Everyday Experts: Why Siri doesn't give the best advice

A whole generation can be defined by this one phrase… “Google it!”  We have officially converted a noun to a verb. There is a beauty to having the world at our fingertips.  To have access to so much knowledge and information. We have the answer to any questions with the push of a few buttons.  

Sometimes the downfall to having access to so many answers is in actuality “having all the answers.”  We have become lazy experts with a quick answer to any question. Often the answers you find are conveniently the answers that you want to hear.  And often the closest thing I get to asking a real person is “Hey Siri.”

But you know what, Siri doesn’t know my life. Google does not have life experience to expound from.  

Life is rich and complicated.  It’s messy.

And no google search can speak into the reality of that messiness.

But people can.  

There was a point in my life that I was just at a loss.  Facing things I had never expected to with absolutely no experience to pull from.  In that season, I had no other choice but to lay down my need to have it all together and reach out.  I sought wisdom from people who had more life experience under their belt. They listened to me, prayed with me, shared scriptural truth, and also shared their own experience.  Not only did I feel more equipped to face these things, I also felt confident in the support I had from others through it.

Now I am at a new season.  Life has changed and I am at home with my beautiful baby boy.  I see so many other young moms at the same stage. It is a season where we are all just figuring it out as we go, but there is a temptation to act like we already have it figured out. People in all stages can probably relate to that feeling.  A new job, a move, and major life decision, a bad diagnosis. Life seems to have a way of throwing something new at us often.

I have noticed in my heart that the readiness of the internet feeds my fierce self reliance.  I become judge and jury. Instead of asking for input or wisdom, I quickly run to a faceless search bar.  Instead of observing respected peers, I troll someone’s highly filtered social media. I can click through 1,000 different search results until I find an article that tells me what I want to hear. The one that affirms my thoughts, while ignoring the thousands more that contradict it.  I can easily follow and unfollow those that both agree and disagree with my ever evolving values on a plethora of different topics. Held accountable to no one but my own conscience.

We have become a people who do our research before coming to the table.  Wanting to be ready, to know what we know, instead of coming to learn and listen. A people who put all the pieces together and have all the answers instead of risking the vulnerability and accountability of a question.

Long gone are the days of popping by the neighbors for a cup of sugar.  But even more tragically, gone are the days of calling upon someone for advice.

It is easy to discount the wisdom of another generation because “it is a different world”  or “they just don’t understand”. But is it all that different?

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”  Life might feel so different from times before. But it is very much the same. Our parents and grandparents went through all the same struggles and trials that we face today in some way, shape, or form.  The retired woman next door most likely raise successful thriving children who are now out in the world. The woman sitting next to us at Bible Study might have dealt with prolonged singleness. The woman who scans our groceries at the store might have struggled with cancer.  We all live. We all age. We all grow.

There are living, breathing, thriving, and struggling human beings out there that have beautiful and powerful things to speak into our lives.  Let’s not waste that.

The readiness of the internet also nurtures my ever present pride.  With the world wide web as my authority, why should I submit to anyone else.  Because I “have all the answers” what do I need the authority of anyone else.  I am all knowing and my own ultimate authority. My loyalty and submission belong to which ever article on google I find that affirms my heart’s desire.  Not the people whom are appointed by God to speak sometimes difficult truth over my life. If we truly believe that the men and women who are put in authority over us are walking with Christ, humbly submitting themselves to the Truth of scripture, and to accountability, why are we so quick to criticize?  Why is my natural instinct to critique or complain, rather than to humbly and sincerely ask questions and seek wisdom.

Even Christ, the all knowing God of the universe modeled this in scripture.  As a young boy in the temple it was written, “After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.”

Jesus was humbly submitting to authority, seeking them out and asking questions.  Not debating them or ignoring them. Not judging them and them. But sitting under their teaching and comparing it to scripture.

I want to champion our generation to step out from behind the shield of knowledge.  To put down the ideals we wield like a sword.  Let us come to the table with questions and an open mind.  Let us allow others to speak into our story. To draw from the life and experiences of others that can walk with us.  We don’t all have to agree. We do not have to replicate each other’s experiences to the exact detail. But let’s acknowledge each others stories.  Grow from their mistakes. Affirm their wisdom and knowledge. Let us learn from each other, not just a faceless screen.

God is our ultimate authority and our greatest source of wisdom is the scripture.  The Living Word of God. But He has given us the gift of people, who are running the same race in the same direction.  Let us join arms with them in the life we have been given.