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Apples of Gold
Radio Script for September 9, 2010
“Shallow Thinking Leads to Shallow People”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
“Using Facebook ‘can lower exam results by up to 20%.’”
That was a newspaper headline this week,* referring to a new study which didn’t surprise me at all.
Some people say that kids are different these days, that they are used to multitasking and actually thrive on it. Of course they can study and do Facebook at the same time.
There’s a new book out called “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains” by Nicholas Carr. Listen to what he wrote.
“The news is even more disturbing than I had suspected. Dozens of studies by psychologists, neurobiologists, educators and web designers point to the same conclusion: when we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning.”
“So what?” you say.
Well the “so what” is that shallow thinking leads to shallow people.
Listen to one of Carr’s important findings. Experiments show that more distractions equal less empathy and compassion.
Here’s an illustration. It’s late at night and I am buried in a project. My daughter walks in, and she has a problem. I’m distracted by my project, so I quickly diagnose her problem and send her on her way.
But if she comes in with a problem when I’m not busy, I will sit and listen to her and find out what she’s going through. I will have much more empathy and compassion because I am less distracted.
Distracted thinking leads to less empathy and compassion, as well as lower grades.
UCLA researchers experimented with distracted thinking and multitasking, and here is what they concluded. It short circuits deeper understanding. Yes, you get a lot of things done, but you lose the meaning of it all.
This was going on long before Facebook. I remember doing homework while watching Gilligan’s Island. Yes, I got the homework done, but I didn’t absorb the full impact of the information. I was a shallow learner.
By the end of my college career I finally started to get it right. I studied in the silent stacks of the library and found that zero distractions led to both faster and deeper learning.
Learning in silence. Pondering. Contemplating. Concentrated thinking. Meditating.
If shallow thinking leads to shallow people, then deeper thinking leads to deeper people.
Here is one of my favorite scenes in the Bible. It only takes up half a sentence, so you have to fill in the scene with your imagination.
Genesis 24:63 says, “…Isaac went out to meditate in the field at eventide…”
That’s all it says. Did he walk out there or ride a horse? Or a camel? Was it amber waves of grain or rocky wilderness?
Have you ever seen the famous painting of George Washington praying beside his horse at Valley Forge? That’s how I picture Isaac meditating in the field.
Now you might think of meditating as some witless activity where you chant a mantra and let your brain waves flat line. But when I think of meditating, I think of concentrated thinking.
When I meditate on something, I take a thought and turn it over and over. I look at the different angles and nuances and applications. What does it mean? Where did it start? Where is it going?
I block out all other thoughts and focus my thinking on one thing. To me, that is meditation.
In Joshua 1:8, the nation of Israel was told, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
Of course they were not careful to do everything in it, and much of the time they were not prosperous and successful. Why not? One reason is because they didn’t meditate on the Law.
The Psalm writers wrote about meditation, saying things like: “I will meditate on Your precepts.” “Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.” “I will meditate on all Your works.” “I will meditate on Your wonders.” “I will meditate on Your decrees,” and “I will meditate on Your promises.”
Do you want to go deeper in your Christian life? Then cut out some of the multitasking. Block out the distractions and take time to meditate on God and His Word and His ways. Let your thoughts run deep about what He wants and how to put His ways into practice.
Shallow thinking leads to shallow people, but deeper thinking, deeper meditation on the things of God, leads to deeper people and a more fulfilling life.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
* http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1309612/Using-Facebook-lower-exam-results-20.html
You can see portions of the book The Shallows here: http://books.google.com/books?id=9-8jnjgYrgYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22nicholas+carr%22+%22the+shallows%22&hl=en&ei=Zo2HTKOgLMP_lgfN9LAG&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=distracted&f=false
© 2010 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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