I Can’t Stop…They’ll Forget I exist.
I read a post the other day that was talking about addiction. More specifically to internet addiction. Not pornography and things like that, but the social content. This post was concerned that we place too much value in our online presence and not enough to the “real” world. It was a very good post with lots of questions to test your involvement. I think I passed 
After I read through it though, one thing stood out to me. The author asked the question, “do you think for yourself?”. That’s a great question. Where do we get all our information? Do we truly take time to seek God’s guidance alone, apart from our online resources?
Now, let me say this. I tend to do things online verses on paper. My documents are online via Google. My Bible is online via youversion.com. My social network is online via Blogs and Twitter. It was great to ask the tough questions and evaluate whether or not, I am addicted to being online, or if I am truly using the online environment for good. Here’s the deal. You can be just as addicted to books and newspapers as you can to the internet. We have to continually evaluate where we find our “fill”.
So, where do you get your “fill”?
Is your only source of being filled, online? What would happen if you disappeared from the internet for a week? Would you feel you are missing something? Or worse that you can’t function?
Are you afraid that your lack of involvement onine will diminish who you are in everyone’s eyes? That’s a tough one.
So what do you think?
To be honest.. when I started this blog thing back in April.. I got caught up in the moment have a huge following.. and wanting to feel important.. But the past couple months I’ve realized how wrong that thinking is. You can have 100 people following your blog but if you dont have any REAL connections with anyone what is the point. The deal is you need to be filling yourself outside of the “web” Daily quiet times..devotions…worship time.. I noticed that my personal quiet time struggled when I first started this.. but I need to have that.. and have been making it as a priority again.. and its cool to see once you take the focus of what you want.. spending time in the word how your focus can shift.
Adam´s last blog post…Stats Suck Sunday..
Like you, I get most of my information online, but for us it’s because we don’t get a newspaper, we don’t have cable television – and we watch very little TV anyhow. I figure if something *really big* happens, someone will call and tell me, LOL. I get breaking news from CNN and NPR on Twitter.
Social networking helps me keep connected, but when I go a day without turning on the computer, it’s refreshing! I don’t do that often, though, because almost everyone I communicate with on a regular basis uses email or facebook. For some reason, many people just refuse to pick up the phone and call.
My fill? Where do I get it? No matter how hard I try, I just can’t get it online. The computer saps my energy. It’s a necessary tool, but if I’m not careful, it can become a black hole that sucks me in for waaaaayyyy more time than I care to be sucked in. And it will never, ever fill me, regardless of what I do or how much time I spend on it. If I disappeared from the internet for a week, I believe it would be a good thing! LOL
Kim´s last blog post…Thoughts about poverty – Blog Action Day 2008
I am so addicted.
Brandy´s last blog post…If you think of a catchy title, tell me and I’ll change it.
I am sorry Who are you again?
ckroboth´s last blog post…Friday Verses # 14
Is my only sorce of being filled my Blog? No.. But it is important to my growth in Christ.
I get my fill from, time with God,Family(Immediate and Extended), a few very close Friends. Leading Discipleship class at church has helped me build relationships with a group of men
I echo what Adam is saying…
Over the past month or so I have been extremely busy and not able to keep up with blogging the way I was over the summer, but I am ok with that. Blogging thankfully is not my full identity. However, for every 10 that are believers that read my Blog there may be 1 that is not a believer in Christ, and finds some nugget of truth that turns them to God.
I started blogging as a way to keep track of my faith as it progresses and grows. I like blogging cause I don’t journal and it gives me a way to get my thoughts out, and see how God is shaping me and my beliefs have changed. As I said above, if one person comes to know God because of my writing then, Glory to God for working through me.
I am not addicted´s last blog post…Friday Verses # 14
I’m addicted. It really is my way to connect with the church. I rarely make it to our local congregation, so this has become my fellowship. I have been without the internet since I started blogging. I did it for a week, I didn’t die or go insane, but it was strange. I felt I’d lost a huge piece of me. Weird, huh?
Michelle´s last blog post…Do You Bear Good Fruit?
I am disappearing, at least til Saturday PM =).
Bye!
D-
Adam, tam and I are beginning to truly enjoy the “real” connections we’ve made through the blogging world. I agree, that is key.
Kim, my computer is more a source of creativity than duty, so it doesn’t sap my energy as much. But, it can take my attention away from where it should be. I have to balance that as well.
Brandy
Carl, I too have let my blog “slow down”, becasue it is not as important as other things in my life. At first it was hard, but I realize now that it is very much a part of my life, but not my life. I have always used it to journal as well. I love that ability to hash out thoughts in front of all of you.
Michelle, I don’t think it’s weird, because you use the online world for good. Like you said, it is church for you and I think that is awesome. I would feel like I was missing something if I didn’t go to church.
D, bye
I am definitely addicted.
I guess I could give it up for a week, but what I’m doing that week definitely affects how difficult it would be. For example, I tend to go on a lot of trips out-of-town with my youth group and we’re usually gone from 4-10 days. Obviously, I don’t go online during those trips. And I’m more happy than ever. I’m with people I enjoy, doing things I enjoy, and usually helping people out/serving like God wants us to. I could probably stay for an extra week or two [maybe 3] on those trips, no Internet, no problem. But if I was at home and had to give up the Internet for a week, that’d be terribly hard. Home for me is pretty boring. It would be TORTURE. I guess that means the Internet serves me the purpose of entertainment. I have friends online, but the ones that I talk the most to, I can just talk to on the phone.
HOWEVER, after a month or two, I would definitely start missing the people that I talk to ONLY online. So in conclusion, my addiction is based about 55% on entertainment and 45% on the social aspect.
Raquel TWG´s last blog post…Stats Suck Sunday
I dunno – would we say that our parents were addicted to the daily newspaper, radio and later television? I still read just as many books as I ever did but don’t watch NEARLY as much TV. So what’s wrong with reading AND writing, as opposed to just reading, watching or listening.
Once upon a time people used to write lots of letters and keep journals. That pretty much disappeared in the 20th century. If anything the internet has brought us in some way back to those times.I think there’s just a bunch of Luddites out there who have discovered a new boogey man.
Besides, some studies show that internet users are brighter than those who don’t;
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/is-google-making-us-smarter/
Christian´s last blog post…HOT OFF THE PRESS: The Economy Is Not In the Best Shape
I’m a little addicted. I realized a month or so back that I’ve replaced real-life connections with online ones. I don’t think it’s in a bad way, necessarily, but I think it can be a slippery slope. For me, I’ve had several friends move recently and haven’t yet made new ones – so I keep in touch with technology, and I’ve made a few new friends as well.
But, considering I had to get online and check blogs while I was on vacation over the weekend…but I didn’t even realize I’d left my Bible at home…tells me I need to realign some things, huh?
Photoqueen´s last blog post…I have set my rainbow in the clouds.
I’ve got many addictions; but being online isn’t really one of them. Really. I often question the point of all this; what does anyone really accomplish?
On a related note, I was reading an article in the paper yesterday entitled, “Internet, Cellphones May Strengthen Family Unit, Study Finds”. You can imagine how the study lauds the magnificence of all this modern communication media, but I remain convinced that this is one of the poorest forms of communication ever developed. Don’t get me wrong – it’s certainly great as a way to stay in touch with people at a distance, etc., but for good old-fashioned one-on-one communication it is lacking in many areas.
Perhaps it’s a generational thing, but when I watch my children try to interact with their friends, and watch their friends struggle to find words, to express themselves, to show barely any signs of cognitive thought – it disturbs me. Technology is not solely to blame mind you, but I think it plays a significant role.
badguy´s last blog post…God’s Country
But Bad, what type of one-on-one did we have before. I mean from the fifties through the eighties? The old wall phone. Teenage daughters and yakity-yakity-yakity insured that you could not reach the people you needed to when you needed to. And nobody writes letters, not since 1900.
I think the reason that your children (and mine) are at a loss for words is that they do not read books anymore. At least not by authors who might challenge our vocabulary and teach us a few things about the world and it’s history. And I don’t mean Hugo, Dickens and Cervantes; many of today’s essayists and novelists are great. But most people (so I have been told) read only ONE book a year. That’s why they are all so confoundedly long today – they have to last one week at the beach.
Christian´s last blog post…Milk and Honey? How Gross!
Raquel, I think a good sign of an addiction is when we are controlled by something that takes us away from good decision making. I love those times where I am taken away from everyday routines. It shows me what i’ve been dependant on and then I can come back and adjust.
Photoqueen, remember, there are great Bible resources online now
Bad, I hear you and I think C has some good points as well. There is definitely something about my thinking that improves when I read. and not when I read online. Sitting down with a book, definitely affects me differently.
hi
dang brent.
dang
mandythompson´s last blog post…A “hair”-raising decision…
Of all the things I have been addicted to…this one is by far the best one..limiting my self to things that please the Lord…and yes I have thought about disappearing, but you all are not that lucky
I seriously believe there is ministry in blogging…Will I live with out it for a week…I could. And I still might…but who will control my blog when she gets out of hand..and you know she has a mind of her own.. LOL
Seriously, this is all very addicting. I have had to make some changes in my personal life to make sure that this is not over riding responsiblities, and time with God that I need to place priority with..and it is difficult. Sooo I have given up TV again..sooo that this is my leisure time…and still taking in things that are good for me.
Dang you sure know how to convict a ton of people! I still love you tho!
Hi Tam!
darla´s last blog post…HE never lets go! NEVER
To be clear – my kids are prolific readers (at least the girls). The Harry Potter series, the Twilight series, and Jane Austen’s works top their reading list.
It’s their friends that are illiterate. My son has always said if the book is worth reading they’ll make a movie out of it (so it’s not surprising he’s living with me again…)
What about Newspapers? Magazines? Journals? Essays? There are numerous ‘classical’ media forms that require reading which are largely ignored by today’s young people.
Zager & Evans were on to something methinks.
badguy´s last blog post…You’ve Got to be Kidding
The blogs definately help me to grow in Christ. Being a part of the blogged bible study has helped me to be more serious in studying the word and trying to make sense of it.
The internet has also led me to some pretty dark places that have been a struggle to overcome.
I get most of my information online as I can’t stand what the liberal media has turned tv and the news into.
Honestly, I could blow up my tv and it wouldn’t bother me, but don’t go messin’ with my connection….
Can I go a week without the net? Hmmmmmmm, sometimes we have 3 laptops going in the same room.
scott´s last blog post…Blogged Bible Study – John 14
tam…hi…
Mandy, I know you’ve got your head on straight. How’s the hair
Darla, you rock and we would definitely miss you. You’ve done well to understand the possibilities and adjust for how it works well within your life. I love that.
Bad,
Haha! this made me laugh
Scott, i don’t know what I’d do if I just turned off. I leave my computer at work some nights and I definitely have relaxed my involvement with my blog. But it would be interesting to completely unplug for a long period of time.
Unplugging for a week – it’s a whole new type of fasting. Brent I think you should issue a challenge. We’d all be on the honor system I guess, or we could rely on our better halves to watchdog us (I’m sure my wife would be up to it). There’d have to be some concessions, I suppose, for people like me who earn a living online. Or maybe you issue the challenge between Christmas and New Year’s???
badguy´s last blog post…You’ve Got to be Kidding
Bad, I think unplugging is perfect. I’ll have to figure timing out, because most of my work is online as well. but it is doable. Christmas to New Years sounds good. Let’s keep in touch on this.
okay i would be up for it, but you do know that your phone would ring a lot more? just saying..
darla´s last blog post…A Child named Angel
OKAY!!! I keep thinking about this…so I have to do it…hurry give me a date..so I can feel better..LOL
Today is presented by the letter “B” Brent’s Burning Bush…
darla´s last blog post…Friday Acronyms!
Bad and Darla, I suggest Friday December 26th through Wednesday December 31st. I know it’s not a whole week, but it will be a down week for most of us and the best opportunity for me to stay off my computer because of work and such.
What do you guys think?
okay..I am in…writing this down..
darla´s last blog post…Friday Acronyms!