Tuesday, December 21, 2010

A Virtual Tower of Babel


We were watching Sing Off last night and a commercial came on for a new blackberry full of new apps. I felt a small annoyance and panic raising in my chest. I feel the world of simplicity slipping away and I wonder if this is how my grandma feels about just a simple computer. It suddenly occurs to me that technology is going at a pace I cannot keep up with, nor do I really want to!

I adore simplicity.

There is something quaint about pen and paper, stamps and seals, talk and tea etc. I want it to slow down!

Over the holiday one of the biggest items has been the Kindle. It occurred to me that someday people won't have beautiful books on their shelves to pull off, feel, smell and enjoy reading from! Can you imagine a world like that? Do you want a world like that? I don't.

I like to read my bible from it's pages.

I like to write down my thoughts on paper.

I like seeing the colors and fonts of the book bindings on the shelf and the old artistic style of a famous classic.

I like making a to do list for my day on a little notepad.

Recently since we turned out cell phones off I find I enjoy the fact that I'm unreachable and it's also stretched my faith to trust God for situations. There are now times that my kids can not get ahold of me from school and it reminds me over and over that I am not their guardian angel like I think I am.

All this security, all this information, all this "convenience" can be stripped away with one global communication failure and I think someday it will be.

We have created a Virtual Tower of Babel. The whole world is connected and efficient with goals that reach the skyline.

Look out, it could snap at any time.

In the mean time I've decided not to fret if I don't keep up, because I can't. I realize my children very soon will be sitting next to me patiently trying to explain terms and instructions to me that I don't get. In the mean time, I want them to appreciate the simple things and be familiar with them because they may very well be the generation that sees it all fall apart and humanity scrambling once again to pick itself back up.

1 comment:

Tim said...

May the feeling of a book-in hand never be lost... and may the art of handwritten notes live on. But, at the same time, let the internet continue to make our lives easier, and more filled with information.

Can we have a world with both? Time will tell?

Tim
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