MediaSlap blog

We are told that every picture tells a story and they are worth thousands of words. However, looking at images alone can make us feel rather than think.  Think about it, the printed word is primarily processed in the left side of the brain along with logic and linear thinking. While images are primarily processed in the right hemisphere of the brain. When you see an image the brain processes it all at once. Describe the same picture and it is described in a linear process, word by word.

Some researchers believe that too much TV can make your brain lazy. Does TV make you hyper? dumb? lazy? distracted? What was the question? We love images, especially moving images, kind of like we love sugar. Sugar is enticing, tasty and eating it is a great sensual experience. But too much sugar is bad for your body, just like too many images without other input can remap and restructure your brain to think differently. There is a difference in the manner that electronic media saturated generations perceive the world compared to generations or people groups not exposed to to it. We must reach our image saturated culture with stories to satisfy the right brain preference people have today. Stories are well received by readers and non-readers.

Like it or not we are affected by the forces of our digital age. Stories echo with greater intensity than ever before. A friend of mine recently went to Africa to bring clean water to areas in Sudan. Most of the people he visited did not read or have TV but communicated with stories. They even had the ability to repeat a detailed story after heating it one time. Perhaps more messages can be communicated in story-form to bridge generational gaps and people groups. Stories could be an effective method of teaching. It’s really a blast from the past because pre-medieval people taught their history through stories. Several savvy marketing companies have already realized the power of stores and I predict we will see more messages communicated in this manner in the future.

This post was inspired from the book “ Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith” by Shane Hipps

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