Welcome to the online home of Tim Challies, blogger, author, and book reviewer.
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Like it or not, we live in a world dominated by social media. While many older forms of media continue to exist and to exert their influence, all have in some way had to bow before the ascendancy of new media. It is pervasive, it is ubiquitous, it is addictive, and it is changing everything. Yet because social media rose with lightning speed and so quickly became nearly omnipresent, we may already have lost sight of the influence it has …
Every coin has a head behind a tail, every die a 6 behind a 1, every stamp a sticker behind a face. And in much the same way, every technology has a virtue behind a vice, a benefit behind a drawback, something beneficial behind something sorely detrimental. The television that supplies important news also promotes vile entertainment, the engine that provides propulsion also produces pollution, the nuclear fission that powers a city also risks destroying that city. Such is life …
It’s the age of the tattoo, isn’t it? It has become something of a rite of passage for older teenagers or younger adults to get inked. Whatever we parents think about this trend, I expect we’re unanimous in at least wanting our children to wait until they are old enough to count the cost—to grow up enough to have some sense of what it will mean to permanently mark their bodies. We want our kids to wait because we know …
Social media was still in its infancy when it showed me a death for the first time. All these years later the details remain vivid in my mind. A colleague said, “Tim, check this out.” He turned his screen toward me to show a blindfolded man kneeling before his captors. They spoke a few words in a language I did not understand, then reached toward him. A knife flashed, a throat was slit, blood spilled. I almost threw up. Late …
I spend a fair bit of time traveling. At least, under normal circumstances I do. Sometimes these are little more than overnight trips to conferences across the U.S. border and sometimes these are extended journeys to the far corners of the earth. Wherever I go, and for however long I’m away, I am sure to keep in touch with my family, and especially with Aileen. Through the marvels of modern technologies, I usually have the ability to not only hear …
Greg Koukl often passes along a cheeky little tip related to reading and understanding the Bible. “If there was one bit of wisdom, one rule of thumb, one single skill I could impart, one useful tip I could leave that would serve you well the rest of your life, what would it be? What is the single most important practical skill I’ve ever learned as a Christian? Here it is: Never read a Bible verse.” Hang on! Is he one …
I am sure parenting has always been a complicated business. I’m sure each generation of parents has had to deal with issues specific to their unique time and context. I rather suspect, though, that parents who raise children at the cusp of a technological transformation face a special kind of challenge. It falls to them to blaze a trail through unknown territory. And that is exactly what parents are doing today as we raise our children in this digital world. …
A recent story from Wired helpfully explains the latest batch of changes Facebook has made to its algorithm—the algorithm that sorts through the billions of available articles, photographs, and videos to determine the few we will actually see as we scroll our news feeds. This is just their latest attempt to head off the never-ending stream of content that is illegal, abusive, or otherwise inappropriate, and to deliver content that is safe, inoffensive, and within the bounds of their “community …
A couple of weeks ago someone captured a photograph of a smiling or sneering, mocking or awkward young man standing face-to-face with a peacemaking or threatening, respectful or bad-mannered older man. This photo was posted to Twitter. And you know what happened next. But even though you know what happened, it’s worth considering why it happened. Every medium—every form of communication—enables or even promotes certain virtues and certain vices. That’s not to say any medium is intrinsically good or intrinsically …
There’s no doubt the world has changed rapidly over the past 10 or 20 years. There’s no doubt that children are being raised in a very different world than their parents were. There’s no doubt that our children’s children will be raised in yet another world. The pace of technological advance has accelerated to such a speed that none of us can keep us. I don’t think there’s a parent out there who isn’t confused and concerned about what their …