Device of the Devil?
"There's no telling who my child could be talking to on that thing. It could be some perverted child-molester."
"My kids don't need to be spending all their time sitting in front of that thing; it's not healthy."
"There's no way of knowing what my children could be looking at on there. Some of that stuff, adults shouldn't even be seeing!"
"It's not normal for people to communicate that way; in this day and age, people need to develop more face-to-face social skills, and this is just a step backward."
"People get hooked on that thing; it's not good. Marriages and families are breaking up because of it."
Can you guess what these people are talking about? Did you guess the telephone, the radio, and the television? Sound familiar? Throughout time, in fact since the beginning of the history of man, there have always been those who have resisted change, thus resisted technological advances. Every time, the message has been, "We've gone far enough; we don't need to be doing that." And every time, the people making those statements think this is the first time there's been concern. Even the Holy Scriptures state, "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." (Ecclesiastes:1:9) There has always been a fear of the unknown among the unenlightened. Human nature seems to be to fear what we don't understand, and there are plenty who don't understand computers and the Internet! By the 1940s, we all came to grips with the telephone, and before long everyone had one in their home; now we couldn't live without it. By the 1950s, it was unheard of for the typical American family to not have the entertainment and communication provided by the radio, and the television soon followed as an important part of modern life by the 1960s.
There are many who feel that our technology is growing in leaps and bounds that far exceed its ability to be tamed by its own inventors. But read some of the ravings about the industrial revolution of the 19th century, and you'll see nearly identical parallels. In the early days of the automobile, automakers designed their cars with front-wheel-drive; not because of the so-called traction advantage of today's claims, but because people of that day couldn't comprehend the notion of a car being pushed by its back wheels, instead of pulled like a horse-and-buggy! In the advent of today's communication revolution, we should all rejoice in the many great things that will result, and keep in perspective the miniscule problems to be solved along the way without becoming reactionary to the point of completely rejecting progress. The ills of society have always thrived just fine without the assistance of the telephone, the radio, the television, or the Internet, and they will continue to be with us long before we're all flying around with our fabulous anti-gravity transport shoes.