My husband and I were doing our regular Saturday errands. We were in a parking lot, and I saw all these people walking around. I commented to my husband that it is ironic that there are more people in the world today than there have ever been in history and yet in our society, we tend to notice other people less than ever. Whenever I walk around in public it always really pulls on my heart strings when I realize that people just don’t notice anyone walking around them. They just don’t seem to care that there are other human beings with their own lives occupying the same space.
It made me think about the Internet age in general. I can open up my computer, go to a browser and ask just about any question I want. Miraculously, I will get an answer. I have all the information I could imagine and more at my fingertips. Most people do. Yet, instead of people being smarter and more independent, young adults claim that they don’t have many basic skills.
I was discussing this situation with my husband. Before we had all this information at our fingertips, we used to use problem solving skills. We would “just figure it out.” Many people from my generation still do that. Our first reaction to a problem isn’t to go to the internet for a solution; we just try to find directions or try to figure out how to do whatever we are trying to do by trial and error. I actually don’t like watching videos that tell me how to do things; I would rather figure out how to do it myself.
The same irony exists in that we have access to more information than we can ever imagine and yet some of us can’t find the information we need to simply live every day life. I can’t help wondering if it is some kind of evil at work. In many stories, about the Devil, he promises to give his mark everything the person ever wanted. Maybe getting everything you ever want and more is more of a curse than a blessing? It makes me think of the story of King Midas. He was given the gift of the golden touch, where everything he touched turned to gold. Yet, he could never touch his loved ones because they would turn to gold, and he couldn’t eat or drink because the food and water would turn to gold. His gift was a curse.
We have been gifted with this amazing technology, but it overloads us with so much information. Maybe it is too much, and we just don’t realize it. God would never promise to give me everything I ever wanted; He would only promise to give me everything that I ever needed.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
