I'm not entirely sure why, but I've never been a huge fan of all the spanking new information technology that's constantly out there, or with the ever-accelerating momentum of today's massive I.T. marketplace. At times I wonder if it's because I feel so technologically incompetent that I feel too intimidated to learn how to operate all those new devices. And at other times I think it's because I'm such a cheapskate that I can't bring myself to pay for all this new stuff that gets so old so fast.
But I've never been entirely satisfied with those reasons. They've never really fully expressed what I feel like is going on inside me every time I hear about the latest thing. It can't simply be intimidation, because I've happily grown quite capable of using some extremely helpful (although admittedly simple) forms of I.T. technology over the years. And I know it's deeper than just being tight with my money, because I'm quite happy to spend money on many other things that I could easily live without. There's something else. Speaking in a general sense, I think it's that there seems to be such a collective headlong rush to get the newest and the latest that we end up neglecting the oldest and the truest. Speaking personally along the same lines, I've found that I'd often rather Google something or Facebook someone than simply sit down and pray and read God's Word. And the more distracted I get, the more easily I end up preferring the pursuit of an Ipad (or how about a plasma TV) over the pursuit of how to obey what I heard God say during unhurried times with Him. Yes, too often it feels like these new technologies can create such attention-demanding distractions that it's difficult to avoid feeling like the I.T. world is at odds with God's kingdom. In actual fact, it doesn't have to be that way. When used wisely, these new technologies represent huge opportunities to help advance God's kingdom.
© 2011 by Ken Peters
3 comments:
Hey, nice to see your blog back, a few days there I couldn't look up recent Ken Blogs!
Hey, I listened to Piper there, and googled some of the text he read from "Time Is Short"
This is the link,
http://www.eternallifeministries.org/rm_time.htm
thanks, Ken... I too have a struggle with our need to consume, its so easy to get caught up in it.
I agree! I can buy all the new toys and learn all about the latest and greatest technologies. But at what expense? Time with God, time with real-time, in-the-flesh people? I can only manage so many "screens" and "stuff" and "info" in my life with out starting to feel serenity and peace being pushed out. Well said Ken. Thanks.
It seems this struggle is not that of just a few. Thanks to both of you for your feedback.
I didn't get into another reason why I've grown increasingly uncomfortable with all the new technology calling for us to buy, buy, buy, and it has to do with a deep concern that it's not just a matter of how all this stuff can so easily divert us from using our time more wisely, but also our money. I can't help but feel concerned about how much I'm capable of spending God's precious provision on stuff that will keep me technologically up-to-date while God is trying to tell me that He'd prefer I invested it in other ways. And I wonder how many of us pause to consider that before rushing out to buy the (for example) newest version of iphone that everyone's oo-ing & ah-ing over? (Did you know that an average of 380,000 to 425,000 cell phones are retired in the U.S. each & every day (and only about 10% of them are recycled)? Do I really need to buy a newer cell phone?)
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