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Editorials<br />
Gerald A.<br />
Klingbeil<br />
Offline<br />
I RECENTLY RECEIVED A FASCINATING E-MAIL REPLY TO A MESSAGE I<br />
had sent to a friend teaching at Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen in Austria. It was one of those<br />
prewritten messages that the mail software sends off automatically once it receives a message<br />
during a specific time period. This is what it said: “Thank you for your e-mail. Our availability<br />
from May 13 to 17, 2013, is limited because of a project of Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen called<br />
‘ECGO—[German abbreviation for] A Campus Goes Offline.’ By means of this project we want to<br />
motivate students and employees to reflect on responsible usage of modern instruments of<br />
communication.”<br />
For five days an entire school campus went offline—I was intrigued. Can you imagine five days without<br />
e-mails, text messages, tweets, Facebook updates, news from your favorite news outlet, or<br />
your preferred TV programs?<br />
Increasingly we live more online than in the real world. Need to buy some supplements, a<br />
computer, or running shoes? Go to the online store of your favorite e-tailer, and you’ll be able to<br />
find anything your heart may desire (and often even at better prices than in the brick-and-mortar<br />
stores). Have you noticed that people waiting for an appointment in the doctor’s office look at<br />
their hands—or better, the smartphones or tablets they’re holding in their hands? No eye contact,<br />
little (if any) conversation—just me and my smartphone. We keep track of hundreds (or perhaps<br />
thousands) of Facebook friends who tell us about an extraordinary café latte or the color of a<br />
sweater they are wearing today. * We have become news junkies who need to know right now what’s<br />
currently happening in China or Timbuktu or the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. I find<br />
myself pulling out my smartphone when it vibrates—even when I am in the middle of listening<br />
to a wonderful sermon. The vibration speaks of urgency and immediacy.<br />
“A Campus Goes Offline” is a wonderful idea that could be replicated individually or in our<br />
families and churches. How many hours a day do we spend connected or online? Can you imagine<br />
the time we would suddenly have if the computer stays off for a day or two or five? (I would not<br />
be able to do most of my work, which would mean that you wouldn’t receive your copy of the<br />
<strong>Adventist</strong> <strong>Review</strong>.) What would happen if we would turn off our phones for 24 hours (or longer)?<br />
Well, we would be able to visit a friend in person. We could write one of those old-fashioned<br />
paper letters without LOL, FYI, ASAP, or any other abbreviation, walk to the post office, and mail<br />
it to a friend who needs encouragement. In church we could truly listen to one another as we<br />
study Scripture together instead of looking at our devices and following our agendas. Instead of<br />
always saying “I am busy” to our children we could plan a day hike (or an evening stroll) with the<br />
family. The possibilities are unlimited (and no, I am not suggesting that modern communication<br />
tools are evil; I am busy writing on one right now!).<br />
I have decided to go offline more often. I need to walk away more frequently from the sounds<br />
and vibes of modern communication and entertainment so that I can discover again the still soft<br />
voice that God loves using when communicating with His children. I need to retrain my ears and<br />
my eyes to enjoy solitude or the immediacy of the people around me. So next time you send me<br />
an e-mail or a text message or a letter, you may have to wait a bit longer for a response. I may be<br />
busy listening. n<br />
*<br />
For truth’s sake I need to confess that I am not on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, or any other social network. We also<br />
do not have a TV or cable at home—but we do have a very fast fiber optics connection.<br />
6 (566) | www.<strong>Adventist</strong><strong>Review</strong>.org | June 27, 2013