Accessibility - a Love/Hate relationship with Whatsapp
I feel like I’m about to sound like an old grandma, rocking in a rocking chair and clicking her false teeth when I say when I’m about to say….but it is the truth.
When I left for the missionfield at the age of 21, technology was still in the dark ages. The common way to get ahold of someone in those days was still a landline phone, and no one had so much as an email address. Because overseas calls were so expensive, I only talked to my parents once every three weeks. And I had to go to someone else’s house to do it, because none of us had landline phones in our apartments In the West Bank!
My father knew someone who was a real computer nerd, who told him that there was a way to post information electronically on this thing called a “bulletin board” on a “server” and someone else could then download that information around the world and read it. So for an entire year, my parents would post messages, that I would print off on a dot-matrix printer at a friend’s house, then take home to re-read it over and over, until I got my next installment pulled off the bulletin board of the server.
Just writing that now makes me feel ancient! But within one year, email had become a thing, and companies were starting to market early email addresses (Compuserve, haha). Laptop computer use was starting to takeoff. Another year after that gave us the first AOL instant messaging (AIM) where we could “chat” back-and-forth. Another year after that gave us the first cell phones. Mine was a navy blue Nokia, smaller than a bar of soap! Written language sunk to a new low — “C U L8R” —so we could all avoid tapping the letter keys two and three times (you oldies remember those days!).
Another year or two after that, we took giant steps forward with the first iphone, Facebook uniting the entire world, and then came messaging apps. In Spain, the most popular texting app is “Whatsapp” where you can message individuals or set up groups, where everyone on the church worship team, for example, can be in constant contact.
Yes, CONSTANT CONTACT. All hours of the day and night. Inside jokes, memes, photos, emojis, devotional thoughts and other scriptural encouragements, and buried in there somewhere, are usually announcements or important information that I’m bound to miss because of the all the “fluff” that gets shared. Sometimes if I shut off my phone, I can get as many as 83 messages in 10 minutes. It’s overwhelming, to say the least.
This has HUGE implications in ministry. Living in a world where you have instant communication builds an expectation of instant response. Someone can text you for prayer, for advice, for a decision and ministry never stops. In fact, it’s more than just typing an answer. Often the message invokes an emotional response; I admit, sometimes the messages make me frustrated or angry or sad. In the middle of my dinner. While I’m reading my Bible. When I’m just getting ready to flip off the lights at the end of a long day. When I open my eyes in the previously peaceful early morning.
I LOVE that we have such wonderful technology. I LOVE that I’m able to do Facetime with my family, and after those years where I had to pull messages off of a server once a week, or call home every three weeks, the gift of instant communication is such a privilege and blessing. But it comes at a cost sometimes, and “rest” is lost. “Sabbath” is affected. My own sense of peace and joy takes the hit.
I’m reflecting on all of this right now, because in November I realized that I was exhausted and hadn’t really had a real vacation in 2019. I took a few days in March (and stayed connected). I took a few days in July at the lake (and stayed connected). I had to attend a conference in August, and I spent one week with my family (and stayed connected—and WORKING!). And it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t healthy.
So this year, the FIRST thing I’m doing is rest.
I’m going “off the grid” for a week. Oh, I’ll still use my technology—I’ve got a thousand books on my library app, and I’m ready to read and relax. I’ll still text my loved ones. But…I won’t be working. I won’t be responding. Please don’t be offended if you’re one of the people waiting for a response. I’ll be back at work soon enough, but until then, “Hasta luego.”
