"Digital Gluttony"

A student in my "Catholic Social Thought and the Law" seminar shares these thoughts (which hit pretty close to home!):

Digital Gluttony

Our worldviews have always shaped by the form of our consumption of information. With the rise of the internet we now have an ever-increasing amount of information, opinion, and entertainment at our fingertips but despite the increased number of options, do we make any better choices? While it might at first appear that a wealth of knowledge can only serve to enlighten, this is not always the case. Instead, experience seems to show that ignorance increases alongside insight. To be sure, the egalitarian nature of the internet allows for underrepresented minorities to find a voice, but it also runs the risk of drowning out the truth in a cacophony of critics.

The internet has truly made speech “free,” in that every passing thought can be instantly rebroadcast to the entire world. An unfortunate result is that those who speak wisely are often drowned out by those who speak most. Prior to the internet, transmission of information took effort, which meant that retransmission generally resulted in refinement. Now we can choose to be exposed directly to source instead of being forced to rely on our community to filter and process knowledge in our quest for truth.

And so we find ourselves falling victim to digital gluttony. Instead of eating indiscriminately, we watch indiscriminately, read indiscriminately, and listen indiscriminately. Rather than consuming only that which we can digest, we are tempted to indulge beyond that which is healthy, to “drink from the fire hose,” so to speak. When we exceed our ability to properly limit and process information, it is all too easy for our minds become burdened by inflammatory rhetoric, junk science, and unfounded assertions. Our consumption habits shape the way we think more than we are consciously aware. We should therefore take care to reflect on our habits and to restrain ourselves from engaging in digital gluttony.