Internet

“ ‘Brain rot’ was Oxford’s word of the year in 2024, defined as ‘the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.’” - TGC

“Parents, our kids may not be physical captives in Babylon, but they are captives to whatever is captivating them. And that presents a serious challenge for discipleship.” - Baptist Press

“Where congregants once began with ‘My grandmother always said …’ they now regularly begin with ‘I was listening to this podcast …’ or ‘I saw on YouTube …’” - TGC

“If… businesses are more likely to advertise with creators that get engagement — views, clicks, follows, shares, comments, likes… content creators have incentive to get you to engage as much as possible. Enter rage-baiting.” - Daily Citizen

“This ‘digital decay’ occurs in many different online spaces. We examined the links that appear on government and news websites, as well as in the ‘References’ section of Wikipedia pages as of spring 2023.” - Pew

“It turns out that, contrary to what years upon years of social media conditions us to think, you actually don’t have to post things every time the thought occurs to you to post things. You can just… not.” - Mere Orthodoxy

“The bad news is that the thought patterns of the web are so embedded into modern life that we cannot effectively avoid them. The good news is that the same responsiveness to the power of habit that makes online addiction so powerful also makes analog resistance effective.” - Desiring God

“The Internet leads to ‘context collapse.’ It places into a space that is intrinsically faceless and lacks geographic borders. That space generalizes language and thought, ignores the very real differences between people and places, and pushes us toward highly generic ways of speaking and thinking.” - 9 Marks

“Anyone could build their own “web site” with pictures, video and sound. They could even send visitors to other sites using hyperlinked words or phrases underlined in blue.” - NPR

Review of Brett McCracken’s The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World - CToday