Digital Life

AJ Teaters

Digital Life

Recently I was sitting in church listening attentively to a sermon my pastor was giving on prayer when I was struck with the idea for this post. As much as you all want to believe that my attention span went (pun intended) to Hell, you're wrong! I actually focused more on what my pastor was saying during the sermon because he was adding substance to my idea. I probably looked like a complete heathen during services when this happens. I can't help it though when God hits me with an idea, He really hits me with it. It takes all my attention off what else is going on until I write it down, so for all of you who think I'm facebooking, tweeting or texting during service you're wrong (most of the time).

I have been thinking about technology, and how much our lives are run by the different devices and contraptions that we own. My newest idea is called the iPray (Apple Inc. probably has this under development already) and it's a device that you can carry around and have it pray for you. Using this device will completely change Christianity by ultimately completely changing our relationships with God.

The Pitch:

Do you find yourself too busy to pray? Does communicating with God seem like a burden? Is it hard to find the right words to say when you pray? Do you feel awkward when asked to pray at big events or even small evening dinners? Then the iPray is for you!

The iPray takes all the guess work out of prayer. All you have to do is set it and forget it (oh... sorry that's a RONCO slogan). There are hundreds of settings for every occasion: Easter, Christmas, Dinners, Weddings, Youth, Old People, Healing, Strength, Patients. You can even record a prayer that you've said to use again! Don't forget to set your prayer alarms to pray for your day when you get up in the morning and thank God for your day before you go to sleep. If you don't have the time to talk to God don't worry, you don't need time you just need an iPray!

The Reality:

How much do we let technology take the place of us actually doing work? What devices do we place in our lives that we don't need? How much technology is too much technology? Can technology actually take the place of God? Has technology become an idol in our present society? Whoa, Whoa, WHOA!!! Slow down, we need to look at all these questions as being the same one: What should we let technology help us with? The more technology that is injected into our society is supposed to be helpful to us... but what has happened to personal relationships? I'll be the first to admit that I use Facebook, Twitter and Blogger (both on my computer and my phone), and have noticed that I have friends, followers and readers that I might not even consider acquaintances. Our social network is way too big, we (as a society) now feel uninformed if we don't know what someone we haven't talked to in 10 years is thinking. Not only is our social network distracting us from the reality of the world we live in, but music is another huge problem because it is so accessible. I can't tell you how many times I have seen kids walking through schools, malls, stores, homes with a pair of headphones hanging from their ears. I honestly feel the choice to constantly have music in your ears is borderline disrespectful. I know that my parents would have definitely smacked those headphones outta my ears if I would've tried to walk around (anywhere) with music in my ears. The answer I hear most often to this behavior is that society has changed and kids have changed with it. Is that answer good enough? Should we just accept that this is the way our society is thus our kids will be this way? Sounds bad when you hear it put that way, doesn't it?

Sorry I have to cut this post short, my pizza just got here. I just set my iPray for reverent dinner prayer, listen in:

Thank you Lord for this bountiful feast of pizza. Please bless and keep Little Caesars pizza. Send your Holy Spirit before us at we eat to have an open heart to your voice. Thank you for this abundance of pepperoni and cheese. As we break this bread, bless this time with your presence, be in our midst. Amen.

Wow! I've never sounded so good!