Unplugging

Last night I disabled my Facebook account. I’m going to stay off it for the rest of the summer.

I did so because I had been spending entirely too much time on it, constantly checking for updates. I found that the quality of posts was declining as the amount of time I spend on it was increasing. It seems that more than half of all posts weren’t written by the people who posted them, but were just links. I was guilty of doing that myself.

Overwhelmed is too strong of a word for it, but I was definitely feeling bombarded by ads, “news”, and the irony of people promoting ideas that they disagree with. Because little is isolated anymore, everything is a Big Deal. It was draining me.

A theme I’ve been developing when thinking about the church is that we should avoid fads and trends. Sure, Teh Interwebz are a useful tool; this article is published electronically. But we need to guard against an inversion of reality where we unwittingly become the tool, serving technology instead of the other way around.

Sorry, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to post updates or text during a worship service. It detracts from the experience. And yet I’ve found myself doing that, because the world is literally in my pocket. Instead, I think we should turn off our devices in church and focus on the authenticity of the liturgy.

We’ll sort out what makes sense and what doesn’t over time, but the answer probably won’t be obvious immediately.

I don’t know what my no Facebook rest of summer will be like, but if I gain any insights I’ll let you know after Labor Day. In the meantime, I’ll be outdoors as much as I can. Enjoy the sun!


Brad