God will filter “Culture of Distraction”

Highway billboards have become hi-tech, changing digitally every 30 seconds or have revolving slats that created a 3-in-one feature. Drivers have all sorts of distractions and these kinds of billboards contribute to a culture of distraction.  Newspapers carry more and bigger ads to remain profitable. Text-savvy phone users, call it TMI, (Too Much Information) especially when a person goes too far for an unnecessary explanation.

The electronic barrage continues. Listen to the radio- more commercials …TV, (machines can cut out the commercials), and even video on the Internet have their own ads. Then there are those pesky pop-ups (but there is technology for that too).  Once a person gets past the ads, and to the information itself, the choices are everywhere. ..magazines, newspapers, e-mail, blogs, and millions of articles about everything on the Internet.  Information is good, but sometimes TMI.

An article(May I have my Attention , Please? July & August 2010) in AARP quoted Maggie Jackson, author of Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming of the Dark Age, as saying, “We’re really facing the limit of human ability to cope with stimuli in our environment. “  The article continued with researchers at the University of California-San Diego that on average, American s daily see, hear or read 35 gigabytes worth of information- or about 100,000 words from TV, the Internet, books, radio newspapers and other sources.  That figure has grown more than 5 percent annually since 1980.

Processing the information into what matters the most can be frustrating and lead to creating more stress. There can be much to remember and much to forget either on purpose or by accident.  Scientists say our brains, in some ways, can’t cope with multi-tasking and half-listening.  My wife accuses me of not listening to her at times.  We can control some of the problem ourselves by limiting out “inputs,” makes notes (and I make lots of lists), and realize we can’t remember all the names of people where you used to work. There is one more source. Our Lord.

He is the one who gave us the ability to create the world in which we live. We can talk with Him in prayer to help know what is important and what is not important in our lives, including all the information we encounter on a daily basis. There are opportunities for us to see and hear His messages  through the words and actions of other people that matter.

The Bible urges us to listen to the Lord, and live by the words in The Book.  This will simplify this “Culture of Distraction.”

Peace be you with always,

Rev. Paul Abernathy

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” -2 Peter 1:2

Contact Paul Abernathy at paulabernathy@gmail.com.

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