Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

Our generation is living through the greatest technological revolution in the history of humankind. If we were to go back ten or twenty years and take away all our technological developments it would shock us how much technology we take for granted. It'd feel like we were back in the stone age. We're the proverbial "fish in water" that doesn't know it's "in the water" because it's never known anything else. Technology is the water my generation grew up in. Remember when you had to find a pay phone to ask your mom to pick you up at the mall? Remember when the sony walkman was the greatest thing since sliced bread? Remember when a 56K modem was blazing fast? It wasn't that long ago. The latest and greatest technologies become dinosaurs at the speed of light these days! The shelf-life of technology is measured in weeks and months instead of years and decades.

I still remember my dad's first cell phone. He even had a speaker installed in our car complete with a little antenna. I think it cost something like $57.32 per minute in talk time so he didn't use it that often, it felt like our car had been transformed into the Battlestar Galaxtic (or something like that).

I officially entered the digital age in 1994. I bought my first computer. I was one of AOL's first one million subscribers. And I bought my first electronic organizer. Unfotunately, the organizer only lasted a few months. I put it on the roof of our car while I opened the door one day. I'm guessing it held on for a few blocks, but it eventually fell to its untimely death and all of my data died with it. I got my first painful lesson in the importance of "backing up my data." I wish I could say that I learned that lesson the first time, but I've had to relearn that lesson with computers and phones too! I still have an old hard drive that died with all of my data on it. I'm hoping that someday I'll be able to resurrect that hard drive so I'm hanging on to it. And I dropped my first palm phone into a bucket of water. I discovered that digital data can't swim. Digital has it's drawbacks (it's not water-proof), but analog data (pencil on paper) doesn't do so well in water either! Anyways, when my first electronic organizer died I briefly reverted back to a paper calendar, but that didn't last very long. I had been bitten by the digital bug. There was no turning back!

I sometimes wonder what people did bc or bcp (before computers or before cell phones) . When our Internet is down at the office we joke about not knowing what to do. We might as well just go home! All of our offices are in close proximity to each other, but we usually communicate via email instead of voice. Heaven forbid that we'd use our feet or voices to do what our fingers can type! We'll send an email to someone five feet away rather than use our voices. It's easier and quicker.

It is amazing the way cell phone technology has developed. There are now 182 million wireless subscribers. 40% of 12-14 year-olds own a phone. Sprint users sent 300 million photos over their phones last year! Americans spent $4 billion on data services last year because we're becoming more and more dependent on Internet-access everywhere. There are actually services available now that will locate the nearest public restorm or send weather forecasts or traffic updates. You can even find the nearest Sushi bar in Arkansas for a small monthly fee!

It's funny to think back about Lora's first cell phone. Her first phone was for "emergency use" only. It was a great way of justifying to ourselves something we didn't really think we needed. But the "emergency card" gave us grounds to get one. It's amazing how quickly our definition of emergency changed from "flat tire" or "carjacking" to "anytime I need to talk to you about anything." Technology has a way of changing our convenience standards!

It's hard for me to imagine not having my cell phone in meetings. I'm not a meeting person so I am able to review my calendar and surf the internet and answer email or trade options. I've made and lost tens of thousands of dollars trading options during boring meetings! And it all happens on my phone.

I read an interesting article in Forbes magizine about the advent of what the article called "cellevision." It was titled "Coming Soon to a Tiny Screen Near You." One of the interviewees, Lawarence Morrisroe, is obsessed with his phone. It's a digital camera with video playback, bluetooth wireless capability, a memory-stick and three-inch screen. He watches his favorite show, The Family Guy, on his cell phone. Not only does he take pictures with his phone, he uses it to send them to his Weblog. Oh yah, his phone is also a phone! Morrisroe, a Yahoo manager, said, "I can't picture myself without it. I want to be connected 24/7 so I can document my life journey." Cells phones are more than phones. They are used to archive our lives. They are banks and TV sets and calendars and computers.

By the way, one of my favorite things about watching movies from the Eighties is seeing the "cell phones." Those old cell phones remind me a little of my old glasses. They were HUGE.