During the Covid-19 pandemic...thank God for the
internet and social media. What a gift!!
We all, almost without exception, resist change
or only want it in our own way and in our own time. Sometimes it seems thrust upon us.
So many times I’ve heard people, mainly older
folk but not entirely, decrying social media and smart phones as, at best, “a
waste of time” and often as “evil”. The justification it seems for this view is
these inventions, in the view of some folk, only serve to destroy society and
relationships, and cause misery and deaths.
Well that’s been proved wrong in the last couple
of weeks, hasn’t it?
No more than the argument that the car kills
people can we suggest that modern technology is inherently evil. It is
self-evident that it is only in its uses that fault may be found.
In the current situation many people would be terribly
isolated, cut off from seeing friends and family, if it were not for Facebook,
Instagram, Skype, FaceTime and other platforms. Social groups, musicians, church
families and others, have been able to meet, albeit virtually. Even education
has continued, and in some cases developed a new dimension. What would it have
been like just 30 years ago? Imagine that.
Indeed, perhaps we are contacting people even
more because we can.
Sadly, those who have resisted change are now
some of the most isolated. Conversely, my hearing-impaired 93 year-old mother
can order her groceries online, see family activities on Facebook and keep in
touch daily using email or texts.
My view is that humanity has demonstrated the value
of a God given gift here - creativity - which is usually thought to be artistic
but can be technological.
If the motivation to create is to make money
from a new electronic product or to exploit the vulnerable, then that is wrong.
However, if it is to improve society, then bring it on. And for me this has
proved recently to include most devices and apps.
People have invented these devices and apps for
communication, education and even entertainment (which is something we all really
need). Let’s thank God for the internet and social media. Let’s celebrate and
embrace the new technology, developing uses positively for the good of all.
I’m not eschewing physical meeting of course,
which is an essential part of what we need as humans and are sorely missing at
this time. We will go back to that soon I pray. I am simply reflecting on what
a gift the internet and social media has proved to be after an often bad press.
In the end, by the grace of God, all the good,
as ever, will outweigh the bad and all will be well.
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