Why reading blogs, books and tweets may be bad for you.

When it comes to blogging or anything else in life for that matter there is a delicate balance that must be maintained in order for you to be effective. I call it the production vs. consumption dilemma. Catchy I know. Here is the problem. We live in a time where more content is being generated than ever before in our history. Check out this info graphic on how much content is created in one minute on the web. The numbers are staggering.

What has happened has been a seismic shift in content creation. The internet has removed all the previous gateways that filtered content. For example you want to write a book you can anyone can. There are literally hundreds of sites that will help you get your content out there. Years ago the publishing companies where the gatekeepers of books. If your book wasn’t good or what the publishing companies thought people wanted your content didn’t see the light of day. This was a good thing and a bad thing. It was good because it acted as a filter and mostly worked. It was bad because it kept us from finding new voices and hearing new ideas. This is just publishing the internet has broken down so many walls when it comes to content creation it’s almost overwhelming.

Here is the problem with so much to consume and with no one to filter content for you. You have to do what media outlets and publishers used to do for us. You have to filter your own content. If you consume content all day long you will never produce anything.

But here is where it gets a bit tricky. If you don’t consume anything you will never produce anything. Production of anything is a byproduct of consumption. If you only focus on production and don’t take time to consume content what you produce will be shallow and out of date.

So how do we balance production and consumption and produce work/content that his God Glorifying.

1. Read your bible. – I know that’s super basic but if you don’t know and internalize the word of God it will never impact your worldview and your worldview will be based on something. If your worldview is not founded in the gospel you will be susceptible to every sort of spin that is out there.

2. Start will authors you trust. – More and more I read books that are recommended and referenced in books I read by authors I trust. Be careful however to explore beyond your area of comfort.

3. Read old books. They are devoid of the bias and tendencies of our generation.

4. Treat blog posts from people you don’t know like unlabeled pot luck dishes. Be suspicions until verified.

5. Treat social media content like candy. Facebook and twitter will rot your creative brain if that’s all you consume.

6. Lastly you need to check your motives. Ask is what I am producing or consuming for the Glory of God.

Producing something thoughtful that has worth and is helpful takes time. You need to be alone with your thoughts and wrestle it to the ground before you share it with others. How do I know? I have been working on this blog post for 18 months.

Consume and produce for the Glory of God.