Can you imagine life without technology, camera phones, e-mails, webcams and text messaging? I mean—it would be like living way back in the early 90s! Seriously--you would think by the way we have integrated technology into our lives that we’ve lived with it forever.

Yet while we have been growing accustomed to communicating through machines we have inadvertently started acting as if real people don’t exist on the other side of them. In general, I believe we don’t take seriously the power of our tongue--or our fingers, for that matter. 

Consider this: A new phenomenon called “cyberbullying” is surfacing across the Internet. Teenagers are creating Web sites dedicated entirely to destroying a person mentally and emotionally.

These sites contain hateful messages about topics that range from a person’s physical traits to their religion to their intelligence. Some sites exist entirely for voting on who is the biggest “slut” or “nerd” in the high school. And, yes, people vote. 

Recently, ABC’s Prime Time Investigation: Cruel Intentions TV show chronicled an experiment by four child development researchers who took a group of 11 girls and guys, ages 13 to 17, and brought them together for a weekend. Though the teens—mainly dean’s list and honor roll students—had never met before the weekend, they were seen laughing and getting along while enjoying one another’s company. 

Then the experiment took a dramatic turn. Researchers split the middle schoolers and high schoolers into separate rooms, arming them with computers, webcams, and camera cell phones equipped with Internet service. They allowed each teen to create a different name and personality to use when communicating with the other teens.

The results were astonishing. Almost immediately these honor roll students were using R-rated language and taking what could be considered seductive pictures and sending them through e-mail. One group of girls took a photo of the “popular” kids and, using Photoshop techniques, drew cocaine under one girl’s nose, marijuana in another girl’s hand and a bottle of beer in another girl’s hand. The words, “She sold sex in exchange for drugs, ” ran across the picture. 

One teen who had e-mailed extremely hateful words about one of the popular girls in the other room began crying after being confronted about it in the girl’s presence. She even lied about what she said, though her actions had been caught on camera. Afterward, she admitted that when she witnessed the effect her words had on the girl she criticized, she realized her words could have a negative impact on a person’s life. 

Technology has jaded our view of people—the lack of face-to-face communication has emboldened us to be critical and insensitive. You might say, “That just applies to teens,” but I have been in so-called Christian chat rooms with adults and have read some of the conversations, and it doesn’t seem to me that adults are very conscious of the hurtful things they say when they are shielded by technology. Where do we think the teens get their example? 

This behavior goes beyond computers and other online mediums. While watching television, we bad-mouth celebrities and politicians—knowing we wouldn’t say those things if they were sitting with us in our living rooms. But because we’re shielded by TV technology, it doesn’t matter what we say. Right? 

Wrong. Our words have power—immense power—whether we believe that or not. The Bible is true when it says there is life and death in your tongue (see Prov. 18:21). Words negatively or positively affect a person’s life. If we believe we have the power of Christ in us, then we have to believe that our words carry the same creative power as His. 

The birds and trees came alive in Creation when God spoke them into existence. He said, “Let there be …,” and they came to life. Similarly, when He spoke to the fig tree in Matthew 21, it died. 

Our words have the same kind of power. As soon as we speak negatively about people, whether they are standing in front of us or sitting on the other side of a screen, our words affect them--negatively. 

So, can we really be upset with teenagers for doing what we, as adults, do? Yes! But we should first take a look at how WE hide behind technology.