Information Overload

I recently upgraded my cellphone plan to include internet access. Not sure if that was a good move. Now I feel like the poor donkey in this picture. I get phone calls, texts, tweets, and email on my phone. Not to mention that every time I log on to my computer I have emails waiting from another account, Facebook updates, blog updates, etc.

I know, I know - I put myself in this situation and I can back out if I want. The bad thing is that I can't let anything go without my attention. When I log on to TweetDeck, I feel obligated to go through all of the previous tweets that were posted since my last visit there. When I go to my bloglines.com account, I regularly look at every post before I clear them out. When I check email, I feel compelled to open every one that isn't obviously spam.

I'm getting information overload.

Then I read 1 Corinthians 8:1 this morning. "While knowledge may make us feel important, it is love that really builds up the church (NLT).

I love knowledge and information. I like to read books, blogs, newspapers, magazines, tweets, websites, etc. I love to learn. In fact, a mantra that I truly believe is leaders are learners. As a leader of my church, I feel that it is part of my job to learn, stretch, and challenge myself to mold my brain in the shape of modern day apostle.

But sometimes I just want to simplify. I can't put my head in the sand and ignore it. The internet is not a fad. It's here to stay. This generation must learn how to handle the kazillion bits of information that enter our brains every day. It's no wonder so many people are ADD. It's become a part of our nature to bounce around from one topic to the other in a matter of seconds.

I heard a grandmother yelling at her young adult grandson yesterday because he was looking at his phone while she was talking to him. "Put the phone down and look at me when I'm talking to you! That's rude! You'll never get a job by doing that!" she lectured.

I laughed. What grandma calls inattention is now called multitasking. She's just lucky he wasn't driving and singing along to his ipod too.

So with all of this knowledge the Bible says we are to love more than anything else. I understand that I don't have to follow and subscribe to all of the different sources of information out there. I have to constantly monitor my information intake. But there is one thing that I MUST do, regardless of the barrage of info. I must love.

Let's give it a try.