I've been thinking about how this scroll of events affects our spiritual lives and the ability to contemplate reality more deeply. During COVID, my church existed only on screens. As we could meet in-person, we all thought people would be so glad to be together that everyone would come back. But around the country only about 2/3 returned. We worked hard at providing a good on-line experience when that was all that was available. But now we have more online participants in church than in-person. More people are "seeing" the service, but fewer are there to "participate" in community. So what kind of community is it? How does watching your community on the same screen you have watched the news, Netflix and sitcoms mediate the experience? As I listen to people who regularly watch us, they seem grateful that they can stay connected and watch when they want. Many would not come at all due to health problems, work or soccer games. But some of the regular in-person attenders resent that people aren't there. Some want to turn off the cameras and "make people come back." But we would be losing more than half our congregation. Our service is also changed because we are being watched. We have to think about what we do in terms of both an in-person and onscreen experience. So I'm left with the opportunities of supporting more people, but it doesn't always feel like a whole community. I almost feel like a televangelist, which is just weird.
This is so interesting. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond - I wanted to take the time to do it properly! I don't have much experience of being part of a congregation, but the closest thing for me would be attending my local Buddhist centre. I took two courses there last year, one online and one in person, and definitely found the in person one to be the more valuable experience. Maybe this was partly due to the content, but I think it was in large part due to the fact of being in the room with other people. There is something about the experience of actually physically being there, and the subtle sounds and sensations of being in a space dedicated to meditation alongside other people doing the same thing, that makes it so much easier to focus and go deeper. I think the multifunctional nature of our devices can have a flattening effect - it's practical, sure, but actually, there are some activities that should be distinct and they lose a dimension when they are mediated by the same tool that we use for so many other things. But it's a dilemma because technology has broadened accessibility in so many ways, which is a different kind of enrichment. At the same time, I could see how you would lose a sense of intimacy with your physical congregation by having to think about all the invisible people watching too. I've no idea what the answer is!
Hi Kate, I really appreciate your thoughts here, as you say, we are all experiencing this. I so agree with what you say toward the end of the post, "What would happen if we listened without covering our ears, descending into a flailing panic, or partaking in performative outrage, but just sat with our sadness and our fear and our disbelief, giving them the time and attention they deserve?" I think doing this is important on multiple fronts, one of which is helping us to understand how much our nervous systems can handle/absorb and still allow us to function well (still allow us to really be with the awful and the beautiful). Everyday, I wrestle with my capacity to hold what I encounter and the choices I make about how to be with those encounters. Your post helped me to pause and ponder this again. Thank you!
Oh yes you're so right about our nervous systems, I hadn't even thought about that. I guess maybe the online 'looking away' problem is partly just our nervous systems saying 'I can't handle this right now'...? But because we ignore loads of things online anyway out of necessity, we don't recognise that's what it is, and so don't listen. So glad the post resonated with you!
I absolutely agree. I think we’re just conditioned not to pay attention to ourselves, for survival’s sake in this case, but the inattention doesn’t really solve the problem. Now, I’ve got to go back and read your other post on this topic!
This really resonated with me. I am an avid news watcher but we are also fed news in drips like you say throughout the day in a variety of forms. It makes it hard to properly assimilate the information and I am definitely guilty of scrolling straight past. And it does make me feel guilty.
Being online means we are constantly being subjected to the negative in one form or another. And it affects me. Deeply.
I agree with your point that taking time to read or listen in one sitting gives it the attention it deserves. To avoid the rest means being off my phone more which is definitely a good thing too.
So glad you appreciated it. It makes me feel horribly guilty too! But at the same time, if someone posts on social media about something horrible in the news, they're basically saying 'I'm thinking about this right now so you should too'. And actually, maybe it's better if I think about it in my own time, when I'm ready and have the headspace to absorb it. Obviously it's a massive privilege to be able to make that choice at all, but at the same time, who is it going to help if I feel stressed and guilty because I'm being bombarded with stuff online that I fully can't take in?
I agree completely Kate. It is impossible to take in and digest all the bad news out there when it is fed to us constantly. I end up shutting off because I can't face it all. And yes, it is a privileged position and we are lucky but I also wonder what it does to our mental states? It is affecting.
Yes. This. Thank you, Kate. As I was reading this, I got to thinking about how much I appreciate the Substack reading experience. Yes, scrolling through Notes offers a similar slapdash to what you described happens elsewhere, but when I’m reading the long-form articles themselves (like this one), my mind is thinking and engaged and focused. I’m fully in the story or the reporting or the perspective, and I’m not being peppered with anything else that wants my attention. I can take time afterward to write a response in the comments or formulate a Note to share it with others and what it made me think about. And then, when I’m ready, I start reading a different article in my queue. It feels like the closest version online to “All I’m doing is reading the newspaper right now,” you know? Would you agree?
Yes, that makes a lot of sense to me. I think I need to stop reading on my phone because it's all too easy to get distracted by a long-form post when you should be doing something else... but I am trying to move towards an approach where I save up the things I want to read and then make time to sit down with them. I've seen Emma Gannon recommending reading Substack posts on a tablet instead of a phone or laptop and this really appeals to me. I love the idea of sitting on the sofa with a hot drink and reading what it essentially your own curated magazine. That seems so much healthier and more intentional than most internet experience.
That’s how I do it most of the time! The promise of “Substack reading time” is what’s helped me transition to an earlier waking hour the last couple months, so I can sit with my coffee on the couch for a while. I also read Substack while eating breakfast and lunch, but that’s pretty much it. That being said, I hear you on the way this reading can keep us from moving on to things we’re supposed to be doing too. 😆
I've been thinking about how this scroll of events affects our spiritual lives and the ability to contemplate reality more deeply. During COVID, my church existed only on screens. As we could meet in-person, we all thought people would be so glad to be together that everyone would come back. But around the country only about 2/3 returned. We worked hard at providing a good on-line experience when that was all that was available. But now we have more online participants in church than in-person. More people are "seeing" the service, but fewer are there to "participate" in community. So what kind of community is it? How does watching your community on the same screen you have watched the news, Netflix and sitcoms mediate the experience? As I listen to people who regularly watch us, they seem grateful that they can stay connected and watch when they want. Many would not come at all due to health problems, work or soccer games. But some of the regular in-person attenders resent that people aren't there. Some want to turn off the cameras and "make people come back." But we would be losing more than half our congregation. Our service is also changed because we are being watched. We have to think about what we do in terms of both an in-person and onscreen experience. So I'm left with the opportunities of supporting more people, but it doesn't always feel like a whole community. I almost feel like a televangelist, which is just weird.
This is so interesting. Sorry it's taken me so long to respond - I wanted to take the time to do it properly! I don't have much experience of being part of a congregation, but the closest thing for me would be attending my local Buddhist centre. I took two courses there last year, one online and one in person, and definitely found the in person one to be the more valuable experience. Maybe this was partly due to the content, but I think it was in large part due to the fact of being in the room with other people. There is something about the experience of actually physically being there, and the subtle sounds and sensations of being in a space dedicated to meditation alongside other people doing the same thing, that makes it so much easier to focus and go deeper. I think the multifunctional nature of our devices can have a flattening effect - it's practical, sure, but actually, there are some activities that should be distinct and they lose a dimension when they are mediated by the same tool that we use for so many other things. But it's a dilemma because technology has broadened accessibility in so many ways, which is a different kind of enrichment. At the same time, I could see how you would lose a sense of intimacy with your physical congregation by having to think about all the invisible people watching too. I've no idea what the answer is!
Hi Kate, I really appreciate your thoughts here, as you say, we are all experiencing this. I so agree with what you say toward the end of the post, "What would happen if we listened without covering our ears, descending into a flailing panic, or partaking in performative outrage, but just sat with our sadness and our fear and our disbelief, giving them the time and attention they deserve?" I think doing this is important on multiple fronts, one of which is helping us to understand how much our nervous systems can handle/absorb and still allow us to function well (still allow us to really be with the awful and the beautiful). Everyday, I wrestle with my capacity to hold what I encounter and the choices I make about how to be with those encounters. Your post helped me to pause and ponder this again. Thank you!
Oh yes you're so right about our nervous systems, I hadn't even thought about that. I guess maybe the online 'looking away' problem is partly just our nervous systems saying 'I can't handle this right now'...? But because we ignore loads of things online anyway out of necessity, we don't recognise that's what it is, and so don't listen. So glad the post resonated with you!
I absolutely agree. I think we’re just conditioned not to pay attention to ourselves, for survival’s sake in this case, but the inattention doesn’t really solve the problem. Now, I’ve got to go back and read your other post on this topic!
This really resonated with me. I am an avid news watcher but we are also fed news in drips like you say throughout the day in a variety of forms. It makes it hard to properly assimilate the information and I am definitely guilty of scrolling straight past. And it does make me feel guilty.
Being online means we are constantly being subjected to the negative in one form or another. And it affects me. Deeply.
I agree with your point that taking time to read or listen in one sitting gives it the attention it deserves. To avoid the rest means being off my phone more which is definitely a good thing too.
Thank you for writing about this.
So glad you appreciated it. It makes me feel horribly guilty too! But at the same time, if someone posts on social media about something horrible in the news, they're basically saying 'I'm thinking about this right now so you should too'. And actually, maybe it's better if I think about it in my own time, when I'm ready and have the headspace to absorb it. Obviously it's a massive privilege to be able to make that choice at all, but at the same time, who is it going to help if I feel stressed and guilty because I'm being bombarded with stuff online that I fully can't take in?
I agree completely Kate. It is impossible to take in and digest all the bad news out there when it is fed to us constantly. I end up shutting off because I can't face it all. And yes, it is a privileged position and we are lucky but I also wonder what it does to our mental states? It is affecting.
Yes. This. Thank you, Kate. As I was reading this, I got to thinking about how much I appreciate the Substack reading experience. Yes, scrolling through Notes offers a similar slapdash to what you described happens elsewhere, but when I’m reading the long-form articles themselves (like this one), my mind is thinking and engaged and focused. I’m fully in the story or the reporting or the perspective, and I’m not being peppered with anything else that wants my attention. I can take time afterward to write a response in the comments or formulate a Note to share it with others and what it made me think about. And then, when I’m ready, I start reading a different article in my queue. It feels like the closest version online to “All I’m doing is reading the newspaper right now,” you know? Would you agree?
Yes, that makes a lot of sense to me. I think I need to stop reading on my phone because it's all too easy to get distracted by a long-form post when you should be doing something else... but I am trying to move towards an approach where I save up the things I want to read and then make time to sit down with them. I've seen Emma Gannon recommending reading Substack posts on a tablet instead of a phone or laptop and this really appeals to me. I love the idea of sitting on the sofa with a hot drink and reading what it essentially your own curated magazine. That seems so much healthier and more intentional than most internet experience.
That’s how I do it most of the time! The promise of “Substack reading time” is what’s helped me transition to an earlier waking hour the last couple months, so I can sit with my coffee on the couch for a while. I also read Substack while eating breakfast and lunch, but that’s pretty much it. That being said, I hear you on the way this reading can keep us from moving on to things we’re supposed to be doing too. 😆