In the world of faith-based social networking,
evangelical Christian leader Mark Oestreicher commanded a huge chunk of
cyberspace.
Known as “Marko,” the technological hipster amassed
4,000 Facebook friends, 1,500 Twitter followers and 2,000 daily readers of his
blog.
But then he decided he’d had enough — and unplugged from
his online circle of friends.
“It’s not that I don’t think online connections are
real. It’s just that they are perpetually superficial,” said Oestreicher,
former longtime president of Youth Specialties, a company based in El Cajon, Calif.,
that specializes in youth pastor training materials and seminars.
In an age when many religious leaders embrace the latest
technology and even “tweet” from the pulpit, some — like Oestreicher — are reassessing
the potential negative impact of online overload.
“Unplugging has become essential to my spiritual journey
and truly hearing God,” said Anne Jackson, an author, speaker, and volunteer pastor
at Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tenn. “For me, all the noise can drown that
out if I’m not careful.”
RNS photo courtesy of Mark Oestreicher Mark Oestreicher had 4,000 Facebook friends, 1,500 Twitter followers, and 2,000 daily readers of his blog before he unplugged to spend more time with his family. From left: Daughter Liesl, 15; wife, Jeanie; and son Max, 11.
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Jackson, author of the book Mad Church Disease:
Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic, maintains a church leadership blog at
Flowerdust.net that draws 150,000 page views a month, by her estimate.
She has 6,700 Twitter followers.
But earlier this year, she closed her Facebook account —
saying goodbye to 2,500 friends — and committed to spend less time on Twitter and
her blog.
She finally acknowledged what her husband had hinted for
a while: She had become a little obsessed with her online persona.
“For me, Facebook was a problem,” Jackson wrote in an
essay titled “Why I Kissed Facebook Goodbye.”
“I don’t believe everyone should quit using Facebook, or
be afraid of it if one hasn’t started,” she added. “We just need to be aware of
the ways any form of media can interrupt our time with God or those closest to
us.”
Balance is the key, said Peggy Kendall, an associate
professor of communication studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn., who
has researched the impact of technology on society.
She bristles at the notion that online connections are “perpetually
superficial.”
“While there are certainly limitations to online
communication, there are also significant benefits to communicating online that
one can only rarely experience face to face,” said Kendall, author of the forthcoming
book Reboot: Refreshing Your Faith in a High-Tech World.
In the old days of youth ministry, a pastor might endure
years of junior high gym nights and overnight retreats before a student would feel
comfortable enough to share deep hurts and uncertainties and ask authentic
questions, she said.
But in an age of texting and instant messaging, a
student might divulge “intensely personal things” within days of getting to
know the youth pastor, Kendall said.
Students “have found that the hyperpersonal nature of
online communication provides them a safe place to be real and communicate freely,”
she said.
Rather than unplug entirely, Kendall advocates that
people of faith periodically “fast” from technology — to assess what’s helpful
about their online activities and what’s simply distracting.
This concept has become a “huge conversation” in the
classes that theology professor Dillon Burroughs teaches at Tennessee Temple University
in Chattanooga, Tenn.
“I call it `digital fasting,’ although I recommend short
breaks since it is like asking someone my parent’s age to stop using a phone or
reading a newspaper,” said Burroughs, a former pastor who networks extensively
with ministry leaders and has more than 38,000 Twitter followers.
During the week, Margot Starbuck, a mother of three who works
as a writer and speaker, said she writes, blogs and typically replies to
e-mails within minutes of receiving them.
“If I’m not at my computer, I’m wondering what I’m
missing,” said Starbuck, an ordained Presbyterian pastor who lives in Durham. “I
check e-mail first thing in the morning and often as the last thing I do before
bedtime. I am not proud of that.”
Even on Sundays, when she wasn’t technically working,
she found herself staying busy with e-mail and computer games.
So, she implemented what she calls “Unplugged Sabbath” —
no computer all day long.
“When I wake up in the morning, when I’d typically start
mentally tuning in to work on the computer, I find I have nothing better to do than
crawl in bed with my daughter,” Starbuck said.
“After worship, when I don’t have to be about my own
business, I’m freed up to take a hike with my family and be entirely present to
them,” she added. “By the time evening rolls around, I don’t even want to check
the e-mail that’s backed up all day.”
In Oestreicher’s case, he said he’s not suggesting that
everyone delete online profiles and stop using the Internet.
Rather, he said he made a personal decision to choose “best
over good” and stop constantly checking his Blackberry for updates.
Trying to maintain hundreds — and even thousands — of
online connections distracted from his real-life relationships with his family and
colleagues, he said.
Months after unplugging, he voiced surprise at how
little withdrawal pains he experienced.
“I think that was primarily because I so immediately saw
a return of four things I was hoping for: time, presence, focus and creativity,”
he said. “My family could tell the difference, and my co-workers also. It was
rather astounding, actually.”