Following 74 people or organisations on twitter... 174 friends on facebook... heaven-knows how many RSS feeds in google reader... all of which end up sending me links to other webpages or websites...That's an awful lot of noise all at once!
Problem is that it's pretty addictive - what if I miss something?
I had four days just after Easter with no internet access at all. It was great.
Current plan is to remove the computer from my study at home (where the idea is I will be able to study, preparation etc.) - but of course I'll scupper that if I ever get my hands on the mobile I'm coveting at a distance...
It comes down, of course, to that most under-rated, most seldom-practiced and most needed of virtues - basic discipline, in particular the discipline of "delayed gratification"... something we're meant to develop as we grow up.
Perhaps I just never did? Grow up, that is...
That looks cool! Better than the iPhone. Gwon Gwon Gwon.
Quite agree with you. I can sit down to work and be 40 minutes in without having done any more than check emails, and twitter/facebook updates. Needs to be kept in proportion.
It can be addictive - the little 'rewards' you get with each piece of communication. Blame brain chemistry.
Ha! Yes, oh yes! My friend Seth Barnes was talking about this today on Facebook via Twitter (!!). He said this: "email runs my life. I'm going to try to wrest control back by only looking at it 3X a day. Wish me luck." That got him a barrage of comments from people (including me) who said words to the effect of been there, tried it, couldn't do it.......
Delaying of gratification? Agree with that as a principle but is that what we are not doing when we addictively cling to the communication capacities of our computers and gadgets? It feels more like the gambling lie. Just one more........and suddenly an hour has gone. It has its good points. Keeps you in touch with people more regularly.
Yet I think it has become dangerous when it is your default place to go. At which point, it begins to become an idol that replaces God as your default place to go when you mind is in neutral. God's not too keen on those as I recall.......!!! How much less busy and frantic would the day be if we didn't even check it every day? Or only once a day? Could we stand the suspense of not knowing what might be in there that could be oh so important?
We were joking with Seth about fasting "to break the yoke of bondage" but maybe that isn't quite such a joke........
I remember once driving along, singing and praying to God and telling Him I wanted to worship Him in everything and He distinctly said immediately "can I have your driving then please?" I almost did an emergency stop! I realised that actually I liked speeding, cutting people up, tailgating annoyingly slow people in front till they moved.........so I made the choice to say okay, You can have my driving as an offering of worship to You every time I get in the car. That was 15 years ago. Driving at speed limits, driving courteously and thinking graciously about the other drivers (idiots though many of them are!!!) took a HUGE amount of discipline to learn, but I stuck at it and mostly (not always!) I succeed in doing what He asked of me. And despite being frustrating at times, it feels good.
But we just don't like the challenge to the stuff we like, eh? If God asked me to turn my computer off tomorrow, turn off my mobile phone & all the communication gadgets, I think I would be ready for a fight with Him. And in honesty, wouldn't you? But like you, Richard, once I was away from home on hols just before Easter, I seriously didn't miss it once I had got over the cold turkey!
I'll be interested to see how you do on this one with a computer-free study.........let us know, eh? LOL xxx