On social media you’ll sometimes see the acronym YOLO. It stands for “You Only Live Once.” The acronym is usually associated with doing a single adventurous act just for the thrill of it. So, you post about your bungee jump or the black diamond ski run with the hashtag #YOLO because “you only live once.”
Here’s the interesting thing. The acronym YOLO originally meant just the opposite. As far as we know, it was first used by Mickey Hart, the drummer for the Grateful Dead, in the early 1990s. Hart poured his resources into a California property he called the YOLO Ranch. It was a recording studio and a hub for encouraging and supporting musicians. He invested himself long-term in something he considered meaningful because, YOLO—you only live once.
I think it’s a sign of our age that an acronym that once meant “Pick something meaningful and deeply commit to it,” now means, “Do that one fleeting daring thing, post a picture of you doing it, and move on to the next adventure.”
Pete Davis called this “infinite browsing mode.” This was the image he used in a graduation speech he gave to his class at Harvard Law School in 2018. Browsing is what we do online, scrolling through a huge number of choices to find something to occupy us for a little while.
Davis says that’s the mode at which we now approach not just our time online but our jobs, our volunteer service, our hobbies, and even what should be our most important relationships. We scroll through our options, looking for something to occupy us for a little while.
By doing so, he says we’re missing out on things that can only happen when we stop browsing and dedicate ourselves to the choices we’ve made.
In Colossians 3:15-17, we’re told to break out of our infinite browsing mode and commit deeply to the people who belong to God. In last Sunday’s message, I talked about how to do that. Now that we’re at the halfway mark in the week, it would be good to review how we’re doing at practicing those principles. You can watch the lesson online by clicking here.
Tom
P.S., thank you for your interest in my novel! If you’ve finished it, please leave a review at Amazon (direct link) and/or Goodreads (direct link). If you want a copy of the book, email me to arrange a pickup in Austin. If you don’t live in Austin and you want a signed copy of the book, order directly from me at this site (U.S. orders only). For other options, I have a list of vendors at my website.
Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.