Enhance your Knowledge
Like never before in the history of the world do we have access to more knowledge and information, yet so few people actually enhance their lives with it. In the past people thought that it was lack of access to knowledge that held people back. Now anyone with a cell phone has unlimited access to knowledge yet so few people actually are using it in meaningful and empowering ways.
Parents often ask me about their children’s cell phone use and how much time they should be spending on their phones and digital devices. My answer is never straight forward. I always ask them, “what are they doing on their devices?” This is a much more important and in-depth question than how much time is okay to be spending on their phones.
When I started my Masters Degree, I was really focused on technology because, as a young teacher, I felt that to be on the cutting edge of education I needed to be on the cutting edge of technology. Yet I quickly discovered that the technology was changing faster than I could even imagine and that was in the early 2010’s, so it is moving at hyper speed now compared to then. I changed my focus to, ‘how can we utilize our technology to enhance our creativity and share it with the world.’ So when people are using technology to be conscious creators, that is a very different thing than being passive consumers of technology and knowledge. Hence the reason for my question around ‘what is your child doing with the technology.’
The part I struggle with and continue to struggle with is how few of my students, and society in general, actually utilizes the powerful tool they have to connect and learn in ways that we have never had in history, yet so few do. How often do you use the power of the internet to be a conscious creator or knowledge seeker? Our daily habits determine our lives. If you want to become more creative and knowledgeable then you may also need to examine what you are using your devices for and shift what you are doing with them.
The interesting thing about the world we live in is that “knowledge” used to be viewed as power. Yet now it is not really about how much you can memorize that will get you ahead in life it is what you do with that knowledge that matters. What will you do this week to enhance your knowledge? Once you have that knowledge the much bigger question is what are you going to do with it?
This week I challenge you to really take a look at where you access information and what you do with that information. How often are you spending time on digital devices for being a conscious creator and how often are you being a passive consumer? Take steps to spend more time this week in a knowledge building and creative space and see how life shifts.
