Information is great until it becomes scary.
When are we going to wake up and realize that there is such a thing as "too much information?"
You might call it the computer age, the digital age, the information age, etc. No matter what you like to call the 21st century, we can agree that it's scary how much we have access to nowadays.
No one in any other given point in history has ever had as much access to information as much as YOU do right now, right this second.
If you don't think that's scary, maybe this will.
All over the world, children have been exposed to the MOMO challenge. Either they've seen it themselves or they've heard about it from someone they know. The point is THEY KNOW and it's sickening that they do.
The MOMO challenge has been spread through the WhatApp that threaten children to the point of suicide. Children shouldn't even know what the means yet it's available at their fingertips.
Not only that, there are YouTube videos that seem to "visually" target young children but have content containing information kids should never grow up learning about.
When we hear stories like this, we wonder if the technology we use is good or bag. But A.J. Swoboda and Ken Wytsma say this "Technology is neither good nor bad; it's used for good or bad."
If we simply use technology for the downloading of more information, I think we misuse technology altogether. Again, according to Swoboda and Wystma, "it has been empirically demonstrated that more information leads to poorer choices by consumers. We experience less joy, peace, and happiness than ever. It's as if we're shoving food into our mouths faster than we can chew and savor it."
Yes, information is too much when it's teaching the next generation how to harm themselves, but information is also too much when we're overloading ourselves with it. We can't retain information as fast as this day and age demands of us and if we can't savor the information, there's no way we can use it for good.
So what's the answer here?
We, the consumers, must first wake up and realize the issue is that we were taught how to use technology, but never taught how to use it WISELY.
Wisdom is so much more than information.
Unlike information, wisdom takes discernment.
Knowledge may be power, but wisdom directs that power responsibly.
It means being aware of what children are watching - even if it looks like a friendly video on YouTube.
It means questioning the information we receive and not overloading ourselves with all the information we can possibly find on any given subject. Maybe it's not to not rely on the internet for viable information.
It means waking up from this age of information because it's time for something new.
Let's agree that it's time to pursue wisdom, not information.
