Living in an "instant" world


I can remember when families would rush about so they could all sit down to watch a TV show. If they missed it, there was no opportunity to re-watch it. Many Australian adults will remember the quick dash to watch music show "Countdown" on Saturday evenings. Movies were either seen at the cinema or when they appeared on TV. This was era where you couldn't select a movie of your choice instead locked into television scheduling. 

Did your father came home from a busy day at work and sit in his favourite chair to watch the news on the television, the children had to be quiet during this time? 


Music was listened to via the record player and a little later, tapes allowed you to take a selection of music to the car and on long car trips you took lots of tapes.  

Do you remember the days when you went to the library to borrow books to do school assignments and had to hand write the passages and quotes that you found in the book? All assignments were handwritten and if you made a mistake you had to start again. 

Do you remember when shops closed by 5pm and were not open on Sundays so one had to plan their shopping. Money came from banks which were not open on weekends (or if they were, only on Saturday mornings). 

This was a time when you had to plan ahead.

How times have changed. . . 
  • If I want to watch or read the latest news I go online . . . I can read about events anywhere in the world and it is constantly updated. I am not tired to a TV time-slot or paper newspaper to gather my news. I don't need to be home at a set hour to watch the news anymore as my father had to. 
  • If I need money I visit the many ATMs in my neighbourhood,  I transfer money around my own account and to other accounts with ease, I pay bills via my computer at any time of the day or night. 
  • If I finish a book, I can go online and download another to my kindle. I don't have to wait for a library or store to open. I have 24 hour access to literature from around the world.
  • If I need music, I can purchase it online or live stream it to one of my many devices. I can listen to music anywhere I want with the 1,000s of tracks I have on on iPod. I no longer own CDs, all music is stored on the computer. 
  • If I want to shop, I hop onto my computer at any time and buy whatever I want from wherever I want. Country borders no longer matter when I am online. I shop via my timetable not someone else's.
  • I missed a show on TV, no problems, I can go online and watch it via streaming, in Australia I often use iView.
  • I want to watch a movie or one of many TV shows from around the world, I no longer need to visit a rental store or buy a "hardcopy", I visit my Netflix account and live stream. No matter where I am in the world I can access Netflix via my account. I am no longer tired to home. Every family member can now watch whatever they like via they devices, families no longer all sit down to watch a movie.
  • If I need to undertake research, I no longer visit the library, I access the World Wide Web on the many different devices I have from my desk top computer, to iPad to smart phone. 
  • If I need advice, I go to YouTube and watch the many millions of video clips. If I need free patterns I will find then online. Research is at my finger tips. If I need a recipe for dinner, I search online, I don't need a large collection of cookbooks anymore.
  • Even things we do in the kitchen have changed, defrosting meat requires no re-planning if you own a microwave, re-heating a meal late at night now only takes a few minutes. 
We live in an instant . . . on-demand world where I can make things happen NOW without leaving my home. I don't even need to be at home to make things happen . . . I can take my music, books and movies with me wherever I go. I can move money about, I book events, I can contact friends and family from any location. 

Personally I love this on-demand world where I am making decisions from the comfort of my own home and I am not tied to other peoples agenda. However, whilst I use responsibly . . . there are hidden dangers to our on-demand lives.

Children today expect everything to be "on-demand" and struggle when they have to wait for something. They have lost the ability to wait and savour the experience. And for older children, if they can't get what they want, they illegally download it and see nothing wrong with this (however this is changing as pirating laws change). We need to take children back a step and whilst many only know this on-demand world, they need to do things the old fashion way from time-to-time to understand that not everything needs and should be on-demand (or done quickly). 

However, whilst this instant world has many pluses it sadly has many traps for our children and for us as adults. Whilst we can get easily access music, film, books and information, others can spread evil through our instant society.

We know that groups such as ISIL (the terrorist group causing untold pain and suffering) are using social media to recruit vulnerable men and women from around the world and they upload the horrors of their atrocities to create terror. They can kill and upload the imagines or videos instantly for us all to witness as if we were there. Watching so much of this instant replay has desensitised us to the horrors of war and suffering to the point we watch and no longer react as we once would. 

We know that sick men and women use the internet to instantly share child pornography to all corners of the planet. We know that men in particular can find adult porn online with ease, leading them down a sad and sinful path. Gambling, which eats up the family money, can also be accessed with little difficulties from a home computer. All these things can be accessed 24/7 from your home. In the past it was easy to lock these evils out of your home, but with this constant stream of instant information, it is inside your home all the time. 

Living in an instant, on-demand world comes at a price and if we are not careful and vigilant we will find  Satan waiting . . . hiding in the shades ready to pounce if we let our guard down.  Evil is within our reach in this on-line world and we need to know how to give it a wide berth.


Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 

(Philippians 4:8)


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Comments

  1. I think this instant world is rather scary in many respects. Whilst we can do things very quickly and easily, we are also tempted to waste a lot more time on things that have no real importance, and I think the instant world is also destroying our health. We squeeze so many things into such a short space of time that our minds and even emotions cannot possibly keep up - this causes constant stress and pressure on us... I don't think we can even begin to imagine the long-term impact this will have on our lives or health. I think it becomes more and more important that we schedule time to "un-plug" and slow down and be still. Our minds are being forced to race as fast as the world around us and it is going to cause untold grief and damage if we don't take time to stop and disconnect from "instant" everything.

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    1. I think one of the reasons why people get so exhausted is because they can’t switch off from all the “instant” noise that surround them - which is why people have to check their mail so much during the day. Its almost a form of OCD.

      It is interesting the number of verses in the Bible about being still, quiet, peaceful - they are more relevant today than ever before. Be still, and know that I am God (Psalms 46:10)

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  2. Great post and very good advice. I remember us getting our first TV and being very excited. Unfortunately we became one of those families who had one in the kitchen and it was on all the time. When I got married and left home my parents still had the TV on and it really stopped good family communication. Now as a family we don't have the TV connected we only use it for DVDs, my husband will go online or listen to the radio on his way to work to hear the current news and then passes on anything of interest. The tools we have now are good and beneficial but can be used for both good and evil. Thanks for the reminder to be aware of this and thanks for linking up at Good Morning Mondays. Blessings

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    1. I have visited people who don't turn off their TV's and you have to talk over the noise and its very distracting. We do have a TV but we only watch the ABC or SBS but generally we watch DVDs because there isn't anything on TV these days and I don't watch reality TV (expect Antique Roadshow UK on the ABC!!).

      I grew up with no TV and it was such a novelty when on holidays to watch TV in the evenings - we were always so excited!!!

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  3. I totally agree. Things that you would not have had to worry about being in your home can now be accessed through the internet.

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    1. I don't think people about these things, once something like porn or gambling was safely outside your home and you could avoid it completely, now, its at our finger tips - no wonder some men really struggle with porn.

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