My love/hate relationship with the internet and blogging
Friday, June 1, 2012 at 02:05PM Love:
Meeting up with other Christian women who like deep study. I don't have a lot of in real life friends who do that. I also don't have a lot of Calvinstic leaning female friends. I've made so many friends through the internet.
Contributing to a conversation. I love being able to have a good discussion about spiritual truth or mothering, or whatever. Blogging has changed, unfortunately, but at its best, it provides many nice little communities to be chummy with.
The internet has a lot of good information. We all know that. Why else would "Google" now be a verb?
Book resources. Lists of books to read, places to buy them, places to see them reviewed. Online book clubs.
I love the internet for shopping. LLBean, LandsEnd, Orvis? Who needs the mall?
I can ignore it for days it it never gets offended and goes away.
Hate:
The glut of news and would-be pundits, both inside and outside the church. Information is not the same as understanding. I feel we go for the former and ignore the latter.
Lack of silence. The internet is a lot of visual noise. Not only do our auditory faculties take a beating, but so do our visual ones.
The crowds. It's hard to sift through so many voices. Anyone can be an "expert" in anything.
The feeling that so much internet time has had a negative impact on the local church. Who needs the local church when there a bazillion free sermons online, discussion groups, prayer groups, etc. Please, someone really brilliant out there start researching this.
The temptations. They're all there. Temptation to compete, to speak unkindly, to brag, to misrepresent ourselves, to say too much, too think I'm bigger than I really am.
Bullies. Bullies love the internet. Faceless victims are everywhere.
It's a tricky business balancing out the good and the bad.
Now, I need to find my warm, fuzzy Lands End red hoodie to put on because it's chilly here today. A quilt is calling to me.
Reader Comments (3)
Amen!
I relate to both your Love list and your Hate list. I'm still trying to navigate my way through these waters in a healthy way, finding a balance between gleaning the good online but not letting it suck away my time or sensibilities.
I think everyone has their own love and hate list about the internet. It's so hard to get away from!