The 24/7 internet connection means we're never really free and we always feel behind. The Internet also continually entices us to explore its options through hyperlinks and ads so we can spend a lot of time on things for which we have little to show, adding to our unrest.
Tricia RhodesWe don't have to be victims of the spiritual fall-out of the digital age. It does take some serious intentionality to combat the cultural compulsion for connection that surrounds us, but it's worth it.
Tricia RhodesMost people would say they live with an internal angst that they can't always put their finger on. This is because the Internet has changed our very way of being in this world, compelling us to be perpetually "on" - from our cars to our computers, our tablets to our smartphones, our desks to our living rooms or dining tables, our churches to our libraries to our schools.
Tricia RhodesThe monumental digital shift has taken place so fast, we haven't really had time or invested the energy to evaluate what this is doing to our culture, or how it's impacting us as individuals - physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
Tricia RhodesThe reality is that living digitally rewires our brains for perpetual motion, shallow surface thinking, and compulsive/addictive behaviors. Because our world is only going to become more tech-driven with each passing day, unless we find ways to counterbalance these detrimental effects, we'll remain spiritual babes, drinking milk for the rest of our lives instead of the solid food God has for us.
Tricia RhodesNeural science, which is the study of the brain, tells us that we have up to one billion brain cells with thousands of branches that communicate with each other much like a complex highway system. The more we attend to something, or the more we engage in certain behaviors, the more those particular cells communicate and the pathways between them deepen. This is how our values, our beliefs, and our motivations are actually formed.
Tricia Rhodes