Sycamore

A lot of people have written about the effect of cell phones, web surfing, text messaging, and the like on the way our generation thinks, but one of the best takes I’ve seen is on today’s Evangelical Outpost:

Now Mark Edmundson has again taken stock of the mood of his students in an article called “Dwelling in Possibilities,” published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. In it, he portrays his students as energetic anti-slackers, eager “to study, travel, make friends, make more friends, read everything (superfast), take in all the movies, listen to every hot band, keep up with everyone they’ve ever known. . . . They live to multiply possibilities. They’re enemies of closure. For as much as they want to do and actually manage to do, they always strive to keep their options open, never to shut possibilities down before they have to.” Edmundson believes that this voracious omnitasking makes the lives of his students both highly promising and radically vulnerable to living lives that leave no room for reflection and self-knowledge.

Read the whole thing, and check out the article he quotes, Dwelling in Possibilities.  Most people that discuss the impact of the internet generation talk about how it creates a need for constant distraction, but few people have mentioned the fact that what’s really happening through social networking and the like is idolatry of options. When everything (or at least the virtual representation of everything) is available at your fingertips, the idea of choice - and the responsibilities that come along with it - seem way too constrictive.  By exposing ourselves to the “there’s always something better out there” mindset that goes along with web browsing and constant influx of information, we take the risk of viewing life that way.  Choice is obsolete - we can have everything.

Until, of course, the choices are made for you.  The passage of time tends to do that.  One day, you’re twenty five and the world is full of options.  But, as time goes on, those options slowly start crossing themselves off the list.  It’s like sampling a spoonful of each dish at Thanksgiving Dinner because you can’t fit all of them on your plate. It works out great until all that’s left to sample is the broccoli casserole.  All of a sudden, being chained to a selection of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing doesn’t seem so bad.  Believe it or not, being around the internet without guarding how it effects your mind can actually make you live life like that, and face the consequences at the end.  Even a little idolatry is too much.