Not sure how many of you know that the first Church Service to be broadcast live by the SABC took place here in this sanctuary in 1925? (See the plaque in the “Time Tunnel” next to the bathrooms). It was cutting edge technology back then and this community was at the forefront. Since then things have moved on….a long way. Here are some interesting facts about technology today that may interest some of you…
- It took 38 years for Radio to reach 50 million users while it took only 13 years for TV. Yet it took only 4 years for the Internet, and 3 years for iPod while Facebook added over 200 million users in less than a year. If Facebook were a country it would be the third largest in the world (China and India ahead and the USA in fourth place). Lady Gaga—Justin Bieber and Britney Spears have more twitter followers than the entire populations of: Sweden, Israel, Australia and Chile.
- eBooks surpassed traditional book sales during Christmas 2010. If the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, were made into a book it would be 2.25 million pages long and would take you 123 years to read.
- 1-in-5 couples meet on line. Some babies in Egypt have been recently named Facebook as a tribute to how instrumental it was in their recent revolution. Facebook was the first social media site to insist on users using their real names—some say this has contributed to their success. Could this mean that people still long for real, authentic relationships?
Things that many of us know little or nothing about consume much of our children’s lives—with “virtual reality” seemingly taking over real reality. What does it all this mean? What does it all mean for us as a community? I am not sure, but I am interested in what you think it means. Lets talk, Alan.
