From the moment I first brought up this Word document in order to start typing this article, I have communicated with four different people; edited, uploaded, and changed my Facebook cover photo; tuned into an online radio station; watched the new Man of Steel trailer; and that’s not mentioning everything I have done offline.

The sad part is I had hoped to start working on this more than an hour ago. This seems only mildly preoccupied to me. Does this mean I have some sort of mental disease? Do I have an extremely short attention span? Maybe I just get off track easily…Why is staying focused so hard?

There are so many things I can do. There are so many things I do, in fact, do. However, are they more of a distraction than a benefit? Years ago, an economist prophesied that Americans would only need to work an average of two to three hours a week by now. He was wrong. Did work get that much harder, or did we just become distracted? Are there more things that need to be done, or are we just taking our time doing them? What is a work ethic? Some days, I fear no one, at least in my generation, knows the answers.

Is technology, the mighty Internet and its associates to blame? Is it the mass communication through phones and TV? Wait, no; those are all pretty much the same now. What we don’t want to do through Dad’s old PC we can do through the phone and sometimes via TV. Media is interchangeable. It works for us. Tech gadgets are easy to hold in your hand and maneuver with a single finger.

Yet are they to blame? Really? I want to say no, but then where does the answer lie? Where is the blame to be placed? What can we change? What is a work ethic?

Although we never have been this advanced this quickly, we always have had some new-and-improved invention. We always have had the next best thing. This is progress. This is how our world functions. Without growth and advancement, we remain stagnant.

So, what has changed? Maybe because these changes happen so quickly; technology always is so new and functions ever more rapidly, our sanity can’t keep up. I have the feeling that eventually I’ll be able to tell my students, “Hey, I remember when we had to use a thing called a pencil to write notes physically on paper.” While we continue to grasp for what’s next, new and improved, we let go of too much.

I have become better at keeping up with old friends who live in other states than the person who just moved into the next dorm room. I worry about the elderly because technology has left them in the dust. I write more posts on my blog than mailing letters. (Do you remember when people used to send things in envelopes?) To quote one of my favorite TV shows, “I keep texting, and there’s no one at the other end.”

Although technology keeps me connected with those who are far away, it distracts me from the nearby family, friends and problems that I need to handle in my daily life. I may know more about my favorite TV show’s cast than my best friend.

This is dangerous. With any media, ideas are spread; many of those ideas aren’t good. I need to get back to the core of what matters. I need to know and trust what my family and friends do for me daily. Even more so, I need to know and trust what God has done and continues to do for and through me.

I need to remember stewardship and vocation. I need to realize my obligation to put to use the tools God has given me—on- and offline. I need to be a friend and witness in the real world, as well as in the cyber world. I need to love my neighbor as myself. I can’t afford to let anything be a distraction from the things that are most important: my friends, family, Lord Christ and His calling for my life, not neglecting any portion of what He has called me to do. That is a work ethic.

Technology grows, and so do my responsibilities, as do the number of my neighbors and my instruction to love them. I can’t let one world distract me from the other. Most of all, I cannot forget to love God first; to worship the Creator of these creations; and to hope in the Giver of these gifts. It is in Him that my sanity is restored and my complicated world comes to rest.