“You knew better than that.” It was a line I heard several times growing up. It was usually right before some sort of punishment from my parents.

Sometimes, hoping to avoid the punishment, I would respond, “But I didn’t know!” The quick answer would be, “Well, you should have known!” Realizing then all hope was lost, I would brace myself for what was coming, whatever the punishment would be.

“Well, you should have known.” You should have read the instruction sheet. You should have read the payment agreement more closely. Like me, I’m sure there have been times in your life when you have said, “I should have known….”

Years ago we lived in what was known as the Industrial Age. It was a time of factories and machinery. Now we live in the Information Age. It’s a time of technology and communication. And the change is apparent everywhere. Growing up, we could get three channels on our black and white television. It was channels 5, 6, 11, or nothing. Now, with a hundred channels on cable TV, we complain about nothing to watch.

In 1978, during my training for my job with the N.C. Dept. of Revenue, we took a tour of the Revenue Building in Raleigh. In the basement we saw the computer room, which filled up nearly the entire length of the building. The large machines stored tax information which now can be easily contained inside a laptop computer.

Most of us walk around with access to more knowledge than any person alive had one hundred years ago. That smart phone in your pocket opens the door to a world of knowledge. Well, unless, like me, you still have a flip phone. I call it a “burner phone.” (Don’t want the bad guys being able to trace my whereabouts.)

With the technological advances in communication and information, the accumulation of the amount of knowledge has increased dramatically. In 1900, human knowledge doubled approximately every 100 years. By the end of 1945, the rate was every 25 years. The “Knowledge Doubling Curve”, as it is commonly known, was created by Buckminster Fuller in 1982. By 2000, it was determined that human knowledge doubled every 13 months. Of course, it is many times faster now.

So the knowledge is out there, and the access to information is easier than ever. (How do you think I got the information in the previous paragraph? I “googled” it on my computer.) So it comes down to what we are going to do with all this information that we now can so readily obtain.

Am I going to let my political and world view be determined by only one source of information? Or am I going to look to other sources, even though it may take some effort and may not agree completely with my natural inclination. Am I going to be more aware of personal health issues now that so much health and medical information is available at my fingertips on the internet?

On spiritual matters, it’s easy for us to say, “But, I didn’t know.” It sounds like a legitimate excuse. But, is that really a good excuse, here in the heart of what used to be called, “Bible Belt?” Besides, if you wanted, you can even download a version on the Bible on that smart phone in your pocket.

“I didn’t know” wasn’t a good excuse when I was a kid. “I didn’t know” really isn’t a good excuse now, especially in this time of so much access to information and knowledge. We may not be held responsible one day for what we didn’t know. But I have a pretty good idea that we will be held responsible for what we should have known.

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By Mac McPhail

Contributing columnist

Mac McPhail, raised in Sampson County, lives in Clinton and can be reached at [email protected].