| NEWS COMMENTARY

The Downside of Blogs

 

By Gary Krause, director, Office of Adventist Mission, World Church Headquarters

 

A recent survey of British teenagers shows that 47 percent are involved in “blogging”—posting diaries on the Internet. On these Web sites, or blogs (short for Web logs), they comment on every conceivable topic, and even a few inconceivable ones.

 

Of course blogging isn’t just for teenagers. Millions of people of all ages from all parts of the world now use the Web as their personal pulpit. Most blogs allow readers to post their responses, thus creating online conversations that anyone can join. It’s estimated some 60 million blogs currently exist, and this number is expected to increase to 100 million blogs by the end of 2007, when, according to international research firm Gartner, the number will level off.

 

A rapidly increasing number of Seventh-day Adventists are joining the bloggers—sharing their thoughts with a potential audience of millions, but a real audience that may be only a dozen or so family members and friends. A few seconds of searching reveals Adventists blogging on topics such as homiletics, gender justice, evolution, legalism in the Adventist Church, Adventist television, Christian filmmaking, Adventist mission, the Sabbath school Bible study guides, the war in Iraq, marriage, and politics.

 

Blogs can be fun, instructive, and constructive. But there can be downsides. They can take a lot of time. They can substitute talk for action. What should remain private often becomes public. And in the heat of the moment, and with a single keystroke, bloggers can post something they soon regret—but after the world has had an opportunity to read it.

 

For Adventists, there’s potentially a bigger downside. Could blogs be yet another distraction from genuine one-on-one friendship? Perhaps another reason to step back from the kind of personal interaction with neighbors that has always been the cornerstone of Christian community and outreach?

 

Let’s hope not.