"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time." - John Piper
I am not a reader of John Piper and really have no idea what he's about, but what I do know is this...his quote is dead on. As much as I love technology it is technology with which I wrestle. I know I am not alone. I believe that technology is an incredible tool with amazing benefits and we cannot hide from it. It is represents today and it will be in our future even more so. As a parent, I seek to train my children how to balance the technological world in which they are growing up in and yet not become a slave to it. It is my job to equip them to use it so they will be able to survive in such a culture, but also to help them learn to set boundaries.
As is with myself. I love to read blogs and learn from other peoples lives. I am a graphics person. I am also a writer and I certainly love maintaining this blog, always learning new things about how those mesh together along the way. I love the way it keeps my mind fresh and is a place for me to journal. It keeps me writing to know that other people are inspired or helped by what I share, even if it is just one person. It energizes me to know that someone learned from my mistakes so they did not have to travel that road. It gives me an outlet to minister to others when my days are filled with many children and I don't have a lot of extra time on my hands to meet up one-on-one with people. These are all great things and yet I have had to create boundaries by only writing on week days and not expecting myself to write every single day. I have also had to create time limits so that I don't spend too much time reading others blogs.
I am a user of Facebook and Twitter and as much as I love the social connection it gives me with other people throughout my days at home as I school my kids, it can suck away valuable time with my children and husband. It can also rob me of the time I need to just be alone. It concerns me that social media creates a sort of "false sense of community." Yes, I apparently have 240 friends, but are they really my friends? Do I have regular face-to-face conversations with these people and will they be there for me when I need to share my heart and will they be by my side through the tough stuff? Do they really have any clue what's really going on in my life or do they just know silly, useless facts about me like what I ate for dinner or that I hate making beds?
I am an iPhone user. I LOVE my iPhone. I love having everything I need--my Bible, my social media, a place to take and store notes, address book, access to send/receive e-mail, the ability to get on the internet and most certainly GPS (because I'm navigationally challenged). I've got games to play in a pinch and apps that can find my favorite restaurants no matter where I am. Oh yes, I've even got my favorite music and sermon downloads to listen to whenever I want. What more could I want? Well honestly, as much as I love that I have all of those things available to me in one place and access to them whenever I want...sometimes I just want a bit of peace and quiet. Sometimes I just want to be unreachable because I need to unplug.
You see as much as I am all for using technology as a tool and I want to prepare my children for the future, I find that the use of technology can so easily entangle me without me noticing until it permeates every nook and cranny and I am stuck wondering how it got this way. Technology is a great tool, but if left unattended can take over.
You see, the enemy is a sly guy. He knows how to take something that can be used for good and slip it into to our lives so that "it" becomes more important than our God. Believe me, I know first hand how it happens. I'm good at rationalizing its use. I tell myself that I'll just spend a few minutes on Facebook after the kids go to bed and then I'll spend time with my husband. Next thing I know it is an hour later and I've wasted that time on...nothing really. What did I really get done? Maybe I've had "one of those days" and I just want to turn off my brain so I decide to "just play a few rounds" of the game on my phone. Next thing I know I've wasted 30 minutes. That's 30 minutes I can't get back. Then there's the justification I have with myself that I will "just check my e-mail really quickly" before I open my Bible in the morning. Guess what? The time I had for a quiet time just got shot out the door becuase I "just had to answer those important e-mails." Another excuse I use is that I will "just quickly check Twitter and Facebook." Yes, it may have been a quick thing, but how many "quick checks" have I done today?
When I read the John Piper quote, it kicked me in the butt. It kicked me in the butt because I knew it was right. I knew that even though I love technology and it can be used for good, I knew that the Enemy was accomplishing his goals. He was using it to fill my time and my thought life (ever found yourself thinking in status updates?) with how important I was that I needed to connect with my friends, answer e-mails or update people on what I was wearing that day. I needed to turn off my mind to my world and tune it into technology. Somehow selling me that reading what was on a screen was a break for my mind.
When I read that quote, I began to realize what had happened to me. I had become a technology zombie. I was missing out on conversations and fun with my kids because I was tuned into my computer. I was missing out on moments with my man because I wasted it on people I don't know very well. I let precious moments with my Savior slip away because "my time" was more important than time with Him. I justified that some of it was no big deal because it was just a snippet of time, but then I began to realize that I'd been robbed there too. Now I found myself no longer meditating on scripture and praying. I was too busy checking in to see what others were doing. I also found my mind fuzzy because it was clogged with a whole lot of nothing instead of keeping it sharp with useful information. So all around, because I had let something so simple get out of control, everyone that really matters in life had ended up the loser (well except my fake friends on FB). My God, my husband, my children and even myself were at the short end of the stick.
That Satan...he's a crafty one. I was gonna say, "who knew", but he knew. Satan knew that something so seemingly simple and harmless would do the most damage. In our parents day and age, it was TV. The Enemy has upped the anty now girls. Be wise and see it for what it is! The internet, the TV, the computer, your phone, and computer gaming systems are our battleground in this generation. The list seems to get longer with each generation. I wonder what it will be like for my children and my grandchildren? That is why I must learn how to get this problem under control for myself so that I can teach my children.
Let me clarify, I do not think the solution to the zombie problem is completely unplugging and throwing it all away. The answer is not to hide from it and not let our children partake in any of it. Far from it. Technology can be used for good. The Bible calls us to be in the world, but not of it. I believe that for myself, I am to utilize technology and use it for good. Yet at the same time, I am to see it for what it is. I am to see that in a very subtle way it can begin to become more bad than good and eventually take over if I am not careful. I can partake, but I need to set boundaries (and stick to them). I am to seek the balance and then turn and teach it to my children. Yes, I can do this by setting boundaries for their screen time, but the best way I can teach it is by modeling it in my life and being open with what I experience with my kids so we can talk about it.
As I always do, I share with you with which I wrestle--not from my high and lofty throne because I have "arrived"--but instead from the trenches of learning. I wonder if the struggle I have to keep the balance of technology is yours too. I imagine it might be. I encourage you to take a real, hard and honest look at your life and see if maybe you've become subtly entwined in a zombie state, like me, and assess what has taken a hit in your life as a result. I hope you won't stay that way. What I hope is that you will let Jesus release you from your bondage and do what it takes to get back to living real life in freedom from the Enemy's snare. I hope that you will let go of that zombie life full of fluff and get back to real living. Get outside and enjoy His wonderful creation with your children, meet up with your real life friends for coffee and seduce your man! Today is a new day!
