I am a columnist for Leadership Journal and writing an article right now for an upcoming issue which will be dealing with addictions as the theme of the issue. I have been wondering about a certain addiction and wanted to ask a question to get some input.
I love reading blogs and enjoy interacting on this blog and reading people's comments. I just read that this blog made the list of Top 60 Church Blogs which was interesting, as I rarely check the stats of this blog. So reading how they determined the top 60 blogs by traffic, links etc. was quite interesting and I am glad it is read or linked to by people if it encourages them. The list of the 60 blogs had some wonderful blogs that I didn't know existed and ended up scanning and reading several of them. I ended up spending 30 minutes of time doing so. Which brings me to my question.
Could blogging, twittering, Facebook etc. be addictive - and if so, can it actually get in the way of mission? The answer may be obvious, but when we spend time doing something, it takes away from time we could be spending doing something else. So do the hours we can spend on blogs, twitter, Facebook and even reading about missional things on blogs take away too much from the time that we could actually be on mission and spending with people in real life?
I am not planning on stopping reading blogs, as they help me in mission. I love being encouraged and learn so much from other blogs. I love connecting with people on Facebook as well. But can it become such a part of our lives and even addictive to where the time spent reading about mission grow proportionally out of balance with the time we actually spend on mission? 30 minutes here. And hour there. it adds up. Am I spending proportional time on mission with people and not just reading about it? I think I have been guilty of this at times. Maybe it is just me, so that is why I am asking here as I am writing the article and processing some thoughts on this and am looking for some other input.
My top StrengthsFinderstrength is "Learner" - which means I get energized by taking in information. In StrengthsFinder the top five all build on each other. So what I like as a "Learner" is not just random information as it needs to serve a purpose and tie into my other strengths. But what this means as a "Learner" is that I easily can get absorbed into reading blogs, twitter etc. primarily about mission, leadership and what other church leaders are learning and doing. I have found that I can easily sit and spend 30 minutes browsing and reading blogs.
Last week I was about to head home after a meeting and I was looking forward to reading the comments of the thread going on Scot McKnight's blog. However, I got a text message from a friend who told me that a friend's band was playing in town that night. I initially was thinking I wouldn't go, as I was looking forward to being home and catching up on blogs and this comment thread. But then I thought "What the heck? I need to be out on mission, not just reading about mission about blogging about it." So I went to the show and spend a couple of hours in great conversations.
Then I started thinking about over the course of a week when I add up an hour... or two.... or four that adds up being on-line reading blogs or Facebook. I could have used part of that time - even an hour of it, to be having lunch or hang out with someone outside the church world.
As I am processing this for the article I am writing, and you have any comments or input - even if you don't want to leave your name and make it anonymous. I would love to know:
- do others struggle or think about this?
- How much time/hours per week would you estimate you spend on blogs, Facebook?
- How much time/hours per week spend with people outside church in comparison?
