Zeros and Ones

The jury is still out for me as to a decision of involvement in all this twenty-first century technological rhetoric. I have an out-dated cell phone in my possession at all times now, which I very rarely use, only because it has evolved from a luxury of life to a necessity. I’m still kicking at the goads of the personal computer, which I now have a handful of just trying to keep up with technology. I guess the social network threshold is my next hurdle. I already tested the waters only to find an avalanche of unwanted solicitors flooding my personal space prompting me to put a halt to my participation. I sense I was using the service incorrectly. Facebook went public the other day, selling stock on Wall Street. According to MSNBC, Facebook was conceived in a Harvard dorm room just eight years ago. Worldwide, the company now connects more than 900 million people to one another. The company has made its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, one of the world’s richest men with a fortune of nearly $20 billion. The initial stock sales didn’t live up to the hype of the media, improving its base investment price by only $.23 at the end of the day. Who knew that “sharing information” could be such a lucrative business? Now not only your neighbor knows your business, but the whole world can get in on it also. You’ll never run short on advice managing your life.
Texting while driving has prompted several states and communities to pass laws or ordinances prohibiting the practice. Sexting, the sending of pornographic materials via digital devices, has opened up a whole new can of worms for society to deal with. And if that isn’t enough for you, texting while walking is causing legal challenges much the same as texting while driving. It seems all across the country, people aren’t watching where they are going and causing themselves personal injury at the cost of some one else. People are walking right into traffic with their eyes glued to the screen of their digital device, too busy to look if the way is safe, and being run down by trucks, busses and automobiles, whose drivers are being blamed for the incident. Fort Lee, New Jersey police have begun ticketing “jaywalkers” that are witnessed blindly crossing streets while texting. Can we be saved from our need to know right now? I think not.
His teenage daughter had been on the phone for half and hour. When she finally hung up, her father said, “Usually you’re on the phone for at least two hours. How come the conversation was so short?” The daughter replied, “Wrong number.”
[Psalm 12; James 3: 1-12] The telegraph, the telephone, the television, records and tapes, even that most excellent upgrade of the airwaves, FM radio, have all gone digital in my lifetime. The major portion of my mailbox is now digitized. The way I shop and investigate the world is through the use of digital devices without leaving my cocoon. Even the tongue of man has been reduced to multiples of zeros and ones. Yeah I know, that’s a rather cynical way of looking at it, but I’m rather depressed at the fact that man has developed a new vocabulary in the digital world yet delivers it with the same self-centered attitude. Don’t get me wrong here. I know that there is a lot of good communication going on out there, but I’m willing to bet there are a lot more gossip and hurtful statements being made than loving and productive ones. It seems the world is in the midst of an information neurosis of great proportions. Where is God in all this? One day, face to face, every tongue will confess, He is Lord. (Romans 14: 1-13)