The consensus these days is that the world is in a bad place. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, unless Jesus returns before then. Lately, I have been tracking eras of upheaval and have arrived at a new hypothesis. It seems that more people than usual have difficulty managing their emotions and anxiety in times of technological advancement.
The consensus these days is that America is in a bad place. This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, unless Jesus returns before then. Lately, I have been tracking eras of upheaval and have arrived at a new hypothesis. It seems that more people than usual have difficulty managing their emotions and anxiety in times of technological advancement.
I first became aware of this correlation last year in a book that I read called Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy. It included numerous sad accounts about life in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, in the 1890s. The book is chocked full of disturbing accounts of those who suffered the consequences of excessive stress and even mental illness. It prompts the reader to ask why so many alarming events occurred in ten short years in a small town in rural America? (Here are two posts that I wrote about it: https://edgechurchconsulting.com/what-progress-can-bring/ and https://workedgetexas.com/back-to-the-nineties/)
Every 40 to 50 years, we in the West experience significant societal change. Much of it has to do with technology. In the 1850s, America was changing with the proliferation of railroads and the inventions of the camera and telegraph. In this context, the Civil War burst forth in 1861. That war led to the killing of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Human chaos and pain resurfaced a few decades later. By the early 1890s, Alexander Graham Bell had invented the telephone, electricity was becoming more available, and Henry Ford and others were experimenting with horseless carriages (later to be called automobiles.) In 1903, the Wright brothers broke gravity’s hold and flew in their airplane. All of these inventions were deployed during the great conflagration of Europe–World War I. Millions of lives were lost, and the number of casualties would have been even higher if the United States had not entered the war.
Things slowed down during the Great Depression of the 1930s, but World War II created technological breakthroughs. Rockets were utilized in warfare, and the atomic bomb was unleashed. During the 1950s, televisions invaded American homes, the Soviets entered outer space, and America blew up with the shattering of the cultural mores of the 1960s and 70s. Recreational drug use increased exponentially, as did “free” sexual love. Families disintegrated.
Life became calmer in the 1980s and 90s. The Iron Curtain fell, and even crime in New York City decreased significantly. But technological inventions kept coming. Computers appeared at home and work. The internet, email, and smartphones became available to the masses.
The influence of social media grew. For the past few years, people have remained in a very agitated state. We see the fruit of these rapid advances and changes in our social and political discourse. Much of the disputes, harsh rhetoric, and extreme reactions reflect a tense, anxious people. The depression we’re seeing, the nervous breakdowns, the shootings, and the tragedies are symptomatic of what is going on underneath. Technological change has brought about societal change. There is a connection.
I do, however, believe in our future. We’ll catch up with the changes technology has brought. Remember the tremendous toll in Wisconsin during the 1890s: the suicides, mental illness, crime, etc.
We caught up then, and we’ll catch up yet.
And someday, if Jesus does not return, we repeat everything again.
“What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecc. 1:9.)