Time to Ponder
I recently had dinner with a great dreamer, and we were discussing the consequences of an information-at-fingertips society. I told her I had recently noticed a pattern with all my clients to immediately follow my last word with a series of questions, stepping over the period at the end of my sentence, without even waiting for a breath to happen. It’s a constant “search-trigger-finger” and they are putting me, for that hour, in the seat of “Dream Google”. I told my dinner-mate that this is very disturbing to me and that facts are not knowledge, to which she hit the nail-on-the-head: “Yeah. Nobody takes time these days to ponder.”
The Torah is said to be written in black fire on white fire. One meaning of this is that there are words with import, and equally important are the spaces between the words. It is only in the spaces that we drop in and find the experience, and it is only in the experience that we are be-ing. Reality is individual. It is ultimately about what we receive, as individuals, in our subject experiencing.
I wonder – is sitting in front of the computer (smart phone/IPad/Etc.) all day really experiencing? Is there an intrinsic value-difference between Googling “How sea level is measured for cities” versus having a rousing discussion at the dinner table among four bright thinkers who each come from various backgrounds (marine biology, construction, etc.) and who, by dinner’s end, had worked out the exact same solution through shared knowledge, stories, and experience? Between Googling “How hummingbirds make a nest” versus putting down work and sitting on the floor to watch one do it outside a window? (both above activities I have done recently – I have my own answer, but it’s only my experience…)
As a psychologist with an emphasis in media I have grave concerns about the negative aspects of social media and the Internet. I also see it’s praises. But both must be concerned. And, funny enough, it’s through social media I am meeting all of you to share these concerns. And, it’s from video that I send you this: A video about the effects of the Internet on your brain. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the video… and then maybe take a moment to ponder it before Googling again:
