Media Mondays ~ How is Media Affecting Us?

Today is the beginning of a new 8 week series titled Media Mondays.  I want to answer the question:

How is social media and this digital world of ipads, iphones and ipods affecting our relationship with God, our marriages, our parenting, our homemaking, our friendships and our health?

I have been reading Tim Challies, the author of The Next Story: Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion, who writes:

“Our lives have become saturated with sounds and images flashing in front of our eyes, blaring into our ears…At work we spend forty hours staring at computer screens. at home we watch television or visit our favorite websites. Between work and home we check our route on the GPS and dash off a few text messages. Even at church we watch our pastors on screens before returning home to watch sermons on the Internet. Life is mediated by the screen.” p.89

Times have changed. Jesus lived in a different context than we do.  Never before have women carried access to all the world’s knowledge on a tiny device in our purse!   Screens are everywhere – at church, work, gyms,  in my homeschool room, on airplanes, in the car, and in our pockets.   Twitter, Facebook, Blogging and Youtube have become the new front porch affecting all of our friendships. In 60 years, we’ve gone from zero screen time to an omnipresent screen – they are everywhere and we don’t even notice them!  There has been a massive pace change in the last 100 years and I want to explore how this is affecting us – both the positives and the negatives. 

Here is the series schedule:

Monday, July 11 – Media and Our Walk with God


Monday, July 18 – Media and Our Marriages

Monday, July 25 – Media and Our Parenting

Monday, August 1 – Media and Our Homemaking

Monday, August 8 – Media and Our Friendships

Monday, August 15 – Media and Our Health

Monday, August 22 –  Media Monday Wrap-Up and Conclusions  We are never getting rid of screens, so how can we live in this bizarre world in a way that honors God?

 

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

 

So let’s get started.

1.  If you are a blogger and you have decided to join this series by blogging each week, please place the Media Mondays button somewhere on your blog so your readers can find us here and then link-up below.

2.  If you are not a blogger but are on Facebook or Twitter, I want to encourage you to copy and paste this link from the browser above on your status update and ask your friends for their thoughts.

3.  If you have thoughts or questions you want me to address in this series, please leave a comment above.  I will try to answer as many as I can either during the series or in the comment section.

Walk with the King!

42 Comments

  1. So I post my blog link there just to let you know that I will be coming back to your page to read the Media Monday series? Or do I need to be participating in someway?

    1. This week you don’t have to write – just simply link up and post the button somewhere on your page. Then next week we’ll begin writing and exhanging our thoughts on the topics! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

  2. Or rather, do I need to blog about my thoughts on this series to link up?
    Or just post the button on my blog on Monday’s and let people know I am reading the series and they should head on over here if they would like to read it, too? Making sense? lol

  3. We’ve recently started attending a new church, and I’m amazed at the number of people that read their bibles in church via smartphone or ipad, including the pastor. Although I do have a bible app on my phone and links to various sites on all the PCs, I still prefer my paperback copy for studying and reading purposes. 🙂

    I’m looking forward to following the series, although I doubt I’ll have anything interesting to contribute to it.

    1. OH already you contributed a very interesting thought! I have friends who read their Bible on their iphones too – I’m not there yet -like you I still prefer my paper back – although I use a ton of on-line commentaries! My commentaries on the shelf are collecting dust.

  4. I have the same question as Kristen, if we want to link up, do we need to blog about this same topic, or just add your button to our blog. Thanks, Courtney!

    1. Whatever you want – you can link up just to let me know you are joining us or you can link up and add the button and write a little thought – whatever you want! 😉 Just glad you are here!!!

  5. Can’t wait to read more about this and your take on it. I’ve come to the ironic conclusion the more we rely on gadgets and technology to “help” us simplify our the lives the more complicated our lives become. The more connected we are to technology the less connected we really are with others’ needs around us but this is my personal take. Really excited to hear youors and others thoughts o how to use these tools to glorify the Lord.

    1. This is a good point…I agree that at times being on-line can make me distant even in my own home 🙁 And while email has simplified parts of my life it’s become a real burden at times to manage!

  6. I’m really looking forward to this series 🙂 🙂 I’ll be happy to share the links on my Facebook page…I’d like to know what my friends think 😉 🙂 I’m especially looking forward to the one about media and friendships and our walks with God 🙂 🙂 I love having Facebook. I’ve noticed something slowly about media and people at church. I”m not saying it’s bad or good yet. It’s just an observation…but I notice that people at my church are really nice…and they are.. but they’re more apt to leave a quick note on Facebook rather than pick up the phone and call someone. I’m finding it really detrimental to human, face to face interaction. It concerns me, that we, as Christians, could be losing our ability to interact with other people, if we’re staring at screens all the time. Anyways, just an observation of mine.. Thanks for starting this series 🙂

    Have a great 4th of July weekend. Love and hugs from Oregon, Heather 🙂

    1. Facebook has changed everything in my relationships! I hardly use the phone these days! It has brought acquaintances in closer and some of my friends who I used to talk monthly on the phone to I have not talked to in years because we chat brief chats on facebook…but really I need to call them for a real heart to heart…

  7. I have the same question as the other girls about linking up! Do we post each week or just have the button on our site? Thanks so much!

    1. It’s up to you – if you are just following the series – you can post the button on your side bar or tell your readers about it via a post and link up – if you have thoughts and ideas on each topic I would LOVE for you to join the discussion each week with your thoughts and then link to that post so we can read it too!

  8. I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who can’t get the button to work . .. I thought it was me HA! I know Courtney will fix it though – she is good like that 🙂

  9. Sounds like a timely series, Courtney. Have you read the iY Generation by Tim Elmore? A great read about how today’s tech is effecting children who have grown up “online.” So insightful.

  10. I read an interesting quote about the internet and I forgot where I read it. It was especially true for me because I still turn to my old friends and friends in my comminity for day to day friendships/activities. I read blogs, FB, and other areas of interest, and leave comments, but I am not close with any of the people I comment to. I am SURE people who have blogs may feel differently, but they could apply it to FB and other areas they frequently go to on the internet. I have many friends on FB, but many are people I haven’t seen in years, but I will comment to. I just found this interesting…

    “….we are in contact with many on the net, but especially close to none.”

  11. Courtney, I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this book and topic. I am just getting started reading The Next Story and so far it has really been a challenging read. Not a difficult read, but it is definitely challenging my whole thought process re: technology. I too am amazed at the amount of technology I am seeing on Sunday Mornings. I have even seen Pastors preaching from iPads! I too have a Bible on my Kobo e-reader but far prefer my leather Study Bible for any sort of in-depth studying.

    Looking forward to this series!

  12. Hi there!

    This is going to be a great series!

    As much as I love to write, I do find myself “craving” the writing more than I crave my quiet time with God. I don’t like this. I have had to make a conscious effort to not write or do anything else on the computer in the morning before I pray and read God’s Word.

    One other thing I have struggled with, especially on Facebook, is the temptation to compare my life to other people’s lives – typically people I don’t even know any more. I have had to take a break from Facebook for a period of time and delete the app off of my phone in order to renew my mind with this.

  13. Courtney, I can’t wait! This is wonderful and I’m looking forward to blogging with you. I was just talking about this subject with my husband last week.

  14. You know…if you really want to know how Yeshua would have done it, you need to view an Othodox Jewish Community (as Yeshua would have lived like a Torah Observant Othodox Jew). Their traditions have never changed while still keeping up with the various media outlets. Their respect and reverence for a Holy G-d is unmatched in any other culture while keeping a balance of family/home/work and social life. I want to recommend my friends blog to you as she and her family live it (yes, they believe in Yeshua). http://therebbetzin.wordpress.com/

    1. Mrs. Zwieg – while I have deep love for God’s covenant people – we must remember that the Torah is God’s law – but when Jesus came and died on the cross to cover our sins he fulfilled the law. The law points us to Christ and shows us our need for him.

      Romans 3:20 says,” Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”

      So as we pursue living God honoring lives in this media saturated world – we must first be looking to Christ as our Savior – “because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” Hebrews 10:4

  15. Thank you Courtney, I studied that in Bible School too, and then I read, “Boundary Stones,” by Aaron Eby. My perspective has changed to fit the Hebraic Roots of the faith, not the interpetation of a pagan Greek culture. Thank you though.

  16. This sounds very exciting! I heard some astounding statistics a couple of years ago – when our 3 yeard old was just a baby – describing how much more influence social media tends to have on our kids than parents do!! That was very scary to me and still is because I do not want my children to be raised by the world or its standards! Looking forward to this and added the button to my blog!

  17. Just posted on this last week, so I was so excited to see your doing this! I think there is so much more to capitalize on.

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