Ever noticed your attention span isn’t what it used to be, or that you just don’t seem to have time for things anymore?  And it makes you depressed, which only compounds because you don’t really have time to think about the fact that you’re depressed?  I’m near the end of a semester at college, the place where you’re not supposed to have time to do anything other than college.  But, if you didn’t notice, I’m writing an article that is NOT for college, therefore suggesting that either a) I am an obsessive overachiever, b) I am lazy and failing college, or c) I have discovered a secret elixir which allows me both exertion and  leisure time.

None of these is really true, but the latter is probably the closest.  I have made some observations regarding the increase of available information that have helped me make better use of my time and  achieve somewhat of an equilibrium.  And so, with this article, I would like to extend to you, dear reader, this secret elixir, in the hopes that you will realize that technology is not all neutral, and with the internet age ever evolving, we too must change our tactics as to how we deal with the onslaught of information.

The Gist Of It

Here’s the gist of the secret: the days of having to deal with a lack of connection are OVER.  Our new battlefront is now REGULATING our intake of it.

Need proof?  I just read in my Media textbook that if the current rate of technology creation keeps up, then by 2050, spending $1000 on computing power will get you the equivalent of one billion human brains’ power.  Ain’t nobody got time for that.  Nuff said.

Analogies and Examples

Imagine you’re in a room that’s completely sealed off.  That’s not much fun, is it?  It’s lonely.  And fairly deadly.  You’ve got to make a door.  Bam.  You knock a wall out and build a door.  This is good.   You  let people in through this door, visit, and have a great time.  Then they tell you that there’s this other way to connect with people on the other side of the room.  So, bam.  You make another door.  The first people leave, another few come in.  Cool. Nice variety.  Then you realize there’s more people who you can only connect with if you build a door in a different place.  Bam, bam, bam.  Soon your walls start looking like swiss cheese.  And suddenly you find yourself right in the middle of an eternal house party, which never ends because NO ONE EVER LEAVES.

Sound like anyone’s social media life?

Ok, here’s a true-to-life example: you say, innocently, “I need to email someone”.  Fair enough.  You open a browser and attempt to log on.  Then you realize that you’re not sure if your internet is working correctly.  So you open up a new tab and click on the first thing in your apps bar – facebook.  “That’s odd, it seems to work now”, you say.  “I wonder why I have a new message and 8 new notifications”.  You are sure that you will just come back to the email now that the internet is working.  Half an hour later, you find that and you now have eight more tabs open, including the facebook page of someone named “Victoria”, a google search for the definition of “innocuous”, and a youtube channel called “sousveillance”.   There is also a large plate of macaroni now magically in front of you.  “Why did I need this plate of macaroni to help me email this person?”, you say. “I still haven’t emailed them anyways”.  Silence ensues, save for the thrumming of the keyboard and the crunch from the croutons that you were too distracted to remember to put in your salad.

The point is: stuff is so accessible now that we’ve got too many choices.  The good things that are now so conveniently within our grasp actually make us irrelevant to all of it.  We’re like Bilbo Baggins –

“I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”

And then, to top it all off, we will suddenly feel guilty when we randomly meet “that one person who’s in distress” and we don’t have time/money to help them.  The reason is there’s BILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN DISTRESS, AND WE KNOW ABOUT ALL OF THEM!

The Elixir Revealed

Fear not.  The elixir is at hand.  I call it the Elixir of the Starfish.  You remember the story?  The person is walking along the shore of the ocean, where there are millions of washed-up starfish who are all dying and drying out in the sun because they can’t get back in the water.  So the person is picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the water.  Someone comes up to them and says, “Are you crazy?  You can’t possibly make a difference here!  There’s far too many starfish!”  And the first person replies, as he tosses another starfish into the water, “Well, it did for that one.”

We’ve got to learn, as Heidi Baker says, to love the one in front of you.  Andrew Wommack said that if you disciple one person every 6 months, and that person went on to do the same thing, the whole world would be discipled in about 20 years.  We’ve got to understand our limitations and then focus on a few rather than try to do the whole shebang.  The more limited your choices, the stronger they will be.

And we’ve got to take time to rest.  Elton Trueblood said, “A public man, though he is necessarily available at many times, must learn to hide. If he is always available, he is not worth enough when he is available.”  We should value quality over quantity in dealing with people and projects.

Practical Tips

Here’s some real-life tactics to help you.  Limiting facebook, for example.  Research is showing facebook is basically like an RPG video game anyways – you know, you upgrade with more friends, get life achievements…so I try to only check my notifications once a day and don’t go on unless I actually have a purpose for it.  And I don’t have the facebook app.  You can use laziness to help you – it’s amazing how many times you won’t feel like going on facebook if you have to actually click on the safari window and type “f” on your keyboard first.  Also, deciding beforehand what you want to invest in in life, and ignoring everything else, helps.  Sounds cruel, but honestly, it’s actually kindness to the things you’ve already chosen to invest in.  And last tip – if you really are finding that social media and the internet are making you less happy, why are you on them?  No shame in deactivating your account or taking an extended break.

Making a difference in the world isn’t really as hard as we might think it is.  We just have a tendency to get overwhelmed if we allow ourselves.  So let’s stop thinking we need to know everything and just go git ‘r done – in fact, sometimes it’s better the less we know, because then we’re too intimidated to try.  Like Mark Twain said, “All you need is ignorance and confidence, and the success is sure.”  Let’s be more ignorant of who’s posted the latest party pictures and less ignorant of those right in front of us.  One starfish at a time.