I guess this entry comes from my recent decision to stop the social networking site Facebook. I never thought that it would be an action of contention. I was not trying to move mountains or start a revolution. I just wanted to get off, become unplugged.
A reader might ask the question, "But why leave such a wonderful invention? Yeah some people abuse it, but it is such a good thing if used rightly!"
I have to admit for some people out there, social networking might be a blessing. For example, many people living far away from friends and family can use it to stay in contact. But to answer that question, I will have to give the reader some understanding of our life here.
Here in Africa, social networking is not something that a person does through a machine, but something that they do with people. In Africa everything is about people and interaction. When a person walks outside their home (many times here a room), they see neighbors. They stop and greet them; say hello; ask about their families. When a person goes someplace they sit in a taxi or tro-tro and it is filled with people. They smile, greet, contact. At every junction and taxi station, the place is filled with sellers, drivers, hawkers, basically...people. A person here has a life that is filled with social networking.
When a missionary goes to the market, he talks to a seller, and they chat before purchase. When he lives his life, that life is full of daily contacts. Smiles, greetings, small bits of news, little things that contact him to the whole community. It is personal, not sterile. Here a person knows his neighbors and lives in his community.
Now, what does this have to do with the States? Well, here I was, living in this land of personal contact, and I was about to return on furlough. The funny thing was that I was not excited about the toys, food, and stuff of America, but the people!
I was excited about being with them, talking to them, fellowship with people that I felt had a common ideal and thinking. But, I have to admit I was shocked when I returned to the States. The best way to describe it would be to take the reader to the scenes from Wall-E, the Disney Pixar movie. I jumped into this world of the Axiom 500. Everyone was running around with their PDAs, Ipods, and cell phones. They where chatting, texting, twittering, and passing by all the real people around them.
I would go to public places (like the mall, grocery store, library) and try to greet people like I learned to do in Africa. I figured it was polite. They are people. I should be nice. But, they always had in earphones or were looking at their cell phones. At times I would greet people, and they would stand shocked for a few seconds, as if not sure what to do. As if they were searching their social databases for a proper response to this intruder. They would mumble a hello and return to their "social community."
I was overwhelmed at times with the detached feeling of America. No cashier at the register, but a crisp computer voice to greet you at Walmart. (I was shocked to hear people say that they liked these lines so they did not have to put up with cashiers). Just swipe the card at the gas station. It seemed like everything, everywhere possible was replaced with a monitor instead of a face. I mean, even at my bank they do not have tellers anymore. They have screens that you talk to, because someone might rob the bank!
I remember the first month that we lived in our new house. I had the idea of an old American community (this is what Africa is like now). Children playing in the yards; kids riding bikes; neighbors having cook-outs. But, I was shocked again. Everything was so quiet. The only time most people saw their neighbors was when they were getting out of their cars or mowing their lawns. Kids played outside, but never far. I am sure that there are goods reasons for this (a person never knows anymore if their neighbor is a pedophile or not). I would walk down the road for walks at times, and the place was like a tomb. We would take our kids to the local park near my wife's family's house or at the park in Northern Michigan, and we would be the only people there. The hundreds of thousands of dollars of playground equipment would just be sitting there most days, empty. If we had such stuff in Ghana, they would have to sell tickets to limit the amount of children that would play on them.
In America everyone was always at work, and when they were at home, they were getting ready to go somewhere, or sitting behind their fences, or "socially connecting" with someone.
I am not trying to be critical, just honest. I do not think we have realized how far we have gone. I remember thinking that I was glad to be in America, so I could reconnect with people that I had not seen in a long time. But, it was amazing to me. When a person tries to have their children play with their friend's kids, they cannot just come over and chat, they have to set up a play date. If my wife wanted to come over for coffee, her friend would have to check her PDA. Now, I know people are busy in America, but at what??????
The facts I read tell me that only 9% of Americans' incomes go to pay for food and water. Housing is next after that. Here in African 80% of our income goes to just our food. Here we have no running water, washing machines, dryers, dish washers, cars, and our electricity is not constant, but in spite all these hardships that add hours of work to our shcedule each day, we still have time to talk, connect, and be with people.
My wife washes all her clothes outside by hand, and our dishes in a bowl in the backyard. All the meals we eat are made mostly from scratch, taking around 1.5 hours per meal. She teaches our children at home. We do not send them to a public or private school. It takes a full day to buy our groceries. As for me, I walk to most of the places that we visit. Pastor Andrew and I probably spend two hours a day in transit, taking buses, taxis, and walking.
I am not complaining or boasting at all. I want the reader to understand that the average person here lives a life just above the level of an Amish person in the States. The point is simply this: if we are so busy, why did the American Time Usage Survey of 2008 say that the average America uses 26.55 hours (yes, over one whole day) a week watching television, e-mailing, doing arts and crafts, and texting. I know we are busy people, but the question is, "Busy doing what???"
The truth is that each person needs to ask God what He wants them to do with their time. I have learned that as a missionary, Satan wants to steal all the time he can from me. I fight all the time with making time for what I should do. I always seem to make time for fun, movies, and relaxation. The whole point is this: I wanted to stop Facebook, because it was not a good use of my time.
I want to leave this blog with this thought:
The idea came from one of the notes that a Christian wrote me on facebook. When I told everyone I was leaving and why, this is what he said.
"I do not have time to read a blog. I am just too busy. I figure the only way that I can keep up with you is to read your status line every once in a while!"
When my wife read this, she asked me an interesting question. She asked, "If he is so busy doing everything that he has to do that he cannot even spend ten minutes every few weeks to read a blog, do you think that he prays for us?" Don't get me wrong, my wife was not being critical. She was just curious. (By the way, this was his status line on facebook that day -- "I am bored of the TV and computer, guess I will go lay in the pool!")
This question got me thinking. If the average person is on the phone, ipod, and computer as much as it seems, when do we have time to pray? If every free moment we have, we use to pull out our phone and drop a line on Twitter or Facebook, when do we have time to pray? meditate? witness? No one is trying to be overly spiritual here. We all struggle with praying and keeping our minds on God. But, here is the question: does all the multi-media stuff really help us or does it just distract us?
As for me, I have decided to un-plug. It is not wrong to use the stuff, and no one's spritiuality should be judged by the use of it. But, I do think that when we get to Heaven, none of us are going to wish that we had been on facebook more than we were.
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