Default Settings
A browser is a software application that allows you to use the internet. Whenever you search for or type in a web address, the job of the browser is to retrieve the information and display it on whatever device you initiated the search. If the web address is the destination, the browser is the highway that takes you there. The following chart lays out the most popular browsers available, and how many people use each one:
As you can see, Chrome (owned and operated by Google) by far the most popular browser. Safari (owned and operated by Apple) and Edge (owned and operated by Microsoft and formerly known as Explorer) ) are a distant second and third.
It is this distance between the first, second, and third most popular browsers that is quite interesting. Unlike in track and field events in Olympics, where the difference between the gold, silver, and bronze award winners is measured in centimeters or milliseconds, the difference between browser usage rates is huge. What makes this difference so interesting is that Safari and Edge are already installed on most computers that you buy. They are a part of what are called the “default settings” of the overwhelming majority of computers that are purchased across the world. Chrome is not a default program. It must be downloaded—which requires another step. All of this means that the best browser is not the one included. It’s the one that must be downloaded.
There’s more. While conducting research for his book Originals: How NonConformists Move The World, Adam Grant came across an interesting study that found that employees who used Chrome and Firefox stayed at their jobs longer and performed better than those employees who did not. However, it was not the technical superiority of the browser used that explains their superior performance and longeveity. Rather, as the author of the study pointed out:
What made the difference was how they obtained the browser. If you own a PC, Internet Explorer is built into Windows. If you’re a Mac user, your computer came preinstalled with Safari. Almost two thirds of the customer service agents used the default browser, never questioning whether a better one was available.
To get Firefox or Chrome, you have to demonstrate some resourcefulness and download a different browser. Instead of accepting the default, you take a bit of initiative to seek out an option that might be better. And that act of initiative, however tiny, is a window into what you do at work.
The Chrome users refused to accept the defaults. They refused to accept what was pre-installed. They refused to accept what somebody else decided was good enough. They decided there was a better option, and decided to do the work, spend the energy, and invest the time to find it.
Default settings are just not included in software applications. Every organization has a default setting. And Every person has a default setting as well. Our default settings are the deeply ingrained, unquestioned ways of thinking and acting that govern how we function. In Psalm 51: 5, David says he was “shapen in iniquity. What he is referring to is the undeniable fact that all of us are shaped. We are shaped by our personality. We are shaped by our environment. And we are shaped by our experience. Just as liquid takes the shape of whatever container it is poured into, we also are shaped by the circumstances of life—for better, and often for worse. If we are not careful, these shaping experiences can become our defaults settings. And while default settings are enough to operate, they are rarely the best option.
What is your default setting in relationships?
What is your default setting in how you see the world?
What is your default setting in how you see yourself?
What is your default setting in how you see others?
Whatever your default settings are, there are better ways to operate. Other ideas, new perspectives, and better modes of interaction are available. All throughout the scriptures, God is always challenging our default settings. God is always trying to reprogram our deeply ingrained , unquestioned ways of thinking and acting that govern how we function. One great example is the conversation that God has with Moses when God informed Moses that he had been chosen to lead God’s people out of slavery. Though he was raised as prince, and received a great background, Moses had a speech impediment. He assumed that his impediment disqualified him from achieving the purpose that God had in mind. Let’s evaesdrop on their conversation:
Moses raised another objection to God: “Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer.”
God said, “And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, God? So, get going. I’ll be right there with you—with
your mouth to teach you what to say
We are always raising objections to our dreams, and our desires based on our defaults. We assume we “can’t” because of some deeply ingrained, unquestioned way of thinking or acting.” But God reminded Moses that he is the Divine Architect, and whatever defaults we have can be adjusted and overcome if we just get going. It is not necessary to deny or defend our default settings. It’s better to accept them—and then go download a better option.