Tom Bryant, part-time student at Oak Hill Theological College, reflects on the idolatry of efficiency
Self-service has been around for centuries, but technology is pushing the concept to new extremes. The self-service checkout (SSC) was patented by David Humble in 1984 after a frustratingly long wait in line at a shop, but over the last 15 years these machines have taken supermarkets by storm. How is this trend relevant to us as Christians? To answer, we need to think about the story the SSC tells us.
What’s the story?
Everything about the SSC is engineered to give the appearance of increased speed. They are often positioned closer to the exit, only have a space for placing a basket not a conveyor belt for a trolley-load of goods, and there is a single queueing area for a bank of machines as opposed to a queue per checkout. This all means that the queue for the SSC is always moving fastest. In our busy world of Instagram, two-hour Amazon deliveries, and food within minutes from Just Eat or Deliveroo, the appeal is massive. Of course, faster transactions can be good. Our search for speed at the checkout may be a helpful recognition of the truth that God is the author of time, which is His gift to us to be used well, not wasted in a queue.
