These words of Gary Millar regarding one reason why the church prays so little today are penetrating:
The Communications Revolution
One of the challenges of this generation is to process and adapt to the radical shift in the way in which we live, which has been brought about by developments in information technology. The immediacy of the flow of information across the globe is staggering. I think nothing of having a face-to-face online meeting with colleagues spread across multiple time zones. I expect instant answers to messages during waking hours.
My day is punctuated by a bewildering variety of communications from family, friends and those trying to convince me to part with my money. To be parted from one’s mobile phone is a particularly modern form of torture – to be able to ‘surf ’, read, play and ‘message’ anytime, anywhere, has reached the status of an inalienable human right! And all this makes it harder to pray. In the past it was still hard to pray. There were still distractions. The difference is that we can access these distractions simply by reaching into our pockets. There is no longer any need to count bricks in the church walls when, should the sermon fail to be sufficiently engaging or the prayers too long, we have Candy Crush to play on our smartphones.
Gary Millar, Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer (New Studies in Biblical Theology Book 38) (p. 233). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.