Did you know that back in the day – curiosity was a vice. People used to think that curiosity was not a good thing. Curiosity can lead you down some bad and dark places. There are some things that you just don’t need to know. There are some things that you just shouldn’t know.
We are just a curious people. Some of you might have found this post because you were curious about whether someone had ever written about how curiosity is a vice or how Google makes you sin.
I don’t mean to blame Google. Google’s really not at fault here. I think I should have called the post – How the Internet Makes You Sin, but that just isn’t as catchy a title and no one would really be interested in that. I think people kinda know that already.
I am so guilty of this and was pretty convicted about the thought that curiosity was a vice. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that Googling something is sin. Please Google away. The main idea is that just because you can know many things – that doesn’t necessarily mean that it would be good for you to know them.
In an information age where you can know everything – this is almost impossible to stay away from.
It takes discipline to not want to know everything. I definitely need to let go of wanting to know everything. I know that back in the day – they used to think that curiosity was a vice. Truth is – today – it still is.
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And here I thought that curiosity was one of the most beautiful gifts that God has given me…
I recall reading a magazine article years ago, before Google was invented (yes, there was such a time) and it talked about having “information anxiety”, the feeling that there was some piece of information out there that you didn’t have or know about, and I was like, Oh my gosh, that’s me. I need to know everything about everything. Which makes me a formidable Trivial Pursuit (by the age of 15, my family wouldn’t play with me anymore unless it was me against the rest of them) or Jeopardy (seriously, don’t even think about it; I will wreck you) opponent. But often leaves me feeling that I have no special skills, or am an expert on anything.
This is so true, not to mention the times you are googling something innocent and then some how suggestions for non-innocent things come up to just up the temptation. I like this post a lot.
Brilliant and wise words Lem. Love this and totally agree with your thinking, especially – ‘that just because you can know many things – that doesn’t necessarily mean that it would be good for you to know them.’
For me this is something very important to teach our children