Camera

In today's digital age, selfies have become a global phenomenon. Millions of people, especially young adults, spend countless hours capturing and sharing images of themselves. This trend reflects a growing desire for self-expression, social validation, and personal branding. Here are the most current stats as of the end of 2024:

• 92 million selfies are taken every day.
• Individuals spend 54 hours a year (or 7 minutes a day) taking selfies.
• The average “selfie-taker” is 24 years old.
• Women take 1.5 times more selfies than men.
• A full 95% of youth have taken selfies, compared to 63% of those aged 35–54 and only 44% of people over 55.
• Roughly 33% of pictures snapped by 18 to 24-year-olds are self-portraits.
• Millennials are forecast to capture around 25,700 selfies over their lifetime.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Kind of makes you think that the world was a little less narcissistic when we had to pay for film.

In the quiet fields of Jackson County, Michigan, something wild—and wildly unexpected—was caught on camera: a zedonk, the rare hybrid offspring of a zebra and a donkey. With the sturdy build of a donkey and the striking black-and-white stripes of a zebra only on its hindquarters and legs, this animal is turning heads and stirring up scientific curiosity.

The unusual creature first drew attention when local police received early morning calls about a donkey obstructing traffic. But when officers arrived at the scene, they realized it wasn’t just any donkey—it was a zedonk. Unlike a zonkey, which is the result of a zebra father and a donkey mother, a zedonk comes from a zebra mother and a donkey father. This distinction matters to biologists because the parentage can affect both appearance and behavior in hybrid offspring.

Officers found the animal had already wandered into a pasture just north of the reported location. It turned out the zedonk had escaped from a nearby farm known for breeding hybrid animals. Fortunately, authorities confirmed that there was no sign of mistreatment or neglect contributing to the escape.

"Occasional escapes are just part of livestock farming," Public Safety Director Darin McIntosh told local reporters.

The zedonk’s brief adventure was caught on film. A local resident’s home security camera recorded the hybrid calmly strolling near parked vehicles, giving locals and officials alike an up-close look at this striking anomaly of nature.

Police later confirmed that the zedonk was unharmed during its wanderings. The zedonk now stands as a living reminder that nature still has surprises in store—and sometimes, they come with stripes.

Possible Preaching Angle:

The appearance of a rare and unexpected zedonks reminds us that God’s creation can surprise us, and that He often uses the unusual to capture our attention and teach us. Creation, in its diversity, is meant to bring glory and praise to its Maker.

Many zoos are facing a new dilemma: gorillas and screen time. Great apes have become interested in watching videos of themselves on the phones of visitors.

For instance, in San Diego, four hulking male gorillas roamed their zoo enclosure, sitting pensively on rocks overlooking a waterfall and climbing a wooden structure. Suddenly, an 18-year-old western lowland gorilla named Ekuba bounded up to the glass. The 380-pound animal looked expectantly at a man wearing a shirt bearing the gorilla’s image as he pulled out his phone. Ekuba stood on all fours and began watching videos—of himself and other gorillas.

Ekuba isn’t the only gorilla enthralled with devices. Across North America, zoos have grappled with, and sometimes embraced, primates taking an interest in screen time. In Louisville, Ky., a 27-year-old gorilla named Jelani has been enamored with phones for years, flicking his finger or tapping the glass when he’s ready for a visitor to swipe to the next shot. At the Toronto Zoo, keepers have hung signs to dissuade showing screens to gorillas, citing disruption to their family dynamic.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Creation; Responsibility; Stewardship - The Bible teaches that humans are given dominion over animals, but this comes with a responsibility for their well-being. This story can serve as an example of the proverb “Monkey see, monkey do" which reminds us that our actions can influence those around us, even animals who are keen observers, and they often replicate both positive and negative actions they observe in their environment.

Augustin Lignier, a photographer in Paris, created a photo booth for rats. He took inspiration from B.F. Skinner, the famous researcher who made The Skinner Box, designed to dispense food pellets when rats pushed a designated lever.

It became one of the most well-known experiments in psychology. Reward-seeking rats became lever-pressing pros, pushing the bar down over and over again in exchange for food, drugs, or even a gentle electric zap directly to the pleasure center of the brain.

Mr. Lignier built his own version of a Skinner Box—a tall, transparent tower with an attached camera—and released two pet-store rats inside. Whenever the rats pressed the button inside the box, they got a small dose of sugar and the camera snapped their photo. The resulting images were immediately displayed on a screen, where the rats could see them. (“But honestly I don’t think they understood it,” Mr. Lignier said.)

The rodents quickly became enthusiastic button pushers. But then the rewards became more unpredictable. Although the rats were still photographed every time they hit the button, the sweet treats came only once in a while, by design. These kinds of intermittent rewards can be very powerful, keeping animals glued to their slot machines as they await their next jackpot.

In the face of these unpredictable rewards, the rats ignored the sugar even when it did arrive, and just kept pressing the button anyway. To Mr. Lignier, the parallel is obvious. “Digital and social media companies use the same concept to keep the attention of the viewer as long as possible,” he said.

Indeed, social media has been described as “a Skinner Box for the modern human,” doling out periodic, unpredictable rewards—a like, a follow, a promising romantic match—that keep us glued to our phones.

Sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly, but eventually they do turn. Such was the case for Billy Ray Trueblood, who was finally sentenced in May of this year for charges in connection with the 2019 death of accountant Alex Reser. Authorities say that Trueblood sold Reser counterfeit Oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl, which resulted in Reser’s death from overdose.

According to federal officials, the investigation zeroed in on Trueblood fairly quickly, as he was known for dealing opioids like Fentanyl. But they’d been unable to locate Trueblood until May of 2019, when one of the investigators happened to be watching the Portland Trail Blazers in an NBA playoff game and saw Trueblood captured on camera, seated just a few rows behind Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. Federal officials notified local police on hand at the arena, and Trueblood was arrested without incident.

At Trueblood’s sentencing hearing, Reser’s loved ones asked U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman for a harsh sentence. His father, Marty Reser, said in court:

[Alex] had so much to live for, but he died one day after we returned [from vacation]. For Billy, it was all about the buck … We were hoping for justice because our son Alex is not coming back … No one will ever again have the opportunity to spend time, create more memories with Alex.

Trueblood was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison and four years of supervised release.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even when people think we’re successful at hiding from God, it’s all a fantasy. God knows us down to our core and there are consequences for sin. “… you may be sure that your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23).

George Orwell’s book 1984 is one of our society’s most frequently referenced illustrations of what life would be like under an authoritarian government. In the book, citizens of the fictional nation of Oceania are under constant government surveillance, including in their own homes. Devices called telescreens display propaganda and record peoples’ actions. This allows the government to monitor people even in what should be the most private place they know—their homes.

Historically in the US, the Fourth Amendment protects Americans from "unreasonable searches and seizures" by the government, acknowledging the "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects." It is a bedrock principle of the Bill of Rights.

But a new survey reveals that an astonishing number of Americans, particularly younger Americans, would be comfortable throwing this fundamental protection on the ash heap of history. The Cato Institute survey of Americans finds:

29% of Americans aged 18 to 29 respond affirmatively when asked, “Would you favor or oppose the government installing surveillance cameras in every household to reduce domestic violence, abuse, and other illegal activity?”

20% of Millennials between the ages of 30 and 44 also want everyone watched.

However, among Americans 45 and older, support for such totalitarian surveillance drops considerably to 6%.

From Ivy League campuses to the digital domains of Facebook, there is an Orwellian sense of perpetual emergency. There is an irrational fear that misinformation and hate speech will overwhelm society unless every utterance is subject to a censor’s scrutiny.

If these trends continue, the US may confront a very different privacy landscape in the future. It is possible that at some point, the American public will be open to extreme government overreach.

Possible Preaching Angle:

Christians might think that if we aren’t doing anything wrong what does it matter if we are being watched? But do you spank your children? Might some government official somewhere want to recast that as abuse? Do you teach your children that God made us male and female? Do you insist that marriage is between one man and one woman? What might some in the government think about that? To be constantly monitored is to be constantly assessed. And knowing, as we do, that our governments don’t measure right and wrong by God’s standards, we should fear the prospect.

Todd Brewer writes in an edition of Mockingbird:

Happy Holidays! Happy Advent! Happy Elf on the Shelf? Ha, there’s nothing happy about that Elf reporting every misdeed back to the big man at the north pole. This week, my daughter told me that her class’s elf on the shelf carries a Bluetooth Santa Cam, as if to make the Big Brother surveillance even more explicit. Perhaps it’s all fun and games … but the all-seeing Santa of the holidays can feel eerily similar to the Eye of Sauron.

Writing in Christianity Today, Russell Moore contrasts the watchful eye of the Elf-on-the-Shelf with that of God:

What stands out … is how strikingly more comprehensive the seeing of the God of the Bible is. Hagar … encounters God in the wilderness. “She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’” (Gen. 16:13). This is a woman who is considered dispensable, no longer useful, and thus invisible to her community. But God sees her. She is not alone in the cosmos. His eye is on the sparrow, and his eye is on her.

Perhaps that’s why one of the most remarkable things about Jesus in his encounters with people … is his seeing them as they are, such as the private character of Nathanael: “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you” (John 1:48). After Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well, she tells her fellow villagers, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” (John 4:29).

This is not an Elf-on-the-Shelf religion; this is good news of great joy.

The week of Thanksgiving, Michael Larkin, in Hamilton, Ohio, answered a phone call. It was the local police, and they wanted footage from Larkin’s front door camera. Larkin had a Ring video doorbell, one of the more than 10 million Americans with the product installed at their front doors. The police said they were conducting a drug-related investigation on a neighbor, and they wanted videos of “suspicious activity” around his home. Larkin cooperated, and sent clips of a car that drove by his Ring camera more than 12 times in the requested time frame. He thought that was all the police would need. Instead, it was just the beginning.

A week later, Larkin received a notice from Ring itself: The company had received a warrant, signed by a local judge. The notice informed him it was obligated to send footage from more than 20 cameras—whether or not Larkin was willing to share it himself.

After sending the initial footage, Larkin started to find the police demands onerous. Larkin said, “He asked for all the footage from October 25.” Larkin said that he has five cameras surrounding his house. He also has three cameras inside his house, as well as 13 cameras inside the store that he owns, which is nowhere near his home. All these cameras are connected to his Ring account. He declined that request. He says his main concern at first was practical: Each clip would take up to a minute to download and send over.

Then he received an email from Ring, notifying him that his account was the subject of a warrant from the police department. This time, Larkin wasn’t able to choose which cameras he could send videos from. The warrant included all five of his outdoor cameras, and also added a sixth camera that was inside his house. It would include footage recorded from cameras he had in his living room and bedroom, as well as the 13 cameras he had installed at his store associated with his account.

Larkin, now incensed that police were requesting footage from inside his home for an investigation that didn’t even involve him. He said, “That’s the thing that upsets me the most—the fact that a judge just signed off on that. He’s just going to hand over footage of mine, and the case doesn’t even involve me in any way, shape, or form.”

Possible Preaching Angles:

1) Government; Crime - The footage on Ring’s servers amounts to a large and unregulated web of eyes on American communities. This can provide law enforcement valuable information in the event of a crime, but also create a 24/7 ever-expanding web of surveillance operation that even the owners of the cameras aren’t fully aware they’ve helped to build. 2) Omniscience of God; Judgment Day - “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4:13).

For years, Google Maps has offered Street View. Street View stitches together panoramic camera images to recreate a digital facsimile of the real world that you can explore online. Some people are discovering that if they scroll through the platform long enough and use a time travel feature, they just might find the image of a late loved one captured by one of Google’s cameras. Seemingly saved in Google Maps forever.

One post from UK-based writer Sherri Turner has already racked up tens of thousands of “Likes” on Twitter. She wrote, “I look(ed) at my mum’s old house on Google maps street view, the house where I grew up. It says ‘Image captured May 2009.’ There is a light on in her bedroom. It is still her house, she is still alive, I am still visiting every few months on the train.”

Google says the digital recreation of the physical world is powered by millions of cameras that capture multiple angles. While helping people remember dead family members isn’t really the intended purpose of Google Maps, a spokesperson said it was “heartwarming” that people were using the platform in this way.

But there’s more to the story than viral content. The images are a reminder that many people who show up in Street View don’t know their pictures are being taken, and the deceased have no say in whether or not their image remains on the service.

Google says it has systems in place for blurring out personally identifying information from passersby and license plates in the photos it takes. But clearly, some people can still be identified if a family member knows what they’re looking for. The enduring trend of finding lost loved ones inevitably serves as a reminder that Google plays a major role in documenting our daily lives over time.

Possible Preaching Angle:

1) Family; Resurrection; Second Coming of Christ – People find it comforting that they can see the image of loved ones preserved “forever” digitally. However, believers know that God has preserved not a picture but the souls of their departed loved ones and a great reunion is coming (1 Thess. 4:13-18). 2) Camera; Computers; Surveillance - Some people find these online images comforting, and some find them creepy. But it is a reminder that we can’t expect privacy any longer.

Gabe Poirot runs from the street toward the camera, yelling, “Wait, wait, don’t scroll!” If the urgency in his voice causes you to pause and watch his video, you’re in for a 60-second blessing. Wearing a sweatshirt with #MakeJesusViral emblazoned on the front, he leans deep into the frame. “Let me pray with you today,” he says earnestly, then bows his head and closes his eyes. “Father God, let me just pray for the person on the other end of this phone.”

Poirot is a student at Kenneth Copeland Bible College who uses the social media app TikTok to share clips of himself preaching short sermons and praying for his audience. TikTok feeds users a constant stream of one minute-or-less videos via its “For You” page. This makes it easy to skip the ones that don’t catch their attention within the first few seconds.

While much of TikTok is devoted to less-than-youth-group-friendly content, Poirot’s content is a subgenre known as “Christian TikTok.” Christian TikTok influencers publish sermonettes, best Bible study practices, and even tutorials on how to stretch without participating in the Hindu elements of yoga. And many of the young content creators are on a mission: to spark revival among Generation Z—those born in the late 1990s through the early 2010s.

When Poirot first started making TikToks he didn’t think of making them Christian or gospel centered. Then he said, “The thought came to my heart and it really struck me. I’m not out here to be famous for myself. I want to make Jesus viral.” The hashtag #MakeJesusViral was born, and Poirot began creating more evangelistic videos.

The AI Now Institute of New York University is sounding the alarm about the dangers of artificial intelligence in the workplace. But unlike the typical sci-fi scenario of accelerated sentience, the researchers are concerned not about how well it works, but about how well it doesn’t.

In a December report, researchers at the AI Now Institute called for a ban on so-called “affect recognition” technology, which purports to use machine learning to analyze facial expressions to detect certain emotions and/or character attributes. The problem? It doesn’t work.

From the report: “Regulators should ban the use of affect recognition in important decisions that impact people’s lives and access to opportunities.”

Despite the lack of evidence of success, affect recognition software has been adopted by companies in hiring searches, by law enforcement surveilling suspects, prisons watching inmates, and casinos keeping tabs on customers. The AI Now Institute’s report cites several studies indicating potential harm such tools can inflict on people, including one study using photos of NBA players that consistently gave negative scores to black players, despite how often they smiled or showed outward positivity.

The researchers were blunt in their overall assessment. “There remains little to no evidence that these new affect-recognition products have any scientific validity.”

Possible Preaching Angles:

The promises of technology cannot compare to the promises of an omniscient, omnipotent God. We must not become too enamored of every new tool or trick available, but rather, with maturity and discernment, weigh the merits of anyone's proposal by their track record and the fruit of life they have on display.

In 1949, an American company released the first commercially available CCTV system. Two years later, in 1951, Kodak introduced its Brownie portable movie camera to an awestruck public.

Today more than 2.5 trillion images are shared or stored on the Internet annually—to say nothing of the billions more photographs and videos people keep to themselves. Meanwhile, in a single year an estimated 106 million new surveillance cameras are sold. More than three million ATMs around the planet stare back at their customers. Tens of thousands of cameras known as automatic number plate recognition devices, or ANPRs, hover over roadways—to catch speeding motorists or suspected criminals. Proliferating as well are personal monitoring devices—dash cams, cyclist helmet cameras to record collisions, doorbells equipped with lenses to catch package thieves—that are fast becoming part of daily life. Then there are the billions of images of unsuspecting citizens captured by facial-recognition technology and stored in law enforcement and private-sector databases over which our control is practically nonexistent.

There's even more. Presently the skies are cluttered with drones. That figure doesn't include the fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles used by the US government. Nor does it include the many thousands of airborne spying devices employed by other countries—among them Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.

We're being watched from the heavens as well. More than 1,700 satellites monitor our planet. From a distance of about 300 miles, some of them can discern a herd of buffalo or the stages of a forest fire. From outer space, a camera clicks and a detailed image of the block where we work can be acquired by a total stranger.

Possible Preaching Angles: "We're being watched from the heavens as well," the article says. Compare the impersonal, menacing "watching" described in this article with the personal, ultimately loving "watching" of the omniscient God described in the Bible.