I read recently that the average attention span is now 8.25 seconds. After you read this sentence, the average person’s attention is about to be lost, so I better hurry. All joking aside, we are losing the ability to think and ponder upon the important things in life. Our minds crave distraction so much so that we do not know how to sit with our own thoughts, nor do we know how to have a long-term perspective.

The reason for this is that we live in a digital age. We live in a time where information is readily available, so much so that we know what is happening around the world instantly. We know it quickly, we have access to what we want when we want, as quickly as our fingers can type and browse. We have access to an endless array of options when it comes to just about anything. And everything is customizable to whatever we want. We can emphasize our preferences and personalities.

These are wonderful things, but they come with a cost. They have trained our minds to have a very short attention span. If we cannot pay attention, we may not hear the voice of God. We may never get quiet enough, or still enough to hear God speaking to us. To be counter-cultural in our day may mean that we stop looking for distractions and learn to be still.