In one of my recent forays into the interwebs, I came across a young woman who, when asked what she “did,” called herself an “influencer.” Like it is a job. Like she gets paid to tell people to wear ballcaps sideways and call their friends “brah.” Hey, someone has to do it. And clearly, someone…
Parents tend to judge their parenting based on “big things.” By “big things,” I mean major events and accomplishments — getting the child baptized, getting them through college, getting them married well, keeping them off drugs, etc. But it has been my experience that “little things,” daily spiritual maintenance and life guidance, tend very strongly to lead to the “big things.”
I got behind in my work during my recent vacation. That may not sound strange; getting away from work is kind of what vacation is all about. But my “vacations” are not entirely work-free, in most instances. I usually have a few articles and a sermon or two that need to be ready to go before I get home, plus I have my various online obligations and my regular, run-of-the-mill Bible reading.
Some of that had to take a vacation as well, though. My parents’ internet service was basically nonfunctional.
The word “trending” has gone through an interesting metamorphosis in the social media generation. Used to be, something was “trending up” or “trending down,” depending on whether one was discussing (respectively) butter or margarine, cauliflower or broccoli rabe.
Now things are just “trending.” It is as though the quality of an item or topic is irrelevant; all that matters is that people are talking about it. It’s the new version of “no publicity is bad publicity,” I guess.
Every once in a while I will deviate from my standard policy and read some comments on a YouTube video or other internet post. I will never cease to be amazed at the willingness of complete strangers to weigh in with the most subjective criticisms imaginable. I don’t know where the term “trolls” came from, but I like it. It conveys the image of some semiliterate, untalented nobody lurking in his basement (which is to say, his mom’s basement), lobbing ill-conceived and ill-informed mortar fire at people who are actually doing something with their lives.
Maybe it’s American Idol’s fault. …
