mikeandtim

technology question

our society is built around convenience, isnt it? everything is made to be faster, easier, etc. For example, we have drive thru dry-cleaning. dry cleaning itself is a time saver, you dont have to clean or iron. but now we can drive up and someone runs out to our car and puts the clothes in our car for us so we can hurry off to our next destination. we have computers that do calculations and spreadsheets and allow us to find information incredibly faster than ever before. we have microwaveable dinners. we have movies that are delivered to our mailbox so we dont have to drive two blocks to the video store. we have everything imaginable online available for purchase for ease of finding gifts and shipping them so we dont have to go to the store. we have fast food, cell phones, maids to clean our houses, online bill payment, little thingys on our keychains to make our gas purchase a split second faster than swiping a credit card at the pump, etc etc etc. we could go on for days, there are millions of examples.

so my question is...what are we doing with all this extra time we have?

what are you doing with all of your extra time? things as simple as washing dishes and clothes took people hours barely a century ago, and we just turn a knob and let a machine do the work. do you spend more time with your family? do you spend more time with God? do you spend more time at work so you can do even more things faster to make more money to buy more things that do things faster? what is our hurry? why do we want things done faster? is our utopia to be able to sit back and do absolutely nothing? perhaps. i think one generational chasm we currently have is that the generation 30 and under right now is very wrapped up in making everything faster. many people over that age know the value of slowing things down because their parents made them do all kinds of things they didnt want to do, but are probably retrospectively thankful.

isnt there some value in learning patience and not having everything instantly? i predict the general trend of public desire will shift toward "doing things the old way" and taking vacations to where people can slow down and enjoy the old west cowboy life, go on a camping/hiking trip where you are self sufficient and cook over a fire, or maybe even go on a Viking retreat. i think many people get old cars to work on, get into sailboats, or do puzzles because they subconsciously would like to do things that take time for the sake of maturity. maybe my new years resolution will be based on thinking this thru and determining how i want to allocate the electricity i generate by running on my human hamster wheel. something to think about anyway...

posted by mikeandtim @ 8:26:00 AM