Yesterday, I heard Beethoven playing in an elevator. I thought to myself, “surely, Old Johann is turning over in his grave right now.” It was like hearing Shakespeare used as a radio ad, or watching Daniel Day Lewis do a toothpaste commercial.
We live in a time where technology is advancing at a rate never before seen by humankind, and we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of these innovations. Take an app like Periscope for example. If you had told someone 20 years ago that nearly every person in the world today would have the ability to video broadcast themselves (LIVE) to anyone, anywhere using a camera the size of their hand that also doubles as their phone, computer, address book, and credit card, that person probably would have punched you straight in the mouth. Okay, maybe not a punch, but they certainly would have called you crazy.
In reality though, anyone with a smartphone is able to do that. Just think of the possibilities for broadcast news, or the opportunities for things like teaching and entertainment. Think how many jobs could potentially be created for professional Periscope networks in advertising, marketing, and content creation. The possibilities are truly endless and potentially earth shaking.
And yet, the other day I watched, for a very short time, a 17 year old boy play Call of Duty while spouting racial slurs and eating ice cream.
There is always somebody who will take a something with amazing potential and cheapen it.
There will always be people using Beethovan as elevator music.
But it doesn’t have to be you.
We can either sit around and bemoan how technology and “social Media” are ruining our culture for the next generation, or we can get creative. We can find ways to utilize these new innovations for life giving, fruitful, Godly purposes.
Your choice.
We live in a time where technology is advancing at a rate never before seen by humankind, and we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of these innovations. Take an app like Periscope for example. If you had told someone 20 years ago that nearly every person in the world today would have the ability to video broadcast themselves (LIVE) to anyone, anywhere using a camera the size of their hand that also doubles as their phone, computer, address book, and credit card, that person probably would have punched you straight in the mouth. Okay, maybe not a punch, but they certainly would have called you crazy.
In reality though, anyone with a smartphone is able to do that. Just think of the possibilities for broadcast news, or the opportunities for things like teaching and entertainment. Think how many jobs could potentially be created for professional Periscope networks in advertising, marketing, and content creation. The possibilities are truly endless and potentially earth shaking.
And yet, the other day I watched, for a very short time, a 17 year old boy play Call of Duty while spouting racial slurs and eating ice cream.
There is always somebody who will take a something with amazing potential and cheapen it.
There will always be people using Beethovan as elevator music.
But it doesn’t have to be you.
We can either sit around and bemoan how technology and “social Media” are ruining our culture for the next generation, or we can get creative. We can find ways to utilize these new innovations for life giving, fruitful, Godly purposes.
Your choice.
