There are a variety of adages along the lines of “too much of a good thing is not a good thing.”
How about “be careful what you ask for, you may get it.” Or “all things in moderation.” Or “overabundance.” Or “too many cooks spoil the broth.” Or “familiarity breeds contempt.” Or “embarrassment of riches.” Or TMI – “too much information.”
Or “you can’t see the forest for the trees.” Or “too many choices.” Or “more is not always better.” Or “too much pudding will choke a dog.” Or “you can never have too much chocolate.”
The gist of these adages is the wisdom that lots and lots of “good” can turn into too much “good” fairly quickly, that abundance is good unless there is too much of it.
On one hand as with most adages we “know” the truth of it all too well, especially in terms of observing its application to others. On the other hand we are so accustomed to striving for good things in our lives that we don’t always recognize when that line is crossed and we become the “dog choking on the delicious pudding” (by the way I wasn’t familiar with this delightful saying but supposedly it comes from Wales).
Living in an uber-consumerist culture makes it even more difficult for us to know when “enough is enough.” We are immersed and swim in consumerism water which is constantly telling us that we haven’t got enough and need urgently to buy this or that which will make our living more fulfilled and complete.
And this drive for more is nowhere more addictive and compelling than when it comes to technology. Our great-grandchildren will look back and marvel at all the changes we have lived through from party line rotary dial phones attached to the wall to a 5G smart phone in everyone’s pocket or purse.
The rush of technological advancement shows no signs of abating. It compels us to buy a new cell phone every two or three years and ever newer powerful computers to increase processing capability. More and more apps. More and more social media websites. And now the buzz is all about AI – artificial intelligence – computing which promises (or dooms us to?) revolutionary new ways of storing information, doing research, writing, and composing literature and music.
It is enough to make some of us veer towards being a technology “Luddite” – ie. like those folks in the early 1800s in England who, intimidated by the advance of industrial technology out of fear of losing their jobs, broke into factories and destroyed the new monster machines. Not a few people have withdrawn from at least some social media, especially Facebook.
But I suspect there are very few of us who would wish to go back to the pre-computer pre-cell-phone pre-internet era. Even most conservative and Old Order Mennonite and Amish folks have embraced at least some of this technology. Already more than 10 years ago I was driving on Floradale Road and saw an Old Order farmer taking a break in the field, leaning against his four-horse team plow and talking on a cell phone.
When such is the case it would seem technology is a “bandwagon” that has become impossible to get off of or to slow down. Indeed some have raised fears that the AI revolution threatens to replace human beings – make us greatly superfluous to the functioning of our economy and country.
It is undeniable that technology is a good thing, but has it become “too much of a good thing?” Has it become “the pudding that chokes the dog,” the “more that is no longer always better.”
When I observe folks siting around a table in a restaurant each looking at their phone; when one hears that the average teenager spends 4.5 (and some as many as 16) hours a day on their phone; when our generation of children spends way more time on screen than playing outside or doing sports; when online pornography use has become epidemic; when predators and bullies use social media to victimize youth to the point of suicide; need I go on – “the pudding is indeed choking the dog.”
I don’t think government can solve this problem. They certainly have contributions to make. Crises in the past – the two World Wars and the Great Depression come to mind – were not solved primarily by government initiative. It was ordinary folks like you and me recognizing that there was a problem then pulling ourselves and our communities up by our bootstraps and exerting our will and determination to slay the monster.
The monster of modern technology is especially dangerous because of the many “good things” it provides us and therefore it cannot be utterly eradicated. Maybe a helpful image is this: technology has become a monster that is increasingly biting the hand that created it and feeds it. It will not be slain, but for the sake of human wellbeing it must be caged and its ferocity inhibited.
And may I suggest it begins with you and me, by simply choosing to spend a lot less time looking into a screen and lot more time being with the people around us, especially our family and friends.
Technology can be a good thing, but only if we remember that we have far better things than screens – people, family, faith, love, reading, walking, etc. – to spend our best and most time with.