Just a little blurb about my thoughts on how times sure have changed rapidly in recent years. I was watching TV the other night and noticed how many commercials were all about cell phone plans, texting plans, and pretty much all things technologically advanced. I thought, gosh, just 10-15 years ago, who cared so much about how many rollover minutes you have or is your phone the latest, fanciest gadget new on the market? I mean, seriously, why is the ability to twitter, blog, text, and communicate in a thousand different ways and forums so much of a top priority these days? I understand how convenient having a cell phone can be while you're out and about...I use one occasionally myself. But, as for texting, I have no desire at all to do that. I can just write an email or make a quick phone call if I want someone to know something or if I have a question. Do you ever notice how when you are out in public, many people seem to have their heads down paying close attention to their PDA's or their fingers busy playing or typing on their little phones and gadgets or are busy talking to what at first appears to be themselves with some silly headpiece out in the middle of public while you are walking by? Then you realize that they are actually conversing with someone else via a tiny cell phone earpiece and you are privy to half of the entire conversation. So weird to me! It's too much, quite frankly, in my opinion. I mean, I know we are creatures who were designed to be in close community with one another and with God, of course. But all this technology in nearly every function of our daily lives makes my head swim!
Here's an example of what prompted me to write this post...I went to Panera yesterday morning to grab a quick delicious breakfast sandwich, since I rarely go to Panera anymore. The one I go to has recently been remodeled and looks all nice and elegant. After ordering my breakfast sandwich "To Go", they hand me one of those large square pagers that you see when you are waiting at a restaurant for dinner where they call you when your table is ready. Then, the cashier asked me for my first name. She said that now I wouldn't have to wait in line at the pick-up area for my sandwich...that I could just sit down at a table and wait till my buzzer lights up. So, I did this. And about 5 minutes later, my hot, delicious breakfast sandwich was ready! They even called my name over the loudspeaker just to announce it was done. The buzzer went off loudly and lights were flashing urgently. I went up to the pick-up counter and got my breakfast and noticed that the receipt I had even had my name boldly printed on the top, which is obviously how they knew my name. I dropped the buzzing, light-flashing pager into the handy basket they have waiting for these at the pick-up counter. As I was walking out the door with my little carryout bag in hand, I just chuckled to myself at the idea of a silly little breakfast sandwich order requiring all this high-tech stuff and such a process just to get it made and delivered to me. It wasn't even crowded in the building at the time. There were no lines waiting for food orders. I just kept thinking, this is too much and really not that necessary! Is this another sign of the times?
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