Influence

 

Who influences me? Who do I listen to? Who do I think speaks truth? From whom do I get my instruction, inspiration, direction? With all of the voices thrown at us every day, how do I know to whom I should listen?

The internet has opened up the world to us. If we have a question, we just “google” it and find an answer. We can receive the news from multiple outlets. We can listen to a plethora of voices every day. Where we used to just listen to the newspaper, or the radio, or the television (with limited channels), today we have a multitude of choices, and we can carry the internet wherever we go on many devices, but especially on our phone.

I first stepped into the online world in the 90’s. At school we had a few Mac computers for all of us to use. We could send and receive emails, and learned to do so. I bought my first personal computer in the 90’s, and entered the online world via AT&T dialup. Remember the sound of that dialup tone?  One moment I was still relying on print and television for my news and the next everything was on line. We eventually each had our own computer at school. Laptops became the rage. The biggest change came with owning my first smart phone. Now the internet went everywhere with me.

But with these evolving changes came so much noise and subsequent unease and anxiety. Thoreau wrote about spending time at Walden Pond to get away from the noise of the newspaper! Imagine if Thoreau could see how much noisier our world is today.

We found that there is such a thing as too much information. And a lot of it we cannot even trust. I can “google” anything I wish to know, but how do I know if the answer is true? It is possible to dig deeper than the first answer, but that also takes more time and deliberation. Often I just accept the first. And then there is social media. I have tried to avoid as much of that as possible. But even if you don’t have accounts you are still aware of the power of social media. Algorithms took over our news feeds. I remember a friend’s mother amazed that her daughter didn’t know something. “It’s all over the internet. Everything I see on Facebook talks about it. How can you not have known?”  Her daughter replied, “I’ve seen nothing of that on Facebook.”  “But how can our Facebook feeds be so different?”  Algorithms. So social media feeds us what we want to hear (or what its AI discerns we want to hear). 

Those of us raised in the 20^th Century thought the rise of cable television was amazing. Our first “influencers” came from that platform. 24 hour television, what a concept. But the internet made cable TV feel like the dark ages. Some people don’t even watch TV at all anymore, why bother when you can stream on any of your devices? Voices piled upon voices. I used to watch the news on TV, but now, for the most part, I just use my phone.

And those algorithms. My husband is working on a bathroom project. He has researched a lot online, and now finds himself receiving ads, not only for plumbing merchandise, but for all manner of intestinal ailments and cures. Like ordering a RV toilet means he has chronic diarrhea. He ordered a lot of his materials using my Amazon Prime account, and now I have ads for toilets and faucets. I’ve always wondered why, when I just bought a pair of pants on line, the ads for more pants start popping up. I just bought pants, now I should get ads for shirts or shoes, but no, I get ads for more pants. The internet knows we always need more.

And, while we are on the topic, online shopping has become “the thing”. Covid pushed me over the edge on that activity, as it did a lot of other people. Any time I do a bit of research on a purchase, a lot of “people” come my way via ads and videos to help me out. All of them pushing their thoughts and research. And once I’ve looked at a topic, say the benefits of vitamin D, the internet can’t get me enough information on the topic. It’s sometimes helpful, but most times annoying and distracting.

So again, who influences us?  We have a lot of offers to choose from. We also know there are more important issues out there than which pants to buy or vitamins to take. Every topic we can think of has people posting their comments and points of view. Anytime someone voices an opinion, a hundred other people weigh in, many time disparaging the original opinion, or more often the original voice of that opinion.  We begin to think our opinion matters on every issue, whether this actress has gained weight or that politician has lost his mind. We used to be very limited on where our opinions landed, especially face to face. I feel we had more boundaries, feared reprisals. Today we can just like or hate something we read with a click, regardless the consequences of our words.

And I think that makes us more apt to express our views face to face with the same carelessness. I’ve seen it with students who are used to dissing people online, so why not in person?

“I read/heard it online so it must be true.”  “It’s everywhere, everyone is talking about it, how can it not be true?”  How many times have we heard or even said this? And so today thousands of people have accepted as “truth” things that once very few people would have agreed with. There was no moon landing. The Holocaust didn’t happen. Vaccines do more harm than good. History is being rewritten because someone on the internet said so.

That’s ok, I like that we are free to speak what we think. But I also fear we are even less likely to seek other voices, dig to find truth, with the ease of “hearing it” on the internet. I’ve always been a sceptic, annoying people with my questions. The internet has only made me more annoying. When someone asks if I’ve heard about the latest health or political thing they’ve read online, I usually question it from the start and go look for myself. But that takes time, and a lot of us just don’t bother. And if the latest health or political thing comes from someone we trust, well, all bets are off, it must be true.

I have a news feed that shares both sides of the political spectrum on the day’s news. I never cease to be amazed at how polar opposite the opinions often are. There is very little gray area anymore. I’m as guilty as anyone. I’ve tried more recently to at least read the thoughts of people I disagree with, just to try and understand why they believe what they believe. But it’s hard.

As a Christian I am glad to be reminded that, when searching for truth, Jesus is the Truth. When it begins to feel like there is no such thing as “truth”, it’s good to be reminded that with Jesus, things are “the same yesterday, today and forever.” We can trust Him. When all else seems like a bag of contradictions, we can turn to Jesus and hear what’s of prime importance, and know that it’s true. By “turning to Jesus” I mean read His words for yourself, check Him out first hand. Hearing what other professing believers have to say can often lead you into another algorithm. But reading Jesus’ story in the Bible first is the best place to begin, then it’s ok to weigh out the multitude of online opinions.

Though there is a whole world out there screaming for my attention and desiring to influence me in one way or another, I am choosing to follow Jesus. If anything veers away from Him, that is something I will avoid. For me, life is safest when I let Jesus be my prime influencer.