Why Offlining?

Short answer: We persuade for a living.

We’ve devoted much of the last couple of decades to convincing you to log on, click here, call now, surf, search, pay bills in your underwear, trade from the beach, add “friends” to your digital network and, as AT&T once famously promised in their “You Will” campaign, tuck your children in from your mobile device.

Then one day we made a mistake — we looked up. We took our eyes off the screen long enough to see. We noticed we had kids and wives. We took in the way leaves open their faces to the sun. We reacquainted ourselves with the sounds birds make. And we realized these things could no longer compete.

We marketers had won!

All around us, all the heads in all the malls, airports and train stations seemed bowed in reverence to the device. Life had become multi-screen, multi-task, multi-plexed, mashed-up, an unrelieved contest for diminishing attention. And those who use the media professionally were perhaps the most inundated of all.

We are children of the Silicon Revolution. Eric’s Mom was one of America’s first female PhD’s in Computer Science. She still writes textbooks on this stuff. Back in the 70s she told Eric everyone would one day have a computer in their home – and he was pretty sure she was crazy. Mark’s dad designed integrated circuits, from the first speed dial to a giant particle accelerator. He used to say,

“We invent technology to be our servant, not our master.”

So, we decided to strike a blow for mastery, with the aim of tilting the balance and putting humanity back on top where we belong.

We’re not fundamentalists. We’re not anti-marketing. In fact, we love marketing and we respect its power, which is why we’re committed to applying our expertise to the important things. And we’re not anti-technology — on the contrary, we love technology and all it can do for us. But we’re only going to enjoy those benefits if we learn to use the Off Button.

So, this is our way of giving back and of helping you take back. Join us. Try making an Offlining Resolution. Have an Offline Father’s Day. Consider committing to a weekly Offline Sabbath. We think you’ll be glad you did, and we’re pretty sure you’ll find others who are glad too.

Mark DiMassimo & Eric Yaverbaum
Co-Founders, Offlining Inc.