We Are Obsessed With Our Phones
Network World reports:
We’re obsessed with our phones, a new study has found. The heaviest smartphone users click, tap or swipe on their phone 5,427 times a day, according to researcher Dscout.
That’s the top 10 percent of phone users, so one would expect it to be excessive. However, the rest of us still touch the addictive things 2,617 times a day on average. No small number.
The research firm, which specializes in consumer reactions to products, recruited 94 Android device users and installed special software on their smartphones. The tool tracked each user’s “interaction” over five days, all day, the company says in a blog post on its website.
“And by every interaction, we mean every tap, type, swipe and click. We’re calling them touches,” it explains.
Averaging out the numbers, the aforementioned figures mean the heaviest users are touching their devices a couple of million times in one year, Dscout says.
... Probably the most interesting thing in all this was that the people surveyed completely underestimated their phone touching. While they were initially shocked by the numbers, 41 percent said “it probably won’t change the way I use my phone.”
How many taps, types, swipes and clicks take place between you and God in a day?
If the number of times you were in contact with God on a daily basis could be tracked, would you be shocked by the result? Would it be because of how often, or, how infrequently you reached out to Him?
"Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded" (James 4:8).
“You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Revelation 2:3-5).
Eating Opens the Appetite
In Milan it is customary to enjoy an aperitif with some antipasti an hour or so before a meal. The word for this casual cocktail comes from the Latin meaning "to open." For these Italians, it is expected that the larger meal will be more heartily enjoyed when one opens the appetite with a drink accompanied by some olives, peanuts, or potato chips.
This is certainly true in corporate worship. The larger meal of spiritual sustenance is more heartily enjoyed when one opens the appetite by singing songs of praise. Worship opens the heart to receive the nourishment the comes through the preaching of God's Word.
"Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation" (1 Peter 2:2).
Worshipping Henry Ward Beecher
“What is worship,” asks Max Anders, “and how do we do it?”
It’s easy for us to get confused and substitute other things for worship. Many years ago, Thomas K. Beecher once preached for his brother, Henry Ward Beecher, at the Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, New York. Henry was a very famous preacher, and many people had come to hear him. When Thomas stood up to preach, some people began to move toward the doors. Realizing that they were disappointed because he was substituting for his bother, Thomas raised his hand for silence and announced, “All who came here this morning to worship Henry Ward Beecher may leave now. All who came to worship the Lord may remain.”
“It happens to us, doesn’t it?" Anders concludes.
We go to church, not because God is there (I realize He is everywhere), but because a certain preacher is there, or a certain choir or vocalist is there. There is nothing wrong with enjoying good preaching and music, but those are only aids to worship. God is still why we worship. We have to be sure we are getting it right.
"But he said to me, "Don't do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!" (Revelaton 22:9).
[Max Anders, is a former college seminary professor, who has pastored for over twenty years. He is the author of over twenty books and was the creator and general editor of the 32 volume Holman Bible Commentary series.]