Our Rapid Pace

You haven’t heard much from me over the past few days, because we are preparing to leave for home.  We are taking off on the first leg today at about 3:30 Turkish time.  So if you don’t hear from me from the next two days, you know why.

Yes, I could manage to make a few posts via the timestamp (used for scheduled posts).  And I may.  Only thing about that is that it doesn’t give you the pleasure of typing something up and immediately publishing it to the world.  Have you ever really thought about that?  I mean, the simple fact that we can sit in our living rooms and easily publish something so most people in the world can read it?  It’s amazing, particularly considering the fact that for 95 percent of history, this has never been the case.  Of course, most people in the world probably don’t give a rip about a lot of what we say, but that’s besides the point.  We can still marvel at such a reality, one which is so readily taken for granted today.

The simple fact that I am not inclined to use the timestamp seems to be worth a bit of commentary, however.  For here I sit, me, the guy who 10 years ago hated the Internet.  And if I hated the Internet, then whatever is stronger than hate is how I felt about email.  Not to mention blogs, which I crtainly fought against for a time.  And now, I think twice about making a scheduled post because it doesn’t give me the opportunity to immediately publish my thoughts to the world?  What’s my deal?  I can’t help but wonder.

At the very least, the transformation of my feelings for the Internet and email (though I am still not a huge email fan) and blogging, and, for that matter, even cell phones (which I was totally anti towards once), point to the rapid pace at which we move today, and the rapid pace at which our life pace is so easily able to move.  Not only that, but it shows, however little, the way in which various technologies (when we buy into their use at least) affect the way in which we live and move and have our being.  Consider the simple fact that the moment I check into a hotel, one of my first inclincations is to check for wireless.  As if I forget that I have brought a good book or two along.

I don’t have a ton of insights into these realities, but I don’t have to for this little post.  For this is here, I suppose, to stimulate me to think about such a topic some more and, maybe, to lead you to do the same (and to give me the satisfaction of an immediate post, of course).  For more thoughts, here’s a short interview with a Christian guy who has thought more about the topic of technology and its effects on us than I have.

I can’t recommend his book (b/c I haven’t read it…though I suppose that hasn’t stopped me before), but I will probably read it sometime soon.  It’s called Flickering Pixels.  The simple fact that he moved from the advertising industry to a Mennonite pastoral role intrigues me enough to give it a read.

All that said, I am still looking forward to my trip home so I can try out my new iPhone.  After all, I can’t live without it…