Is It Possible that We Know Too Much?
I am so grateful to be living in the information age. While I can try, it is so difficult for me to imagine living in the Dark Ages, or some other olden time when information was scarce. To have books and the Internet and other sources of information readily available is such a blessing.
However, is it possible that we simply know too much?
I was thinking about this just a few days ago. I don’t watch the news on TV, and I really just read headlines and a handful of articles from time-to-time. But I noticed that I was checking a couple of different news sites over and over throughout the day. Again, it was mostly just reading headlines, but I was checking several times each day.
Then I thought: honestly, what could have really changed in the last hour or two that is going to strongly affect the life of my family?
Further, if I did see something that had changed, what could I do about it?
And that’s when I began to wonder: were we made to know as much as we allow ourselves to know in the information age? Is it not possible that our knowledge of seemingly everything all throughout the world is part of what leads to further stress, anxiety, and depression?
Now, let me say this: I am not saying we should lack in our care. If we hear of a tragedy on the other side of the world, we should care. We should pray. We should seek to find out if there are things we might be able to do.
But is it good that we seemingly know everything that is going on everywhere? Were we made to carry all of that around with us all the time?
It really is a difficult balance, because we want to live in a time where information is accessible and helpful. But we can begin to carry more burdens than we were ever made to be able to handle if we just are constantly feeding our minds with news and information, most of which, as we know, is bad. (After all, if it bleeds, it leads!)
This really is not only a call to limit screen time (although that would help things). It is more a call to limit what we allow through our screens.
- How many people basically veg out on a constant stream of Fox News or CNN and know all the details of every news event in the entire world all the time? (Further, they listen to constant arguing about it, which is the basic format of cable news these days.)
- How many others leave Twitter open throughout the day and are seeing headlines and updates from all over the world on every minute news story in a never-ending stream of micro-posts?
- How many are scrolling through Facebook hour after hour and seeing both news stories and prayer requests from people they will never meet and trying to carry all those things in their minds?
Again, I am not saying that we should fail to care. Christians are caring people! But I am saying that we simply cannot carry around everything all the time. We just were not made for that.
Do not bury your head in the proverbial sand. But take a little fast from the headlines or the constant stream of information and just see if you don’t notice yourself feeling better after even a few hours.
I still check headlines a couple of times each day, and I try to remember to pray for situations I feel like I understand to some degree. But I am going to do my best to refuse to try carrying the weight of the entire world’s information on my shoulders…even if it’s on a device that fits in my pocket.
And I’m going to just see if my attitude does not drastically improve by carrying what I was made to carry, and not trying to carry everything in the world.
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AUTHOR: Adam Faughn
