AMERICA                                       AMERICA                                       AMERICA

          OFF-LINE!!!                           OFF-LINE!!!                 OFF-LINE!!!

          

 Back Story and Introduction:

 The original version of this essay incredibly stretches back more than fifteen years, with a refresh halfway between then and 2017. At inception, historians will recall that AOL was top dog in the unfolding world of e-mail and the Internet, hence the prompt for an idea I labeled America Off-Line (AOFL). After I somewhat polished the first draft, AOFL promptly took its rightful place among a bunch of half-baked, semi-used, and incredibly good potential essays gathering dust in a desk drawer (already you can tell the extent of my technical capabilities; a more current person would have said there was no dust because the essays resided in something called “the cloud” —  which, however, only existed in the skies at that time.)

 Anyway, periodically I do open said “drawer” and rifle through its contents, fantasizing that inspiration will combine with whatever is already on “paper” to produce — something worthwhile! Having previously written  about the false God of Consumption and being somewhat jaundiced about all the benefits of Techno-World, it seemed natural to re-visit the logic of going off-line.

 Thus, trumpets blaring – in my mind anyway, below, after some commentary, is a starting list of rules aimed at going off-line. Think of them as Step One in a Ten Step program to becoming a healthier person — AOFL Anonymous as it were. Readers are invited to make suggestions as to additional rules.  

 In today’s iDevice world, as people scroll for the appropriate application for that moment in their lives, click on their Facebook page, or sit transfixed in their computer cubicles at office or home, everything seems straightforward and easy: a steady stream of data bits somehow arrives in that magical iDevice and is displayed on a screen.

Presto, you think you are with it, informed, ready to interact, have fun, make decisions, do whatever. You are “on-line” with whomever (can be a huge number of strangers, many of whom “like” you without ever having had the pleasure of meeting you) or whatever you choose.

For some people, however, being on-line in this technological/psychological universe is regarded as an endorsement of the lifestyle expectations apparently shared by the vast majority of Americans — even those who voice concerns about excessive debt levels, the deleterious nature of our consumption ethic, and the damage being done to the environment by our adherence to the philosophy of “more is better.”

To anticipate perpetual economic growth in the United States, as most do, one must believe in the continual obsolescence of not only cars and clothes but ideas as well, and — that flood of data on your iDevice, virtually commanding you to do or think — something.

To be on-line in this world is to be a subscriber to a paradigm of constant change and incessant consumerism. It is a perpetual game of gin rummy which one cannot win. To be a subscriber is eventually to be ill at ease, for one can never stay current with someone else’s definition of what one must know, possess and do with one’s time, energy, and money.

It is time to log off of this view of life. It is time for AMERICA OFF-LINE!!!

Creating rules for logging off is difficult — the iDevice world has brought together a whole series of communication/information/entertainment devices that collectively convey a “how-can-we-live-without-them” mentality. Were I to espouse dropping any of these incredible products, then for sure the accusation of “Luddite” would be hurled at this writer. My fragile psyche would be smashed, so I will leave such thoughts to true radicals!

AMERICA OFF-LINE!!! seeks to resurrect a different and more fundamental idea: that what and who you are is more important than how fast you can access what somebody else deems important to you, because that knowledge is predominantly being used by others for the accumulation of possessions, money, and power. (One could say that in some ways, nothing  about historical norms of inequality has really changed, only the mechanism!)

The list below delineates some practical guidelines, in no order of importance. They represent cloth to be cut to your shape. Do not worry: no salesman will call beseeching you to order your very own bound copy of the rules of AMERICA OFF-LINE!!!

Establish house rules with respect to time spent on iDevices. Any set of rules will undoubtedly be superior to an absence of guidelines; if you saw the survey results of how many hours kids spend on social media and juxta-positioned those with international academic test results, you might recognize the need for change.  The American educational system is broken; it is time to establish priorities on how people (of all ages) use their time.

Do not have more than one conventional elevision in your house. Television is an unending advertisement for a singular way of life: consumption—of things and people.

If you have a choice between an interstate highway and a secondary road, choose the latter at least half the time. Johnny’s Hot Dog Stand needs your patronage; McDonald’s has enough.

Do not own more than three credit/debit cards. Reduce consumption, increase spirituality or at least appreciation for non-monetary involvements, cut interest costs.

Have one purchase-free day per week. Try it, you will like it.

When eating dinner at home or at a restaurant with your family, every iDevice must be turned off. Twenty years down the road,  you do not want to say, “I wish I had talked with my kids more when they were with me.”

Per family, own only one car less than five years old. Send a statement you are receding from consumption predicated on envy, guilt, and other negative influences.

You must spend at least one hour per day with each of your children, without any accompanying iDevices. “Quality time!”               

For every minute you use an iDevice to record your child’s activities, you must spend two minutes watching without said device. The memory of the heart has to be more important than that of the succession of digits.

 Lie on your back looking at the clouds once a week. Your spirits will soar at the wondrous sight and you will become better able to keep things in perspective.

 Do not purchase more than one piece of Disney merchandise per year. This stimulates creative and independent thinking by parents, and helps to raise children who will be off-line.

 You cannot text somebody you could be speaking to at that moment. Quick and easy is not at all synonymous with successful interaction or the meaning of true friendship.

 Limit your trips to the shopping mall to once a month. Uh, let’s see: more time to look at the clouds, anti-consumption ethic made operational, etc. etc.

 If a program, whether on conventional television or an iDevice, is showing an activity you could be doing at that time, you must turn off the program and do the activity. This is healthier for the mind and body.

 Process information you need to convey to somebody else in a timely fashion (otherwise known as – do the important stuff first), then mail it through the USPS.  Yes, I know FedEx is easy and perhaps more reliable, for which you pay a price of course. The point is to shift your mentality in the direction of get it done, then relax, not obsess about hyper-delivery speed.

 Ignore the airline’s attempt to stay abreast of all advances in Techno World.  Relax, read a book, even if on an iDevice! (see, I am not am extremist).

 Be direct (not profane, unless selective and made mandatory by the caller’s attitude) with salespeople who contact you at home, especially during dinner. The “telephone” is your line, not theirs; besides, you can somewhat control this intrusion, unlike the automatic marketing pitches which accompany every click on the Internet.

 Dispense with your home alarm and shun living in a gated community. Now that you have dropped the consumption ethic, your fears about security do not need to be actuated.

 Do not use a garage door opener. Along with sensible eating, absence of smoking, and adequate exercise elsewhere, opening the door yourself reduces doctor bills.

 Nix on the car phone. The accident rates are like those of drunks.

 Do not buy externally-branded merchandise. Criminy! There is enough advertising already.

 Eat slower.  Studies have shown that countries which eat faster have higher economic growth, but we no longer want that, do we! — do we?

 Boycott ATMs. It will make you think harder about consumption patterns, which relate to priorities and usage of time.

 Make an annual examination of your iDevice inventory and play the age-old game of “need” versus “want” prior to reducing what you own–or what owns you – or what you thought you needed to buy. P.S. Recycling will never solve the environmental problem; reduction of initial purchases is required.

 Almost forgot, READ. Use of printed materials by young people averages 38 minutes a day.

Books in the house are, duh, correlated with better educational outcomes. Half of heavy electronic media users among young people reportedly have a C average or less, twice the rate of light users.

 Periodically substitute a handwritten letter for an iDevice method of communication. Aw gosh, I’m a real softie — such a format grabs the heart and gets incremental attention and response. Everything good.

 In compiling these rules, I did exclude one suggestion: turn off the internet!

Only kidding; I wanted to get your attention.

I mean, what a totally ridiculous idea. Before the Internet, reading scores for American students were the same as today, pornography was a smaller industry, and excess consumer spending was more difficult to accomplish. Healthcare costs were lower and the federal deficit was a fraction of today’s level. The incidence of wars and human atrocities was similar.

Why would anyone want the pre-Internet world!

Please: no letters, comments, diatribes about the difference between cause and effect, correlation compared with causation, and other intellectual concepts. Relax, take a chill pill!

Understand the real meaning of AMERICA OFF-LINE!!!

It is to get you to stop tweeting and start reflecting on your life!