I recently heard about a church in Franklin, Tennessee that challenged their attendees to take part in a 30-day “Digital Detox” during the month of May. Church of the City, during the last three Sundays in April, used their messages to encourage people to detach themselves as much as possible from their phones by making their smart phones dumb or by getting a Gabb Phone (no internet). I was very intrigued by this because I had just read John Eldredge’s book, “Get Your Life Back.” John says that social media is the only “socially acceptable addiction.” This was a “mic drop” moment for me! Isn’t this true?
Some of the questions that were asked of the church members were the following:
Have you ever spent more time documenting an experience than actually being present?
Have you ever missed something important in real life because you were looking at your phone?
Have you disengaged from a personal conversation because of your phone?
Have you ever checked texts or social media while driving?
Have you ever picked up your phone while you were in bed to do one quick thing and wondered 30 minutes to two hours later how that happened?
The answers to these questions may help you determine if you have become addicted to your phones. A 2021 survey says the average person spends five to six hours a day on their phone. 45% of teens now say they are online on a nearly constant basis. One statistic that really got me was that 87% of the world population has a cell phone. There are 7.96 billion people so that means there are 6.92 billion smart phones being used! Incredible!
We’re losing the power to concentrate. The average attention span now is eight seconds. If you are someone who actually reads books all the way through, you are becoming more and more of a rare breed. In fact, if you’ve read this far, you may be in the minority. Someone made the observation that the same movement we use to scroll on our phones is the same movement a person uses on a slot machine. Interesting, isn’t it?
What are we paying attention to? Are we paying more attention to what we read on our phones, or are we paying attention to real life? Jenny Black, author of “Our Digital Soul,” was without her phone 30 days because it was broken. She had the thought that she needed to get out of “fantasy” life and back to her “real” life with her phone. Then her phone was stolen. She said she felt alive again. She realized her phone was casting a shadow over her life.
How long can you go without your phone? Is it the first thing you go to in the morning – even before coffee? Do you use it as an alarm clock? (It might be time to get a real clock if you want to break an addiction to your phone.) How long do wait to respond to a text or notification? Do you feel you have to answer it right away? Is it time to practice some detachment?
A survey done in 2001 says the average person spends 93% of their time indoors (including time in cars, buses, etc.). When I read this a couple of months ago, I made a decision to refuse to spend that much of my life indoors. I now purposefully go outside every day without being on my phone, whether it’s a walk at the park, or just sitting outside on the back patio listening and watching the birds, clouds, and bunnies (Not too crazy about them as they were eating my plants!). There is something refreshing about putting the phone down and enjoying nature. Even the sound of the wind blowing through the trees is restorative to my soul.
What did David say about restoration of his soul? “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:1-2 NKJV) David knew that God uses His own creation – nature – to restore our souls. When was the last time you sat by a bubbling brook or river? When was the last time you went on a nature walk or hike? You don’t have to spend any money to enjoy God’s beauty. What do you think David would think about our generation that has a phone in our hand when we’re walking, at the park, or on vacation? I think he’d say, “Put your phone down!”
The seraphim in Isaiah 6:3 say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” God’s glory is everywhere, but we have exchanged our attention to its beauty for a handheld device that, if we’re not careful, will pull us into a world void of any appreciation of the things of God. Jesus said in John 10:10 (NASB), “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” How much of our time has the devil stolen because of our attachment (possibly addiction) to technology? This doesn’t just apply to social media either. Technology comes in many forms, so if we’re not observant, we will devote too much time to it.
Not only will the enemy use these things to steal our time where we end our day wondering where went, but he will also use them to destroy relationships. Besides the time factor – many people being on their phones almost constantly which takes time away from their friends and loved ones – it also brings much temptation. It used to be if you wanted to have an ungodly relationship or give in to temptation, you had to go somewhere and/or be with someone. Now it’s a click away. How many marriages and relationships have been destroyed because of technology used wrongly?
Gen Z has never known life without cell phones. Our own granddaughter, Maddy, by the time she was two, could access her parents’ cell phones and play games, etc. There is definitely some advantage and a safety factor involved in giving children phones, but I believe they need to be monitored constantly. The world is not the way it was even ten years ago. With the explosion of Twitter and Tik Tok, the opportunities for the “bad guys” to prey on the young people are endless.
In his book I mentioned, John Eldredge gives some ideas if you want to try to detach (or detox) from your cell phone:
Turn off notifications.
Fast from social media.
Turn your phone off at 8:00 p.m. and don’t take it to the bedroom with you for the night.
Don’t check your phone as soon as you get up in the morning.
When your phone chirps or vibrates, don’t react. Make it wait until you pick it up.
Do real things. Chop vegetables, play cards, do a puzzle, go for a walk, learn an instrument.
When I read “Get Your Life Back” and then heard the three messages from Church of the City, I knew God was speaking to me. Even though I didn’t spend a lot of time on social media, I often checked it first thing in the morning and would regularly through the day check for updates and notifications from friends and family. It was more of a distraction than anything. I made a decision to not be on at all for a week, and now I limit myself to five minutes most days. I have actually set a timer at times to make sure I didn’t stay on longer than expected because I know how easy it is to let time slip away.
I feel like I have literally gotten my life back. I’m outside more and I have prayed, read, studied, and written more in the past month than I have in a long time. I was allowing the pull of my cell phone to be a distraction from more important things. I also don’t post as much on social media. I’ve always loved to take photos and I got to where I shared most of them. Now many of them are for me – for my own enjoyment. This “Digital Detox” has been good for me. If any of this resonates with you, I encourage you to take steps to detach at least somewhat from your phone. It’s time to live again.
