The Biggest Liberty Thief Is Hiding In Your Pocket

Our smartphones don’t just connect us—they track us, monitor us, and manipulate us. They have become idols to many, shaping our behavior and stealing our liberty.

Lord Acton said, “Liberty is the freedom to do what you ought to do.” The converse of that statement is also true. When society celebrates the freedom to do what you ought NOT to do, all that is left are mobs, riots and politicians. But what if those who seek to destroy that which is good in this world, succeed not by merely changing the laws, but instead destroy the world by manipulating society into celebrating that which we ought not to do. God warned us about this in Isaiah 5:20-21, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!”

Our Smart Phones and the applications that they carry are a way into our hearts and minds. They track us, they monitor us, they manipulate us, they control what we see and hear, and in the end they are change agents in society. Even more dangerous is that they have become idols to so many people. Over 80% of people are checking their phone within 10 minutes of waking and average Americans check their phones 205 times a day. Smart phones are rapidly being used for so many other things than actually calling people. Soon they will no longer be considered phones. According to Consumer Affairs, here are the statistics on cell phone addiction:

• Nearly 57% of Americans consider themselves “mobile phone addicts.”
• Three in four admit to feeling uncomfortable without their phones.
• One in six sleep with their phones at night.
• Almost half (47%) say that they panic when their battery drops below 20%.
• Roughly half of teens ages 13 to 17 are worried that they spend too much time on their phones.

There are four ways in which cell phones steal our liberty:

1. Cell phones are designed to track our every move

Most people are aware that wireless carriers are constantly tracking our phones. What they may not know is that the phone designers are also tracking our phones. The Cell phone company tracking provides a view into how we move about on a daily basis. Would you believe the cell phone companies are actually selling this data. They anonymize it, but are still selling it. This is how Tony Seruga is able to identify the number of cell phones that are at multiple Democratic party rallies.

The second type of tracking is done by the companies that develop the phone software. Both Google and Apple are receiving telemetry data from the phones on a regular basis. Android phones are actually sending telemetry data back to Google every 4 minutes and 15 seconds. Apple’s iPhone sends telemetry data back to apple four times an hour. Telemetry data includes analytics, diagnostics and usage information. The volume and type of data is staggering. It paints a psychological picture of how we choose to use the “Smart” devices.

2. Social media is shaping how we think and view the world.

For years, social media companies have been collecting data on us. We can certainly argue that we sign up for it, but how many people really understand the magnitude of that decision. Social Media companies are creating and building profiles on each one of their users. But it isn’t just a profile to advertise to us. It is a psychological profile to know how to sway our opinion. Are we a leader, a follower, an independent view, and most important, do we convince others in our cause? Social media apps on cell phones not only gather all of the data that we are providing to social media, but as much data as they possibly can from the cell phone. Using this information, they can boost the leaders that have value to the social media companies and limit those that don’t. Followers get manipulated into following who the social media companies want them to follow. We saw a dry run of this type of control during COVID. Social media also brings out the worst in people and the social media companies amplify it.

This brings us to one of the most important questions: Does your behavior online match your behavior on Sunday? Do you behave one way on Sunday, but online, no one would be able to tell your behavior from that of an out-of-control 12-year-old? If that’s the case, please delete Jesus from your profile. Stop giving other Christians a bad name. All of this shows just how much influence social media actually has over people’s behavior. Christ tells us that we are to die to ourselves. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that the chief end of man is to Glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Social media pushes the idea that we all are our own superstars. That the world is watching everything that we say and do. We have failed to Glorify God but instead are glorifying ourselves. Again, if that’s the case, please delete Jesus from your profile.

3. Many other Apps on the phone are tracking and gathering information on us

Everything from free flashlight apps to maps to news apps are gathering information on cell phone users. Many of them are gaining access to the contacts, the website history, location data, and app data. That data is frequently sold to data brokers. One of the things that most people don’t realize is that many of these apps also reach out to social media as part of the app’s functions. So even if you have not installed any one of the social media apps on the phone, the data could still be going to social media. At a minimum, the app is communicating with social media companies. It is pretty reasonable to assume that much of the information gathered by the app is being shared with social media. In addition to sharing information with social media, many of the apps for phones include the worldview of the app developers. While not as manipulative as many of the social media companies, the ability to shape the worldview of you or your children is always there.

4. We are being entertained into a stupor

How many times have you spent hours watching video after video on your phone? You might say that this has become an addiction for so many people. It is true that if you carefully cultivate what you watch on your cell phone, it can be edifying. There is some of the best bible teaching available to watch. For the vast majority however, they are on their phones every break they can and every evening watching the latest trend, the most outrageous car crash, the latest fight in the subway, and who can forget all of the cat videos. In addition to all of this, pornography is a devastating blight on our society. More than 70% of it comes through smart phones. What are you doing to keep pornography off your phone and your children’s phones?

All of this “entertainment” dulls our minds; it takes away our time to pursue liberty. We always need to pursue liberty. Remember, liberty is the freedom to do what we ought to do. We would add that liberty is the freedom to do what Christ commands us to do. Are we ignoring Christ’s commands to us because we are engaged in being entertained into a stupor?

Facing a new type of fascism

Using all four of these methods, an inverse fascism is creeping into our country. This will not be fascism with a strong nationalist political leader taking control of corporations. C. S. Lewis described the problem in modern times of men without chests. We will face fascism in America and Europe, not with strong leaders, but with political leaders without chests. Instead of the government taking over corporations, corporations will control the government. We completely believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Notice, that you will not find America in the Bible. This tells us that that America will not be around in its current state as no nation will stand up for Israel in the last days. Imagine a future world, where every morning you wake up, pick up your phone to see the latest videos, go to your office in your bedroom, sit down, mindlessly do your meaningless work, pick up your phone every break to watch the latest entertainment with a hint of news and spend the rest of your evening watching more videos/pornography. If you are really adventurous, you might even engage in conversation on social media. You don’t leave your home because you don’t want to get fined and have video privileges taken away. Your food is prepackaged for you and delivered by drone. This is what will happen when the liberty thieves come for you.

True liberty can only be found in Christ

Choose liberty in Christ. Spend your efforts growing your relationship with Him. Follow His commands for you. Make disciples. From there work to develop local government. Support liberty minded people. Men and women with backbone who will stand up for liberty. All of this must start with you. You cannot outsource your liberty in Christ to anyone else. You certainly cannot sit in church waiting for the rapture and go back to watching your phone the moment church is over. Christ commands us to make disciples, teaching them everything that He said. We must be about our Father’s business.

Link to Article: Inverse Fascism