Let It Linger

2011 February 17

by Tyler

It is amazing to me how much stress we put on ourselves over the immediacy of information. Between social networks, newspapers, blogs, television, and many other sources, we constantly consume information. What was breaking news 6 hours ago is now old news.

Use my blog as an example. I have now posted this on Thursday, making what I wrote on Tuesday (though much better than what I’m writing today) mostly irrelevant. On Twitter it is common knowledge that a tweet remains relevant no longer than an hour in most cases.

The inevitable outcome from consuming too much information is a lack of depth. In fact the more information we consume the more depth we lack rather than gain as it would seem. By consuming more (or too much, some people can handle more than others) we become knowledgeable in many areas, but we lack the depth that comes from processing the information over the course of many days.

I’ve been slowly paring back the number of people I follow on Twitter, the number of people I’m friends with on Facebook, and the number of blogs I read. I’m slowly learning…better than going an inch deep with lots of sources, is to truly go deep with a few people and sources. It gives me the time needed to process and let everything linger.

Don’t just process and consume information, let it linger.

Let it stir something in you. God works in the lingering process.

Filed under: the rest...

http://baldthinker.blogspot.com David Morton

I couldn’t agree more. I found myself doing the same thing recently. I think that it’s too often that we convince ourselves that being a “good Christian” means that we constantly have to have an influx of pastors and ministry people flowing into our inboxes, twitter feeds, and facebook timelines. It got to the point that I never really thought about anything else, and in never thinking about anything else, I fostered the perfect environment for a huge amount of spiritual pride to grow like a parasite on me, mostly due to a lack of personal reflection. Not only that, but my view of God was so colored by _others_ view of God, that I began seeing God as an object of study, and not someone with which to have a personal relationship.

So I changed a few things. I removed tons of people from Twitter, and changed the focus of the rapid influx to something lighter (for me that has been baseball). This has helped me to put my thought processes where they should be. Those things that I should linger on (my faith), I now linger on, and the things I don’t need to linger on and can be a simple distraction (baseball) I don’t linger on. Now I’m finding I’m actually enjoying my salvation more, instead of feeling like I’m trapped by it and the Christian life. My understanding of God’s grace is actually deeper than it ever has been, and I’m a more friendly person, and not so serious all the time.

Sometimes we work so hard to make sure we’re making a sacrifice, that we make sacrifices God never asks us to make. This can be just as detrimental as not making sacrifices God asks us to make, as it makes Christ’s yoke heavier than he ever intended it to be.

Just my two cents.
http://thoughtsaboutnothing.com Kyle Reed

well said.
I think this whole thought you put forward makes me a lazy blogger and writer. Instead of pouring over my content and really working hard on it I often mail it in because I know that people will read it then forget about it later that day and expect another post the next day.

I am interested to see how this will all play out over the next 5 years in the way that we consume information and the affect it has on relationships.
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

There’s no question, blogging at least once a day is the best way to increase readership. However, I’m not sure it’s the healthiest thing for a blogger unless it’s their job or for the majority of readers. And the reality is, most people don’t think about what might be best for themselves when they’re plowing through 50 blogs.
http://manofdepravity.com Tyler

Interesting how you made the over consumption of information connect to a works-salvation thing. That wasn’t something I had thought of when writing this, but I’m sure it is the case for all of us on at least a small level.
http://topsy.com/manofdepravity.com/2011/02/17/let-it-linger/?utm_source=pingback&utm_campaign=L2 Tweets that mention Man of Depravity: Let It Linger — Topsy.com

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tyler Braun, cant be wright and JGanley, Eric Borden. Eric Borden said: RT @tylerbraun: our over consumption of information through social networks is making us dumb, not smart // http://bit.ly/fiWrlX <– #cosign [...]
http://bethanystolle.com Bethany

Amen. This Pavlovian response to a continuous stream of immediate information is something I struggle with. (For evidence, I need only open a tab with 1000+ items in my Google Reader, or pop open an email inbox is rarely zeroed out.)

However, I’ve also just taken up blogging again…just as the form is dying/adapting/transforming. I’m discovering that I need a place to dig into ideas with more depth than Twitter or Facebook allow. Essentially a place to let thoughts linger.

I’m also trying to cull the list of blogs and people I follow on Twitter to the ones that most frequently inspire and challenge me or that help me maintain friendships virtually. Which is different from my current list that serves more to make me feel distracted and guilty.