Category: Desires
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TikTok Wins By Hoarding Data, but Is Privacy The Real Concern?
TikTok is winning. Dominating. Conquering. But what game are they playing? There’s no doubt that TikTok’s copycat competitors are intimidated by the winner. That’s why Instagram added “Reels” that feel just like TikTok. And YouTube recently added “Shorts” for the same reason. If two of the biggest Big Tech companies are dancing to TikTok’s beat,…
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With “Play Something”, Netflix Attacks More Of Your Brain
Netflix — an enemy of your intentional life — deployed a new weapon in their desire-shaping arsenal a couple weeks ago. It’s a deceptively helpful sounding button titled: “Play Something”. According to Netflix’s own announcement: “There are times when we just don’t want to make decisions. A Friday evening after a long work week. A fridge…
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Do you ever say: “But I don’t have time”?
Does this ever come out of your mouth? “I wish I could do [some good thing I should be doing], but I just don’t have time.” If you’re spending more than four hours a week watching something on a screen, I can help you. And since the average person spends around 32 hours a week…
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Did you miss Christmas?
On Christmas Eve, my wife and youngest daughter attended an elegant candlelight communion service. Another one of our daughters and her husband were part of the beautiful music ensemble: daughter in the choir, son-in-law co-leading with acoustic guitar. Traditional carols were sung by all, along with short pastoral messages about the meanings of each. At…
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Don’t Be Fooled By Facebook Propaganda
Facebook is on the hot seat these days. With claims of being a “living, breathing crime scene,” former leaders who say it is “ripping apart” society, and calls to kill a new product because of its danger to children, all is not well at the world’s most powerful social media empire. In response to recent…
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If You Fall for a Scam, Here’s Why You’ll Do It
Caveat Emptor. Let the buyer beware. Unfortunately, Sam, a young American man on a dream trip to Bangkok, forgot this familiar Latin phrase. While walking towards a planned tour of the famous Grand Palace, a short, thin, local man with a toothless grin stopped him, saying the Palace was closed for renovations today. However, Sam’s…
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What Do You Want, And Why?
“Sweetheart, what do you want for dinner?” “I don’t know, what do you feel like?” “I don’t care, whatever sounds good to you.” “Well, I don’t care either, and I asked you first.” We have conversations like this all the time, don’t we? We often don’t really know what we want to do next. But…
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You Are Not Your Feelings
Everyone’s heard this cultural mantra: our feelings define our identity. According to pop-culture wisdom, truth itself is created and validated by our feelings. We must listen to and act upon our emotions, as they are the most authentic part of who we are. Just think back to the most popular psalm of the cultural doctrine-defining…
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A Call For Noble Men
It means something to be a Smith. I come from a long line of Oregon wheat farmers. I tasted my heritage when Dad sent my teenage self away from my comfortable middle-class city life to hoe weeds around hundreds of acres of hot, arid, Eastern Oregon fields with my uncles and cousins. I’m grateful now,…
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The Battle Is Real
Do you ever feel like the problems of the world are so overwhelming, there’s nothing you can do? I’ve felt that way—consumed by fear of the future with a paralyzing inability to know what to do about it. Want to know the positive difference I made in the world while I was feeling that way?…