Over the last few weeks, I’ve been re-examining my reliance on the internet and the importance I place on it in my everyday life.
In many instances, there’s no denying it’s benefits from online purchases and banking, to streaming services and DIY information.
But there’s something else readily available at our finger tips – something that’s not always easily detected as we bounce around from one site to another.
It was during my re-examination that it became evidently clear how many websites, which I visit with some regularity, had become nothing more than a sea of negative information and sensational headlines.
Even sites with no political agenda had begun spewing and supporting hateful propaganda in order to sway an impressionable society one way or the other.
The internet feeds negativity
In Steve Maraboli’s book Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience he writes:
“People tend to be generous when sharing their nonsense, fear, and ignorance. And while they seem quite eager to feed you their negativity, please remember that sometimes the diet we need to be on is a spiritual and emotional one.
Be cautious with what you feed your mind and soul. Fuel yourself with positivity and let that fuel propel you into positive action.”
His words rang true and clear to me – almost as though I were searching for something profound to say, but simply couldn’t string the words together.
I was being fed others negativity – I’d become a glutton for it in fact without ever realizing what was happening. And while we all need “fuel” in order to nourish the heart and the soul, we sometimes fail to see what it is we’re consuming.
Guy Finley once remarked, “If you want light to come into your life, you need to stand where it is shining.
Yes, the internet has provided incredible benefits to our society – and to my own life. Without it, I wouldn’t be able to share this blog with all of you.
But there comes a point in time when you need to re-examine what it is we’re feeding our mind and soul. Don’t be naïve to believe that all this negativity isn’t in some way influencing who we are as a person; who we are with our families and friends.
Enough with the internet’s dark cloud of despair and destruction – going forward, I’m choosing to stand in the light.
