Yesterday, I saw our pastor at Starbuck's. We talked for a moment about facebook. I have come to the conclusion that there are more cons than pros about facebook. I actually discourage people from joining if they haven't already. My belief is that it's not wise to shift your conversation to facebook if it isn't already there. Facebook lives in the land of quasi-real relationships. The relationships aren't quite real, but aren't entirely fake either. It's a bit of a trap in my mind. The reason I don't withdraw from it altogether is that I now have relationships with family and friends far away that I don't hear about otherwise. It also allows me to keep in touch with people that I don't see regularly where I am.
My pastor made a comment about communication and the internet and how it was supposed to improve communication, but it often leads to more frustration--that you can't get ahold of everyone right away or that you have to call someone because they don't have email. I think that part of the reason why is that the internet has increased our amount of communication with one another rather than decreased it. We communicate more and squeeze even more into our days.
Food For Thought...
How many people do you "talk" to in a day on the internet?
How many people do you "talk" to via text or cell phone call?
And...
How many do you talk to via a landline or a phone while you are at home?
I was driving my children to their piano and voice lessons on Tuesday when I was stopped at a traffic signal. I looked over and saw a woman talking in her bluetooth through the entire stop. I listened to the sound in my car. It was quiet. None of us were talking. No cell phone talking. A little music from the radio. It was a good thing that gave us all a bit of peace amidst all that we had to do during the day.
Another day last week I noticed two people walking away from the store. One of them was talking. But, he wasn't talking to the person with him. He was talking on his bluetooth to someone else.
I also remember some time in the last month walking through a store and noticing a woman alone talking on a bluetooth. Of course I didn't see the bluetooth at first and I chuckled realizing how that woman would have appeared five years ago. She would have looked like she was talking to herself and people around her would have been concerned because of how animated her conversation was.
What a time we live in. When I read Distracted by Maggie Jackson last year, it made a huge impact on my thinking. The ideas from that book now haunt me. Do we have rest in our lives? Do we have peace? Are we tied to our cell phones or computers in a way that prevents us from settling our minds, hearts, and bodies down to rest?
This isn't the downside of Cell Phones and YouTube that I meant to talk about in this post. I actually had a frenetically busy day yesterday. The part that calmed me down was talking to a friend face to face at church in the evening. That conversation was such a blessing to me in a way that I can't quite explain. There was no rush to our conversation. I truly enjoy this woman's friendship and hearing her honest opinions.
Earlier in the day, I tried to squeeze in a car wash. My car was beyond filthy. After rushing around my car to quickly wash it, I pulled out and ran over a cub! Ay Ay AY! I simply didn't see it. Thankfully, no one had a cell phone to film my silly mistake. Unfortunately, an 18 year old girl near where I lived was not so lucky. She made a U-turn over a retaining wall and took a nose dive in the car. I heard the story at the Starbucks later that day. I went to church afterwards and mentioned the story to two gals. One had already heard about it--and seen it on a YouTube clip.
We all make mistakes but one of the downsides of Cell Phones and YouTube is that it makes even more of our mistakes.
Most things have upsides and downsides. The internet, cell phones, and YouTube are not exceptions to this. I can't help but be thankful 1) my driving over the curb wasn't filmed 2) the accident I was in when I was 16 wasn't filmed on a cell phone and 3) I have many friends who aren't on the internet or facebook much.
Showing posts with label Maggie Jackson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maggie Jackson. Show all posts
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Technology and Our lives
There are some things I know about myself. One is that I often struggle with self discipline. There are areas where I am disciplined and there are others where I am not. I want freedom--or what I think is the freedom to do what I want. But, often that isn't true freedom.
"Man's perennial efforts to take himself in hand, however he attempts it, lead to the greatest bondage in which man misses what he was meant to be. Man's true freedom does not consist of the unfettered power to direct his life, either in a political or in a Stoic sense. It lies in life with God, lived as it was originally intended by God for man. He only gains this as he denies himself. Paradoxically, the free man does not belong to himself. He belongs to him who has set him free." J. Blunck
Last year, I read the book Distracted by Maggie Jackson. I read about her ideas about the damage media is doing to our lives and minds. Our attention spans are decreasing as our multi- tasking increases. It is more and more difficult to find a sense of peace while the internet is constantly buzzing. And the artificial world of the world wide web is now seen as real. What was once artificial... is now considered real and true. I read the warnings in the book. I knew what the book was cautioning me about. I felt the caution and I heeded it--a little. I fasted for a short time from the internet and then went back to what I'd done before.
God let me go down that path again. I have felt this growing disconnect from my family. I have lost some of my desire to do things and my desire to "escape" and relax has grown some. I knew I was escaping to the computer, but I did it anyways. So, I am resolving to change this--because it is the best thing for me, and for my family. Now, this wasn't visible to anyone but me. I haven't constantly been on the computer. I actually don't text. I don't blog every day. But, what I realized was that I was losing, or rather using, a few minutes here and a few minutes there. Over the course of the day, those minutes add up.
Romans 7
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So, I am resolving to do this:
Sundays will be a day of rest: A day of rest from the computer
During the week, I can get on in the morning and in the afternoon if the kids have room time. But, I cannot check Facebook and email other than those 2 times.
I do not want to lose something I have like the frog in hot water loses his life. The best way I can describe what I think media can do to us is like the frog who is placed in water. As the water is heated up little by little, the frog doesn't notice. It doesn't notice---until it is too late and the water is boiling and the frog is dead.
Every day we make choices. We make them moment by moment. I do not want to sound fatalistic, but I think that our choices matter--to us and to the ones we love. We can choose to check facebook and lose 3 minutes or we can choose to sit down and listen when our child wants to tell us the story she or he just made up. We can choose to search the internet for music to listen to or we can listen to what we have and not feed our desire to purchase something else.
Speaking of which, it's time for me to get off the computer, so I need to go. Let me know if you decide to join me in this journey...
"Man's perennial efforts to take himself in hand, however he attempts it, lead to the greatest bondage in which man misses what he was meant to be. Man's true freedom does not consist of the unfettered power to direct his life, either in a political or in a Stoic sense. It lies in life with God, lived as it was originally intended by God for man. He only gains this as he denies himself. Paradoxically, the free man does not belong to himself. He belongs to him who has set him free." J. Blunck
Last year, I read the book Distracted by Maggie Jackson. I read about her ideas about the damage media is doing to our lives and minds. Our attention spans are decreasing as our multi- tasking increases. It is more and more difficult to find a sense of peace while the internet is constantly buzzing. And the artificial world of the world wide web is now seen as real. What was once artificial... is now considered real and true. I read the warnings in the book. I knew what the book was cautioning me about. I felt the caution and I heeded it--a little. I fasted for a short time from the internet and then went back to what I'd done before.
God let me go down that path again. I have felt this growing disconnect from my family. I have lost some of my desire to do things and my desire to "escape" and relax has grown some. I knew I was escaping to the computer, but I did it anyways. So, I am resolving to change this--because it is the best thing for me, and for my family. Now, this wasn't visible to anyone but me. I haven't constantly been on the computer. I actually don't text. I don't blog every day. But, what I realized was that I was losing, or rather using, a few minutes here and a few minutes there. Over the course of the day, those minutes add up.
Romans 7
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So, I am resolving to do this:
Sundays will be a day of rest: A day of rest from the computer
During the week, I can get on in the morning and in the afternoon if the kids have room time. But, I cannot check Facebook and email other than those 2 times.
I do not want to lose something I have like the frog in hot water loses his life. The best way I can describe what I think media can do to us is like the frog who is placed in water. As the water is heated up little by little, the frog doesn't notice. It doesn't notice---until it is too late and the water is boiling and the frog is dead.
Every day we make choices. We make them moment by moment. I do not want to sound fatalistic, but I think that our choices matter--to us and to the ones we love. We can choose to check facebook and lose 3 minutes or we can choose to sit down and listen when our child wants to tell us the story she or he just made up. We can choose to search the internet for music to listen to or we can listen to what we have and not feed our desire to purchase something else.
Speaking of which, it's time for me to get off the computer, so I need to go. Let me know if you decide to join me in this journey...
Friday, July 9, 2010
Distractions
Lately, I've felt myself to be out of whack. My schedule has been off and I've slid into a bad habit of watching too many videos on Netflix during the kids naptime. It's one of those times when I know what the best thing is to do, but I'm just not making myself do it. What I need to do is turn off the computer, go outside, sit on the porch, and read a book or work in my garden. I need to seek peace and calm instead of avoiding the silence by losing myself in the television shows I watch.
Recently, my husband suggested a book for me to read. It was Distracted by Maggie Jackson. I began reading it. This book is very different than the books I usually review. It is a sociological and at times psychological analysis of our attention span and some of our cultural habits as a people.
The premise of this book is (in my words) that the rise of technology in our world is contributiong to a decline in our ability to focus and pay attention. Our relationships and learning are suffering because of it. So, is all of the technology in our world really progress? Is this the progress we want?
From the beginning, this book really made me think. My husband and I have chosen not to text and instead we have prepaid cell phones. We aren't gamers and we don't go into chat rooms. We are very low tech in many ways. Even so, I've realized how often I check my email and facebook and how much time has gotten sucked away by me watching shows online. I've even started to have eerie and surreal thoughts about what is real and what is virtual. I've caught myself at times thinking about how I would describe something on Facebook. This really concerned me when I saw this in myself. Essentially, my attention span is being split and is declining. I am distracted from what I really need to do and what is most worth investing my time in.
Reading this book reinforced some of the things I have seen in myself on a micro level and have been concerned for our society about on a macro level. Texting is really only the tip of the iceberg and this book opened my eyes to a lot of things that are going on that I didn't even realize. For example, Maggie Jackson quoted a study that found that 20% of the players on EverQuest "say that they consider themselves denizens of the game who are just visiting Earth." Distracted, p. 56. Wow! Truly, the virtual world has taken hold. It is seeming more real to many people than the life they are really living in person.
Here are a few quotes that hit me the most from this book:
"Freud had an experience when he was outside with a crowd watching a slide show and he wrote this about it 'Until 9 p.m., I remain spellbound, then I begin to feel too lonely in the crowd, so I return to my room to write to you all.'"
On the next page, she writes "Now we slip easily in and out of virtual worlds and multitask each other, wondering if our seemingly miraculous power to be in many places at once brings us closer or keeps us apart...Increasingly, we sense that crucial aspects of our humanity, our ability to focus, be aware, and reason well--may be eroding, even as we surrender to the dreamlike joyride that this way of life offers. Now it's time to confront the challenges of our day. Does intimacy survive a seemingly limitless realm of infinite prospects? Can we bolster the quality of our life by split-screen living? How do lives of perpetual movement shape our attachments to each other and change our experience of place? Facing these challenges leads us first into the "new room" in the house, the virtual space where the lights are always on." from pg. 42-43 of Distracted
A few months ago, I read Nurture Shock on the recommendation of a friend and was very challenged and encouraged by it. Both that book and this one are written from a secular perspective (which I would define as one not concerned with God). In a similar way to Nurture Shock, Distracted has challenged my thinking and how I see the world we live in. It is also challenging to me to consider the role that I desire technology to have in my children's lives.
I live intentionally in a way hoping to glorify God in how I live my life. So, although this book is not concerned with God, it does encourage me in how I seek to glorify God by not "needing" technology or becoming entrapped by it.
I highly recommend this book. The writing is good (as you can see from the quotes), though at times very intellectual. But, it is worth pressing on and taking your time to get through. The parts I learned the most from were in the first half. There is a large section in the second half that is about a study involving Buddhism and attention. Buddhism is written about as a behavior/lifestyle rather than as a religion.
One last quote I think is worth pondering:
"If we want to shape our own future, we must consider how we want to live and how we want to define progress, and as we do so, prepare to welcome to our ranks the thinking person's most prickly yet necessary companion-doubt." from Distracted by Maggie Jackson, pg. 215
Please note that I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book for review by Prometheus Books.
The premise of this book is (in my words) that the rise of technology in our world is contributiong to a decline in our ability to focus and pay attention. Our relationships and learning are suffering because of it. So, is all of the technology in our world really progress? Is this the progress we want?
From the beginning, this book really made me think. My husband and I have chosen not to text and instead we have prepaid cell phones. We aren't gamers and we don't go into chat rooms. We are very low tech in many ways. Even so, I've realized how often I check my email and facebook and how much time has gotten sucked away by me watching shows online. I've even started to have eerie and surreal thoughts about what is real and what is virtual. I've caught myself at times thinking about how I would describe something on Facebook. This really concerned me when I saw this in myself. Essentially, my attention span is being split and is declining. I am distracted from what I really need to do and what is most worth investing my time in.
Reading this book reinforced some of the things I have seen in myself on a micro level and have been concerned for our society about on a macro level. Texting is really only the tip of the iceberg and this book opened my eyes to a lot of things that are going on that I didn't even realize. For example, Maggie Jackson quoted a study that found that 20% of the players on EverQuest "say that they consider themselves denizens of the game who are just visiting Earth." Distracted, p. 56. Wow! Truly, the virtual world has taken hold. It is seeming more real to many people than the life they are really living in person.
Here are a few quotes that hit me the most from this book:
"Freud had an experience when he was outside with a crowd watching a slide show and he wrote this about it 'Until 9 p.m., I remain spellbound, then I begin to feel too lonely in the crowd, so I return to my room to write to you all.'"
On the next page, she writes "Now we slip easily in and out of virtual worlds and multitask each other, wondering if our seemingly miraculous power to be in many places at once brings us closer or keeps us apart...Increasingly, we sense that crucial aspects of our humanity, our ability to focus, be aware, and reason well--may be eroding, even as we surrender to the dreamlike joyride that this way of life offers. Now it's time to confront the challenges of our day. Does intimacy survive a seemingly limitless realm of infinite prospects? Can we bolster the quality of our life by split-screen living? How do lives of perpetual movement shape our attachments to each other and change our experience of place? Facing these challenges leads us first into the "new room" in the house, the virtual space where the lights are always on." from pg. 42-43 of Distracted
A few months ago, I read Nurture Shock on the recommendation of a friend and was very challenged and encouraged by it. Both that book and this one are written from a secular perspective (which I would define as one not concerned with God). In a similar way to Nurture Shock, Distracted has challenged my thinking and how I see the world we live in. It is also challenging to me to consider the role that I desire technology to have in my children's lives.
I live intentionally in a way hoping to glorify God in how I live my life. So, although this book is not concerned with God, it does encourage me in how I seek to glorify God by not "needing" technology or becoming entrapped by it.
I highly recommend this book. The writing is good (as you can see from the quotes), though at times very intellectual. But, it is worth pressing on and taking your time to get through. The parts I learned the most from were in the first half. There is a large section in the second half that is about a study involving Buddhism and attention. Buddhism is written about as a behavior/lifestyle rather than as a religion.
One last quote I think is worth pondering:
"If we want to shape our own future, we must consider how we want to live and how we want to define progress, and as we do so, prepare to welcome to our ranks the thinking person's most prickly yet necessary companion-doubt." from Distracted by Maggie Jackson, pg. 215
Please note that I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book for review by Prometheus Books.
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