * Email: breakingthedigitalspell@gmail.com Support the show (http://buymeacoffee.com/digitalspell) Support the show

13 min
10/18/2021

SA-4: Should Christians Leave Social Media? A Conversation About Digital Babylon

The Bible gives us a framework for understanding and navigating a world dominated by social media: Christians are to live as faithfully obedient exiles in the midst of Digital Babylon. This is the claim we explored on the prior episode of Breaking the Digital Spell, and we ended the episode open to pushback or objections to this idea. In this bonus episode, Austin sits down with Jacob Cates, executive pastor of Redeemer Christian Church, to talk through some good questions and objections to the “Digital Babylon” framework. Are there other analogies that are more helpful to us? How could the “Digital Babylon” framework be improved? But most importantly: If social media is truly akin to Digital Babylon, shouldn’t Christians try to come out of that empire and get off social completely? Clarification: many of Jacob's comments on individualism/identity come from Carl Trueman's "The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self." As it is with all the books we've featured on BtDS, quoting an author favorably on one point does not mean an endorsement of everything an author says or does elsewhere. —— Buy Me a Coffee and keep Breaking the Digital Spell a high quality ad-free experience! Leave a one-time tip (without making an account) or unlock exclusive content with a $5 monthly membership at buymeacoffee.com/digitalspell! Purchase a copy of Chris Bail's "Breaking the Social Media Prism" “Forget the Echo Chamber - Social Media is a Prism” on FaithTech. “What Is Media Ecology? A Conversation with Austin Gravley” on YouTube Connect with Austin and Breaking the Digital Spell * Twitter: @DigitalSpell and @gravley_austin * Instagram: @breakingthedigitalspell * YouTube: Breaking the Digital Spell * Facebook: BtDS Facebook Page * Email: breakingthedigitalspell@gmail.com Support the show

59 min
09/27/2021

SA-3: On Esther, Daniel, and Exile in Digital Babylon

The Babylonian exile is arguably the most important event in the history of the Old Testament. Israel's long descent into apostasy ends with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the people of God are forcibly relocated to a pagan nation that they did not want to live in. But the Babylonian exile is more than just a date and time in history - it is a framework, used by New Testament writers and by Christians for millennia, that helps us understand what faithful obedience to God looks like in a sinful world. In this episode of Breaking the Digital Spell, we look at the Babylonian Exile and the lives of Esther and Daniel and how these can help us understand what faithful obedience to God looks like not just in a sinful world, but a digital world - in Digital Babylon. How would applying this biblical framework to our social media world shape our understanding of the world that we currently live in and how we are called to live in it? Like the exiles who asked "how do we live in Babylon?", how do we live in Digital Babylon? Full episode manuscript: https://digitalbabylon.substack.com/p/on-esther-daniel-and-exile-in-digital Chapter Divisions Part One: The Top of the Rabbit Hole - 1:10Part Two: Introducing Digital Babylon - 29:58Part Three: The Reality of Exile - 43:23Part Four: Engagement in Exile - 51:23Part Five: Providence in Exile - 1:16:58Tanak Order Reading List The introduction of "A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the Old Testament", ed. by Miles V. Van Pelt."Dominion and Dynasty" by Stephen Dempster "Know How We Got Our Bible" by Ryan M. Reeves and Charles HillPurchase a copy of Chris Bail's "Breaking the Social Media Prism" Connect with Austin and Breaking the Digital Spell: Twitter: @gravley_austin and @DigitalSpellFacebook: BtDS Facebook PageEmail: breakingthedigitalspell@gmail.comSupport the show

1h 37m
08/30/2021

SA-2: On Students and Brett McCracken's "The Wisdom Pyramid"

Media literacy is the biggest gaping hole in our discipleship. We can feel its effects in our churches and our lives in the same way we can feel the effects of poor financial stewardship or failing marriages in our churches. Plenty of courses and programs exist for churches to address financial literacy and building healthy marriages, but what about for media literacy? The problem has festered for so long feels so overwhelming; it's hard to know where to start! In this episode of Breaking the Digital Spell, we look at one particular resource, Brett McCracken's "The Wisdom Pyramid", and report from the field of trying to fill the gap with some high school students - and offer some helpful perspective on why doing something imperfectly is better than doing nothing at all. Produced by Austin Gravley and Andrew Akins. Hosted by Austin Gravley. Mixing by Andrew Akins. Additional vocal talent from Melissa Gravley. Support the show

15 min

TRAILER

S1E0: Season One Preview

For this first season of Breaking the Digital Spell, we are going to look at how changes in technology and media - from the printing press to television, from television to the Internet, from the Internet to social media and beyond - change the way we think about God and what we think about when we think about God. With the help of thinkers like Neil Postman, Nicholas Carr, Alan Noble, and several others, we are going to examine how we got to the digitally-driven world we live in today, and how we think about Christianity in light of the changes this digitally-driven world brought. Some of these changes are good. Some of them, not so good. But we won’t know what to do about it until we start asking questions.Support the show

08/11/2018

•

3 min

A podcast that explores the way technology and media shape our thoughts about God and our neighbor. Available wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube. Visit bio.link.com/digitalspell for extra podcast resources or to support the podcast with a Buy Me A Coffee tip or subscription!

Creator

Austin Gravley
Years Active

2018 - 2022
Episodes

25
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2025 Breaking The Digital Spell
Show Website

Breaking The Digital Spell