“What would you do differently if you could do it all over again?”
This was the question Jon Gauger asked Tim Keller. Keller’s answer is both shocking and convicting. Read what he said:
“I would do less surfing of the Internet, without a doubt. There are a hundred other things that would be better: more time with my wife, more time praying and meditating, more time reading. I think the Internet is a friend of information but an enemy of thought. It’s great at snippets of information, but it doesn’t help you think or reason. In fact, the more you’re online, the less patient you are with sustained reasoning and with a longer narrative. It doesn’t make you more able to think through critical issues. So I would certainly spend less time on the Internet.”
I can’t get over this sentence: “I think the internet is a friend of information but an enemy of thought.” I’ve thought a lot about this over the past year or so—in part because of reading Deep Work and The Shallows. Keller puts his finger on that which we all know to be true: the Internet is a hurricane of information. Sadly, this hurricane often leaves our heads spinning—unable to meditate, spend time in solitude, or even to concentrate.
Let’s heed Keller’s advice in 2018. Spend less time in front of a screen and more time enjoying the company of others and communion with God.