James Meehan - 3 Ways You Can Be Wise Online
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So if you wanna be wise online, here's my suggestion. First, curate, second, eliminate, and then third, evaluate. Point number one, curate what you want to see. A museum curator, their job is to decide what gets into the museum and then what's not in the museum so that everybody who shows up has the best experience possible. You are the curator for what you see online. So make sure the things that you see online, the websites you go to, the videos you watch aren't only mindless entertainment, which isn't always a bad thing, but if it's the only thing, then it's really not a good thing, so make sure there's also stuff that you're using to educate yourself to become the best version of who you are so that you're making the most of the time you spend online.
Point number two, eliminate the garbage, because the content we consume shapes who we become. And so if all you are consuming online is garbage, you're gonna become garbage. And I don't want that for you, so figure out the garbage that you're consuming and eliminate it entirely. That looks like unfollowing the accounts, that looks like deleting the apps, that looks like blocking the websites that are continually distracting you from God, that are discouraging you and making you less of who you are meant to be. For some of you that means asking your small group leader to put their code into your time restrictions so that you can't get to the stuff you shouldn't get to. For some of you, it's gonna look like subscribing to some sort of accountability software like Covenant Eyes. And for you middle school boys, that means stop simping over Andrew Tate. The content we consume shapes who we become. Eliminate the garbage.
And then point number three, evaluate often. What is working for you now may not be working for you a few months from now. Like I love watching YouTube videos, particularly about video games, working out, and you know, like some of my favorite movies or TV shows, people doing commentary, I love that stuff. But if I'm not careful, I can start spending way too much time on YouTube. So what I do is I evaluate often how much time am I spending? Is that the best use of my time? And if it's not, then I will dial it back. Sometimes I will eliminate it altogether, where I'll go a week, or two weeks, or a month without being on YouTube at all.
The same applies to video games or other forms of media because I understand that the content I consume shapes who I become. And the same is true for you. So evaluate often. Is the way you are spending your time online making you who you want to be? Is it making you the best version of yourself, somebody who loves God with all they are and loves others the same way that Jesus loves you? If it's not, then go back to point one and two, curate what you see and eliminate the garbage. So there you have it, three ways that you can be wise online because the internet, it's beautiful, it's wonderful, sometimes it is horrible.
So curate what you want to see, eliminate the garbage, evaluate often, and you know what you could also do, is you could come to Switch this Wednesday night because we are in our message series, Tear Down the Idols, where we are learning together how to tear down the crap so that we can become the people that God has made us to be. And if you like the video, make sure you hit that Like button, subscribe to our channel so that you can, you know, curate good content in your channel feed regularly, 'cause we create videos like this every single week, designed to help you become who God has made you to be. And if you've got a friend who isn't very wise online, then maybe you just kindly share this to them. See you around.