Not literally killing us, but is it hurting us?
The weather here just turned GORGEOUS and I have been outside for the past two days laying in the sun, running, and walking downtown. As I was laying in the sun earlier, I realized I forgot my music. But then I thought, "Do I really need something in my ear, constantly entertaining me?"
No, I don't.
Do we need to constantly check Facebook and our e-mail, or constantly be reading blogs and "expressing" ourselves to the online world? Um, no. The only rest my poor laptop gets is when I'm not connected to high speed at home.
Another issue: texting. Do we have to always know what everyone else is doing? Twitter and Facebook statuses are bad enough.
In one way, it's good to be connected with people, so you can influence them for Christ's and the Gospel's sake. But come on, that's no excuse for obsessive facebooking. Not only is it very self-centered to think everyone else wants to know how great your life is, and to post it every five seconds, its kind of stupid. Why are we so obsessed with doing that? I guess it comes back to self-centerdness, that's all I can come up with. The desire to have many comments assuring ourselves that we are loved by at least a few of our facebook friends. I don't know.
I'm guilty of doing this of course. I tell myself I'm posting things for my family to see, whatever, which I am, but it is fun to see how many friends you can get and how well liked you are. It's a nice feeling. Facebook is an ego feeder. We are already sinning human beings, how much more fuel do we need to boost our image? Not much, that's for sure. So stop making the first priority of the morning be turning on the stupid computer and checking what people say to you, and what other people are talking about. Who cares, really. Living people are much more important than the little profile picture you stare at. Is someone's FB profile really all there is to the person? I hope not, geez.
Chatting with friends for hours is kind of dumb, too. Chatting in person or on the phone is not dumb, but typing and tapping away, staring at the stupid screen, laughing occasionally to the words, is not ok. I don't know where that caught on! Again, I'm terribly guilty. I "chat" or type to my cousin almost everyday for long periods of time. It's nice, but isn't it nicer to actually hear the person? You lose your discretion and discernment. I've typed things to people I totally regret. You also can't look in the person's eyes or hear the tone of their voice. Real easy to lie through typed words. I'll still IM with my cousin, because I'll make the case for convenience or whatever, but it's still not the best form of communication.
The internet can be a great place, but also a dangerous place. There are many helpful sites I frequent, but there is so much crap out there.
Another issue that's pressing is having everything ON DEMAND. Right here, right now. I don't think it's healthy for an already lazy, dependent, flawed human (speaking of myself, of course) to have the world at their fingertips. You want to know the lyrics to that song? BAM type it in Google, and we have the answer in less than three seconds. Want to indulge in those funny videos? Youtube, baby. BAM we're laughing at something stupid. Pandora radio, anything, anytime. Want a recipe? type it in and you've got it. Too bad it won't shoot the pulled pork out of the screen for us. Maybe that's next.
When I was little, we had one TV, a VCR, and I think my daddy had a radio and a turntable. That was it for technology. Besides a microwave and washing machine. But we kept the wood stove. My cousin and I talk about this a lot. We were very content playing in the yard with our pets, and ourselves. We made up games to play, and had woods to build things in, and creeks and ponds to entertain us for hours! I was big on Barbie's and stuffed animals for years. We even played with bows and arrows and bb guns. And we played sports a lot. Very low tech indeed. I know of a first grader today that has a stinking cell phone. What??? Yes.
I also know a kid younger than 10, I forget how old he is, but his parents got him an iPod Touch for Christmas. Wow. Last year this kid got his own portable DVD player, and his face was always two inches away from the screen. Now. Is that good for children? I don't think so. My parents won't even buy us a cell phone plan. :/ I'm 19.
Give them a bike and a stuffed animal, and they'll be fine.
I'm not saying I know everything about technology and raising kids. I have a laptop, cell phone, mp3, camera, and I want an iPod touch to replace the old mp3 player, which is a cheapie to begin with. I'm not totally against it, but I need to remind myself to show moderation and use it sparingly. Unlimited everything is not good. We want it, but it's not good for us. Another big lesson from the parents. They wouldn't indulge our pleas for unlimited-everything, and looking back, we are better for it.
So go read a book or just sit and admire God's creation without something sticking out of your ears, or something flashing in front of your face.
For whoever loves Napoleon Dynamite...you'll get this without me having to explain. :)
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