Breaking Normal: Constant Connection

Pastor Jeff Cloeter

George Will, in the August 23^rd edition of Newsweek notes the disappearance of boredom and the “new normal” of contstant stimulation. The norm of insesant connection has only snowballed in recent decades, if not years. In relative terms, the constant stimulation of visual and audio entertainments is new. I am a part of a humanity that has been on this earth for thousands of years. And yet my grandfather knew a day before television and telephone. And my dad knew a day before color TV’s and computers. And I knew a day before cell phones and internet. What will my children say?

How many kids do you know who have no social skills and pale white skin from hours spent online and minutes spent outdoors? How many times do we have to endure a cell phone ring in the middle of church, a meeting, a public address, ect.? (Don’t you know how to turn your phone on silent?). How many people have you been talking to who keep reaching into their pocket, looking downward, and checking texts? How many people in a waiting room are actually waiting? They are talking, texting, or playing.

Will’s article notes some startling things. Note the following:

Perhaps the flight from boredom prompts people today to take refuge in constant stimulation by vusial and audio entertainments.

Adam J. Cox, clinical psychologist writes: “Fifty years ago, the onset of boredom might have followed a two-hour stretch of nothing to do. In contrast, boys today can feel bored after thirty seconds with nothing specific to do.”

The ubiquitous barrage of battery-powered stimuli delivered by phones, computers, and games makes “the chaos of constant connection” an addictive electronic narcotic.

Cox worries about the deficits in the communication abilities of young males for whom a “womb of all-encompassing stimulation” induces “a pleasant trance from which they do not care to be awakened.” Hence, perhaps, the “failure to launch” of many young males who “preoccupied with self-amusement,” struggle to make the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

Self-absorbtion, particularly among young males, may be the greatest danger of immersion in the bath of digital amusement.

While technological advances are new, self-absorbtion is not. One combatant in this norm of “constant connection” is not necessarily “boredom,” but rest. We have long known this from a biblical standpoint, and have called it Sabbath. It even has its own commandment, the third. God has built into creation the very need to cease from work. He himself rested on the seventh day. We are hardwired for a work-rest rhythm.

Rather than see Sabbath as ancient history, or an old, legalistic statute that we Christians now discard, let’s reclaim a Sabbath rest. It reminds us that our activity does not make us “in charge.” Rest proves to us that God’s activity is the very heartbeat of our humanity. It causes us to reflect on creation, life, and the God who runs through it all. Rest is not just a time to recharge, but it is a sacred time to enjoy. It is itself a piece of created reality to be relished.

Here are some practices I have instituted (or struggle to) in order to “break the norm” of constant connection.

- My Sabbath day is Friday (I work on Sundays). Unless there is an exception, I don’t work (my “job” of being a pastor, that is. I still do dishes, change diapers, and take the trash out).

- I cease from many of the usual electronic patterns of my week. I often don’t answer my phone. I don’t check my e-mail or facebook AT ALL. I don’t touch my ipod touch. I limit TV.

- I enjoy creation. Depending on the weather, I go to a park. Walk. Run. Hike.

- I enjoy my family. Friday is “Daddy Day.” I hang with my kids. I see the world through their eyes.

- Not limited to Fridays, I seek ways to ponder my life with God. In addition to worship and a regular devotional life, I journal. I have devoted times of prayer.

- I PUT PEOPLE OVER RINGING. If I am in a conversation with a person, I am fully present. If my phone starts ringing in my pocket, I let it go. I’ll check the text or the voicemail later. Some people think it’s being inaccessible. I call it healthy boundaries.