As my family gathered around the dinner table tonight, an interesting discussion topic arose: convenience in American society. I explained to my parents that while surfing the internet today, I stumbled upon an article describing a new iPhone app called “Confession: A Roman Catholic App.” This $1.99 app, approved by the Catholic Church in the US, will guide users through the process of confession and offer a “personalized examination of conscience.” According to the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church, confession can only take place in front of a priest. Strangely enough, the app attempts to mimic a priest by providing “personalized examination of conscience” based on the user’s age, vocation and sex. As I read this article, and later shared it with my family, I began to realize how lazy our society has become. You can already start your car using an iPhone, order Starbucks through an app, control your computer through your iPhone and now you can confess your sins to a religious “figure.” What’s next? My mom shared with me an interesting story she read about years ago in a magazine, regarding drive-through funeral homes. “What?!” I was in total disbelief: it sounded too absurd. But, to my surprise, after reading a few articles online, I found that at least one such place does exist. In Chicago, a funeral home has been established with a drive-through access providing numerous cameras and a sound system which enable visitors pay their respects, sign the funeral register and view the remains of the loved one, at all hours of the day, without ever leaving the car or speaking to the family of the loved one. I find it extremely disturbing to read that the high technology of drive-thru banks and hamburger places have come to the funeral world. Somehow this just seems wrong. Shouldn’t we be less focused on our own agendas and create time to pay respects to the bereaved? Once again, convenience seems to take precedence over caring and personal contact in today’s American society. Additionally, I have heard of the drive-thru wedding chapel in Las Vegas. In 2005, the rates for the drive-thru weddings started at $40 for couples who supply their own car. The chapel even offers rates for bikers and motorcyclists. It seems rather bizarre to me to “rush through” a life-long commitment. Oh well. The American desire for convince, as shown through the iPhone apps, the drive-through funeral home and the drive-through wedding chapel, has surely played a fundamental role in the shaping of society. I guess, however, than an iPhone app allowing a person to confess their sins might be not be all bad if its constant presence reminds the iPhone owner to make the morally responsible decision.
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| Drive-thru wedding window in Las Vegas |
Emily, although your examples are ridiculous, I do believe there is an upside to our fast paced society. I definitely do not believe someone should get married in a drive through, or confess to their iPhone, but if we apply this type of efficiency to less personal things, like getting gas or waiting for a wesite to load, we can spend time on the more effective and useful things. Our fast-paced society definitely has some ups and downs and hopefully we will all focus on speeding up the unimportant things and slowing down the meaningful ones.
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