At the beginning of this week I talked about the Sponge Bob controversy and how studies show it can have negative affects on children due to it’s hyper active story lines and some argue that the fast paced speed of the show is actually helping children learn to process things faster.
In the clip, which you can watch on Fox news, we hear Phil Vischer talk about how research shows that the part of our brain that processes facts and data can in fact be trained to go faster, BUT the part of our brain that processes emotion and makes emotional connection can’t be trained to go faster. They can collect data faster, but they can’t have a feeling about it. If you are trying to help someone feel compassion for example, you are going to have to slow down. Even the article that I dogged on in my post yesterday, quotes child psychologist Douglas Gentile saying “Multitasking is not really good for anyone. Your reflexes speed up, you’re quicker to look over your shoulder and notice little noises or lights. This is not what they [children or teens] need when they get to the classroom and you’re supposed to ignore the kid next to you. Scanning to see when the next message comes, this may not be good for kids. The more distractions you have, the worse your performance is.” A few weeks ago I mentioned that I read “The Help”. I found myself enjoying the book, but having a difficult time settling down to read. I felt like I’d be better off with an audio book so that I could fold clothes, or be productive. I think this was a lesson for me that I need to just to relax every once in a while, and stop trying to accomplish 10 things at a time!
Book that I am currently reading, book mark from the African Children’s choir, and fresh squeezed lemonade.

In our instant, high tech society we are blessed to have so many advancements to help us do everything quicker or without much effort. My challenge though, is to try doing things the slower way every once in a while and resist the temptation to multitask while doing it. It took 2 ½ hours to watch “The Help” at the theater, but for me there was so much more depth by reading the book which took about 10 times the amount of time. Similarly I can get delicious lemonade from the drive thru at Chic Fila, but sometimes J and I like to make it from fresh squeezed lemons. It means I get to use this gorgeous juicer that my sister in law made just for me. I also love the opportunity to get to use this cute little bag that my mom quickly sewed together from scraps of fabric that I had on hand. She made it for me when I expressed the desire to have something to keep my clothes pins on me while I hang clothes on the line. Most of the time I throw the clothes in the dryer, and believe me I am thankful for a working washer and dryer, but every once in a while I like to get outside and allow our linens a chance to get fresh air and sunlight.The smell of line dried clothing is something I’ve never been able to duplicate from a bottle. I don’t do these things all the time and I know they are not the most efficient, but they are just little ways for me to slow down, decompress, and find some space from the constant barrage of messages flying at me the rest of the day. For you maybe it’s something else like writing a hand written letter or journal, walking somewhere, or baking from scratch. Throughout this series I hope I have stressed enough that I think all of this change and progress with virtual connection is a good thing. I think that there is a such thing as too much screen time, but what that means might be different for each person. I can only hope that we don’t get so caught up in the digital world that we miss out on all the adventure, romance, pain, fulfillment, and depth that our multi dimensional lives have to offer. That it’s okay to be by yourself and to laugh out loud without anyone even knowing it.