Tag Archives: social media

Why the Logic of Prevention will Always Fail for Some: Steady Thoughts in Response to COVID-19

Posted on March 16, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

I awoke early this morning, before the alarm, thinking about teaching. Over the weekend, leaders in our largest colleges and universities and in our government have taken steps to limit the spread of COVID-19. It is not yet a state … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged American politics, C.S. Lewis, Canadian Politics, conspiracy theory, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Fear, Fox News, Letters to Malcolm, online teaching, social media, Teaching, Theology of Culture | 30 Comments

On Being a Digital Leopard Frog, or Living Among the Digital Natives (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on August 16, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

This summer I introduced an occasional feature I call “Throwback Thursday.” This is where I find a blog post from the past–raiding either my own vault or someone else’s–and throw it back out into the digital world. This might be an … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays, Throwback Thursdays | Tagged culture, digital immigrants, digital natives, frogs, leopard frog, luddites, philosophy, social media, technology, Theology of Culture | 7 Comments

Fun With Stats 2: Lessons on Connectivity from 5 Years of Blogging

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

As I have confessed before, I love bar graphs and lists. I love data and spreadsheets and trying to read the data to see what trends emerge. As last month was the busiest month ever on A Pilgrim in Narnia, … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged apologetics, Blogging, C.S. Lewis, Data, facebook, fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, parenting, social media, Teaching, theology, Twitter, wordpress, Wordpress Stats | 13 Comments

Fun With Stats 1: Lessons on Growth from 5 Years of Blogging

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

One of the critical advantages of WordPress is that it offers the blogger tools for calculating their impact. It is also one of its critical weaknesses as the analytics are limited to daily visitor and hit counts, as well as … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged A Bridge to Terabithia, apologetics, Blogging, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, On Writing, social media, The Clash, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games, The Screwtape Letters, Wordpress Stats, writing | 18 Comments

Why I am Not Anti-Muslim

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

This is the phrase I put on the board for my students last week. They were not overly fond of my logic. But I had built us up to the moment. I noted a number of terrorist attacks from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged 9/11, apologetics, culture war, Election 2016, Islam, Islamism, popular culture, prejudice, religion, social media, terrorism, Theology of Culture | 56 Comments

Why we Don’t Live in the Future: A #BackToFutureDay Post

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

I am too young to have seen Star Wars in the theatres. In any case, being humble rural folk, I couldn’t afford the movie ticket and parental bribe needed to get “to town.” That’s also why I missed ET, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Memorable Quotes, News & Links | Tagged 1980s, Back to the Future, Back to the Future Day, fashion, film, film criticism, invention, Michael J. Fox, pop culture, social media, Star Wars, Steven Spielberg | 13 Comments

Can You See Beauty in Things You Disagree With? The Ihsan of Evangelicalism

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

I remember when I first stumbled across the word “Ihsan” in my studies. It is from a mystical path in Islam, and is best translated “Doing What is Beautiful.” As soon as I read the word, I knew what it … Continue reading →

Posted in Thoughtful Essays | Tagged apologetics, culture war, Education, environment, evangelical controversy, evangelicalism, Fundamentalism, homosexuality, Ihsan, Islam, media, pop culture, sex, social media, Theology of Culture | 43 Comments

I Don’t Want my Son to be a Stupid Girl

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

Pink is in the news again. No, it isn’t because she has sold more than 14 million albums, or created music that has asked real social questions and influenced younger artists. It isn’t because she has been caught in public … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged American President, Barbie, body image, body shaming, Clueless, culture, fashion, Hillary Clinton, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, parenting, pink, social media, stupid girls, Theology of Culture | 7 Comments

On Being a Digital Leopard Frog

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

Imagine digital technologies in the Reptile Room at your local zoo or aquarium. I think there are three types of technology creatures in our culture zoo. Technology Turtles are our reptilian luddites. They withdraw from technological advancements into their hard shells … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged culture, frogs, leopard frog, luddites, philosophy, social media, technology, Theology of Culture | 14 Comments

The Crash of Heart and Flesh, or Culture’s Confusion of Intimacy in 50 Shades of Grey

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

Behind the hazy waves of light, distilled and fragmented with reds and blues and yellows and flashes of street and skin, one of the many storied voices of the 2004 film Crash says these words: “It’s the sense of touch. … Continue reading →