"There is more computer power in some of this year's top Christmas toys than the first moon mission," reports UK's TELEGRAPH:
The 12 toys predicted to top children’s wish lists feature the most advanced technology available, including voice recognition software, photo editing and video, while some connect directly to the Internet and can be controlled via mobile phone apps and iPads. …
Clive Shelton, a toy safety expert who advises the TRA, said: “Kids are used to using technology and massive sums are invested in developing new ways of doing things...
“There is more computer power in some of these toys than was used in the first mission to the moon. That is the age we live in. They prepare children for their future lives with technology.”
While it's true that high tech toys help to prepare children for their "future lives with technology," one has to wonder what they do for their future lives with God. Could it be that too much of a good thing is anything but a good thing? The obvious danger is that as the next generation becomes more connected to the world through technology, it will become less connected to the things of God.
"Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you" (1 John 2:15, NLT).
A vast majority of Americans (82 percent) believe that handwritten notes are an important habit for a young person to cultivate. Only 14 percent didn't get the written memo and think they are an outdated and unnecessary gesture. Handwritten notes are not only a homage to more gracious times, but whatever sentiment they convey ranging from thanks to condolences, they represent time taken to personalize a feeling.
There are still some things that cannot be improved by technology, this simple human action is a good example of one.
As the pace of society increases, we seem to have less and less time for the one thing that matters most--people. In such a world, the time taken to produce a handwritten note sends the right message.
God loves people more than things. He demonstrated this priority in the incarnation, the most personnel message ever sent.
"Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other" (1 Thessalonians 4:9).
It is getting hard to remember what we did before we got our smartphones. How did we keep from answering everyone's texts immediately or looking up the minutest factoids about athletes, actors, and ancient history before we let another moment pass? What did husbands and wives, other family, and friends do at dinner and other public and private places? Why did we ever engage in face to face conversations with the person in front of us when we could have been blowing them off to inbox or text someone else hundreds or thousands of miles away from us? Good manners and courtesy were way overrated!
We have become so absorbed with posting, tweeting, Facebooking, and like communicating with our cellular device that we have slowly started disconnecting with the real world. Last Sunday, sitting at the airport, I was amazed to see rows and rows of passengers glued to their seats with eyes glued to their laptops and phones. The airlines have even modified their policy to allow one to never have to cut off their "handheld devices" so long as they are in airplane mode. For many of us our tools of technology have become avenues of addiction.
Don't let the virtual and technological worlds interfere with your "real time relationships." Here are a couple of things that might help:
May we all practice "hanging up" our smartphones more often!
"I have the right to do anything," you say--but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything"--but not everything is constructive" (1 Corinthians 10:23).