The Internet and our Brains

[NH watcher]

It is the addiction to "instantaneousness" in our culture too, largely created by the Internet, and the hope/desire/what have you that the answer to every question you might have is online. What used to take an extended period of research in a library, or a judicious thought process, has been replaced by what we think is this great collective cerebrum online which answers all. This then prompts us to "jump" from one thing to the next to the next, hence the term "multitasking," which means that multiple tasks at the same time aren't done well, just adequately enough to get them all done. Postal mail now seems like the age of the dinosaurs, and even the greeting card industry has taken a big hit. Walk into any Hallmark store and notice how the cards keep getting pushed further and further to the back, a smaller section, to make way for selling jewelry, clothes, purses, whatever ... Hallmark realizes that people do not send cards anymore, not like they used to ... even for the holidays.

And there is also an addiction to be "noticed" online. We all succumb to that ... now it seems everyone wants to be a celebrity, even if only for a moment. One has to draw upon one's spirit to really "step back" and rest. Get back to just enjoying the mundane, and realize that most of our earthly life is mundane.

Some parents used to be called nuts for restricting TV use by their kids; now the same parents are called nuts if their kids don't have an IPad by the age of 2. We marvel at the technological prowess of our youth, but what then aren't we teaching them? Common courtesy, extended thought. The fact that some things are unknown, will remain unknown, and that is okay.