I’m weary of so much that comes with the Internet of Things these days. A couple of the things that make me the most tired are:

• The underlying (explicit) push toward personal branding and image manipulation/control.

I guess I’m still mulling over that topic from this week’s #hydrationfortheholiday thoughts on getting over Christmas card image-pressures to seeing the pic behind the pic – as in all the regular. My stomach turns when I see things like: “2016 – This is it—the year you get into peak fitness, grow your income, and deepen your most significant relationships” – buttressed by “5 Secrets to Finally Getting the Life You Want” all written and promoted by a faith-based leader who also promotes tricks and tips on doubling your Twitter followers.

How does faith play a role in this live-out-loud as if on stage Internet of things world? I think folks are struggling to figure it out (I don’t doubt this leader’s motives to help.) It’s just hard to find in Scripture where image-management had much to do with anything. The Bible’s playbill reads more like a cast of least-llikely’s rather than a list of Who’s Who.

So that’s one thing. Another is

• The real time information and quick-response commenting that lends itself to argument & judgement before the cake is even baked.

I’m SO grateful that when I was young: report cards came out every six weeks instead of every day. Since I struggled with performance pressures as it was, I can’t imagine how stressful it would have been for every assignment to be a defining moment. Life is a journey – with ups and downs, soaring and slipping, with lots of questioning to get to answers.

Internet platforms promote a strange fight-to-be-right cause-championing and dismiss listening. With instant commenting, often cloaked in online-ID anonymity, judgment runs rampant. Talk about hate-speech, just take 60 seconds to read comments on any conservative OR liberal media personality posts.

Though it might appear as if propriety and decorum have left the building FOREVER, they haven’t. They still exist. They usually involve a little more quick to listen and slow to speak. (Is a lack of listening the problem? I know I talk too much. I hope I’m listening.)

Okay, so that’s a couple of things that make me want to run for the Internet-free hills, turn off every digital device and take up farming.

But where there is ick, there is good. And the good is really good.

So, for your reading/perusing pleasure, here are a few GOOD THINGS of which I’m fairly certain I would not have known without the Internet of Things:

From Naomi Johnson who lives in Michigan. I don’t know Naomi, but my friend shared her BEAUTIFUL story on FB:

And this from  Andrew (who I don’t know, but my cyber friend Marci shared) – so cool!! Yes, the queen is a person.

An interesting article on bibliothereapy re-tweeted by a friend:

Yes – there’s a type of therapy that involves reading books. The writer and I most likely don’t ascribe to the same ideology, but her article is interesting food for thought – and actually reminded me about a few reasons I love reading. And I’m inspired.

Then this Downton Abbey conversation (where propriety and decorum still live – or maybe it IS the British accents) from Colbert – hilarious:

And an interesting article (tweeted by a friend) on our political climate. The writer is concerned about very real communication issues and its looming affect on democracy:

A truly free society, one that gives its citizens the responsibility of participation, can function only to the extent there is civil discourse. We can engage in a mutual search for solutions only to the extent that we agree a problem exists. That can never happen unless we talk to each other, listen to each other and respect the fact that honorable people can reach different conclusions. When that sense of comity is missing, we are at risk.

And I’m reminded, again – to listen. Not to give up speaking, but to slow down and listen, to teach my kids to listen. Because people are involved.

People that matter.

Again from Santa – the great listener:

So sweet.

Here’s to turning the volume down on the ick and searching for/sharing the lovely in the midst. Here’s to finding GOOD things and to smiling and to seeing the beyond the moment to the people even/especially on the Internet. Thanks to friends for sharing the silver linings that we might never see without it.

Thanks for walking the road with me.

Kay