Tag: media

Categories
motivation

Seeking the Lofty

Seeking the Lofty Thornton Wilder

A quote by Thorton Wilder reminds me how we need to be involved in seeking the lofty and watch our mental diet as much as our physical one.

“Seek the lofty by reading, hearing and seeing great work at some moment every day.”
Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder Quotes. BrainyQuote.com, BrainyMedia Inc, 2022. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/thornton_wilder_122026, accessed January 4, 2022.

Garbage in, garbage out is a cliche not just for computer programmers but for people as well. Do we consider how the media we consume affects us? Could we do better by intentionally consuming material that will lift us up as well as others? In other words, is what we’re taking in edifying?

Cartoon of a pastor at a pulpit with a coffee maker. He says, "Today's sermon will be fully edifying, inspirational and caffeinated."
Published in the “Church of God ENewsletter.”

I will confess that I have to watch this all the time. Like everyone else, I am prone to take the bait of breaking news that is really more broken than breaking. I can be drawn to clickbait about a football player with a bad attitude or an outrageous politician that said something offensive.

We all have choices. None of us need to be led along by sensational headlines that only give us mental junk food. The Internet can give us just as much good material as the bad. We just have to be more intentional and look for it. Let’s look for the lofty today.

Categories
technology cartoons

What do cell phones and clean water have in common?

Sketch note of cell phones and clean water

Sketch note of cell phones and clean water
kevin@kevinspear.com

I heard a TED Talk this morning from Andrew Bastawrous about cell phones in the Third World and an app that will help diagnose and cure blindness.

What struck me was when he said more people own cell phones than have access to clean water. I found an article confirming that:

More People Have Cell Phones Than Clean Water | The Corvallis Advocate.

That amazed me for several reasons.

  1. In effect, more people have technology than basic health needs
  2. Land line telephones have become obsolete in the Third World before they became widespread.
  3. This probably means illiterate groups have more access to information than ever before.

While smart phones are still rare in developing nations (according to a Pew survey) , it is only a matter of time until this changes.

This is key for publishers and media professionals. Up to five years ago, I was in discussions where we believed most of our customers still didn’t own a desktop computer. Now, we must admit even remote villages in far-flung regions of the world can access technology. It stands to reason a household may be more likely to own a mobile phone than a printed book.

Think of it! Households that may not have a literate person living there could suddenly have access to information that was otherwise out of their reach. This is more than revolutionary. This could fundamentally change how the world thinks.

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