Vantage point
The tyranny of tech
While waiting out a long layover in an airport, I found a
quiet corner, plunked my carry-ons down and soon sank into a state of
semislumber.
I was shocked out of my rest by a voice trumpeting,
“Charlie, this is Bill. We’re ready to close the deal.”
For the next 15 minutes, I learned more than I ever wanted
to know about the production of a certain widget and how best to promote it.
When that conversation mercifully ended, a lady sat down in the chair behind me
and called her girlfriend.
I got up and left … and spent the hours before my flight
wandering the concourses in search of a cell phone-free zone. I never found it.
When I ate at the airport food court, a guy at the next
table called a friend and described the details of his surgery. I lost my
appetite.
It’s not cell phones that are bad. Rather, it’s the tyranny
of our technology — making the demands of tech more important than the
people around you.
I was with someone when he stopped one of our national
Assemblies of God leaders and asked a question. When the questioner’s cell
phone rang, he just walked away to take the call, without so much as an apology
to this very busy man.
I am not against tech. I have a cell phone, an iPod, a
laptop, some blogs, and I’m on Facebook. But when these things dominate our
lives to the extent they become the priority, there is something wrong. It can
be freeing to turn the cell phone off once in a while.
Christians should make reasonable use of technology, but
they should also be thoughtful, always considering how what they do impacts
other people. Romans 12:10 says, “Be kindly affectioned one to another with
brotherly love; in honor preferring one another” (KJV).
Ken Horn
TPExtra: For more on this, visit Ken’s blog at khorn.agblogger.org.
E-mail your comments to tpe@ag.org.
