Turning Off, Tuning Out, Unplugging

Smartphones present a paradox of postdigital culture that is both freeing and enslaving. They offer links to the whole world resting in the palm of your hand. However, the fear and anxiety of being cut off from those links can lead to a serious psychological disorder called “nomophobia,”an abbreviation for “no-mobile-phone phobia.” Scientific papers in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, and other journals of psychology and public health, claim that smartphones are possibly the biggest nondrug addiction of the twenty-first century.

A cure for nomophobia is offered in the Bible’s commandment to observe a Sabbath day by turning off, tuning out, and unplugging once a week. It was an unprecedented concept in the ancient world with potent relevance in postdigital culture. Put your smartphones, computers, and tablets to sleep. Just tune in to God’s creations, enjoy family and friends, walk in the forest and fields, watch the sunrise and sunset, and play with your children.

My granddaughter Elianne playing Shabbat Queen 

Adopt the formula instituted millennia ago to free the Israelites from their enslavement in Egypt to free you from the being enslaved by the ubiquitous digital technologies that too often rule all of our waking hours. The fourth of the Ten Commandments enjoins us to remember what it was to be a slave who never had a break from the repetitive sameness of everyday life (Deuteronomy 5:12–15). 

Make every seventh day Shabbat, different from the other six days of the week. Make it an Ecology Day by leaving the world the way we got it. Make it a Non-Art Day when we honor God’s creations rather than ours. Observance of Shabbat is in tune with Wikipedia’s definition of postdigital as “an attitude that is more concerned with being human, than with being digital.”

Shabbat was given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai as a gift to share with all humanity, a gift particularly valuable to everyone in our fastpaced postdigital world. In his seminal book The Sabbath: Its Meaning to Modern Man, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel taught that observing Shabbat invites us to become attuned to holiness in time rather than living in the tyranny of space, both real and virtual. “It is a day in which we are called upon to share what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.”

As the sun sets on Friday, Miriam lights Shabbat candles, closes her eyes to her busy week, and blesses God, sovereign of the universe, who bestows upon us a good and long life. On opening her eyes, she sees calming candle light ushering in a day qualitatively different from all the other digital days of the week. My wife and I celebrate Shabbat with a thanksgiving dinner, not once a year in November, but every week. We enjoy our growing family of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren singing together around our table. The table is covered with a tablecloth embroidered by my mother and a challah cover embroidered by my wife’s mother, illuminated by the warm glow of the Shabbat candles. Until stars dot the Saturday-night sky, we are invited to keep our eyes opened to everyday miracles of being.

One day each week, stop doing, stop making, just enjoy being alive. Delight in all that happens around you. Don’t seek out things to frame and shoot. Let them be. Shabbat is a Divine gift to all people for all time. You are invited to observe Shabbat as a powerful way to free you from being enslaved by technological wizardry. 

On the eighth day, return with renewed energies to being partners with God in the continuing creation. Enjoy being immersed in the amazing technological wonders of our era, knowing that you are free to tune out, turn off, and unplug on the next Shabbat.

(The above is an excerpt from the book Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights forSmartphone Photography and Social Media by Mel Alexenberg)

3-Step Program for Cure and Prevention of Smartphone Addiction

Research at MIT, Columbia University and universities in Israel by Dr. Mel Alexenberg is revealed in his new highly acclaimed book
Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights for Smartphone Photography and Social Media

A spiritual cure for the global epidemic of smartphone addiction is revealed in Through a Bible Lens by Dr. Alexenberg.  It is based on his research on the interrelationships between digital culture, creative process, and biblical thought at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and as professor at Columbia University and universities in Israel.

The intensity of this plague becomes evident in a Google search “smartphone addiction” that yielded 51,100,000 sites, and 8,380,000 sites for “cures for smartphone addictions.” Scientific papers in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions and other journals of psychology and public health claim that smartphones are the biggest non-drug addiction of the 21st century.

In the language of digital culture: Dr. Alexenberg wrote Through a Bible Lens in the language of digital culture to reach millennials, the most addicted population, while teaching all generations the most up-to-date thoughts on how the Bible offers fresh insights on the impact of new technologies on contemporary life.  His book offers resources for The Bible Cure as a three-step program:

 Turn off, tune out, unplug: The first step found in the words of the Ten Commandments, “On six days do all your work, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of compete rest, holy to God,” invites you to turn off, tune out, unplug once a week. Make every seventh day different from the other six days of the week. Enjoy family and friends, walk in the forest and fields, and watch the sunrise and sunset.

Reboot your smartphone for spiritual seeing: The second step of the cure does not ask you not to use your smartphone, but rather to redefine how you use it.  Reboot your smartphone for spiritual seeing so that you see beyond the digital world of the screen. Experience the real word by transforming your smartphone into a camera for photographing your everyday life from biblical perspectives. 

Bible blog your life: The third step teaches you how to use your smartphone to build a personal Bible blog for creating a vibrant dialogue between your emerging life story and the enduring biblical narrative that you can share with others.  The Bible Cure is equally effective for preventing smartphone addiction.

Praise for Through a Bible Lens:

“The iPhone has changed our culture and our ways of thinking and acting in the world. The book offers profound insights about meaning and purpose in contemporary life in a brilliant and sustained exposition. Great book!” Dr. Ron Burnett, author of How Images Think; president, University of Art and Design, Vancouver, Canada

“A unique and fascinating book. Who would have thought that there would be a way to connect smartphones to the ancient world of the Bible?” Prof. Gerald R. McDermott, Beeson Divinity School, Stamford University, Birmingham, Alabama

“This is one of those books that other thinkers will wish they had somehow thought about how to write, and to which readers of diverse sorts will simply respond by saying: wow!” Dr. Ori Z. Soltes, professorial lecturer of Theology and Fine Arts, Georgetown University, Washington, DC

“Offers a template, a guidebook on how to experience images of the Divine in every moment and use blogging technology to disseminate them. The wisdom found in this unique book invites us to share the story of our Divine journey.” Bishop Robert Stearns, Executive Director, Eagles’ Wings, New York

“The book's wonderful synthesis between spirituality and technology, heaven and earth, is exciting and thought-provoking.” Rabbi Chanan Morrison, author of Sapphire from the Land of Israel 

“A joy to any lover of the Bible, Christian or Jewish. I not only endorse it, I look forward to integrating these ideas into my personal encounter with Scripture." Dr. Jim Solberg, author of Sinai Speaks; USA National Director, Bridges for Peace 

 

Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights for Smartphone Photography and Social Media is available on Amazon, other Internet booksellers and bookstores.