We have become a nation of consumers, and our choices in grocery stores, restaurants, entertainment venues, web providers, shipping companies, and retailers have grown exponentially.
We are used to having it our way, and if one provider doesn’t suit us, then we meander down the road, or more likely, move further down the search list of “hits,” and try again until we are happy.
Along the way, we have been aided and abetted in this ever-more-personally-tailored-just-for-me existence by various computer programs and apps on our tablets and smart phones. Half a century ago, we were bound by things like time and space in such a way that we shopped, ate, and in essence lived life in and around a community, town, city, or neighborhood. But with the convenience of the Internet, using the appropriate device and app, we can buy most anything we want at any time we want without the inconveniences of travel or interacting face-to-face using real words and sentences with another human being.
And let’s face it, it’s far less messy. Why shop locally when you can order online and have it in the same day, tomorrow at the latest? Why visit when you can write a letter? Why write a letter when you can E-mail. Why E-mail when you can Facebook? Why Facebook when you can Tweet? After all, what could we possibly need to communicate which needed more than 280 characters? #Isolation #Superficiality #Indifference all trending now.
No, I am not anti-technology. I’m typing this on a keyboard, viewing it on a high def screen, and will send it over a WiFi connection as an email eventually to be posted on a web site. I own four computers, a tablet, GPS device, and a smart phone. I’m swimming in the same techno pool as you are, and all of our communications have become more challenging and more isolational due to a virus.
But can we just once each day remember that all of this technology connects us not only with the things we consume, but also with people, who, like us, are made in God’s image and who will live somewhere forever. Can we pause to ask ourselves whether or not our technology is drawing us together or further stranding us on islands of our own preferences. Do we dare ask if the efficiency is worth the cost?
May I make a suggestion? Every day, choose at least one human, face-to-face transaction. Look at least one person in the eye, take time to discover why that fear, joy, or hurry is on his/her face, and respond with a prayer or a smile or a nod, or hug or all the above. We may rediscover intimacy after all. There is no app for that.
“Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.”
2 John 12