Our eyes are rudders that will direct our hearts. We get to choose where we set our gaze. We become what we behold.
-Ruth Chou Simons
For many of us, one of the biggest obstacles keeping us from following Jesus together is how we manage our time. According to a recent study, the average American spends over eight hours a day watching TV, their laptop, and their phone for the primary purpose of entertainment consumption. When we allow such entertainment and distraction to eat away at our time, we not only don’t create space to spend time with Jesus, we unknowingly develop habits that make it increasingly difficult to spend time with Jesus. Without fighting for margin in our schedules to focus on Him, we become people marked by distraction, worry, and busyness rather than people of peace, love, and joy that God intends for us.
If media/entertainment/screen consumption is one of the biggest practical threats to becoming people of peace, then let’s consider how to fight back. Below are some helpful practices in digital detoxing - what’s one practice you can implement today?
1 - Limit yourself to viewing one screen at a time
Studies report that multi-tasking is a myth.* By focusing our attention on more than one screen or task, we divide our attention rather than multiply it and in the long-term, decrease our ability to concentrate on a single task. So rather than sending an email on your phone while there’s a TV show playing in the background, choose one. Pause your show to send your email, wait to send the email until after your show is done, or walk out of the room to finish your email.
2 - Put your phone away one hour a day and one day a week
The quip, “What is important is seldom urgent, what is urgent is seldom important,” can easily be applied to our phones. Fight back the need to always be in the moment with your phone so that you can be in the moment with the people and places God has you in. You’ll notice the world will keep going on even if you’re away from your phone.
3 - Turn your smartphone into a dumb phone
Business execs are beginning to trade in their smartphones for “dumb phones” that are only capable to text and call in order to be more focused and less distracted. While this may be a viable option for you, consider turning your smartphone into a dumb phone by turning off all notifications on your phone besides text and phone calls.
4 - Create time limits on your apps and browsing
Tech companies are catching onto the long-term numbing effects that screens can have on us. If you have the updated iOs on your iPhone go to Settings, then Downtime. From there set limits on your phone. We’d recommend significantly decreasing the total amount of time you spend on apps that eat away at your time.
5 - Remove social media apps, use your browser instead
Research shows using your browser for social media networks rather than using their apps decreasing the amount of time you spend on them.
6 - Keep your bedroom free of screens
From a neurological level, what you look at and what you think about right before you go to bed and right when you wake up have significant long-term effects on how you operate - not to mention your sleep. If you use your phone for waking up, buy an alarm clock. If you use your phone to play white noise, turn it on Airplane mode and/or Do Not Disturb so as to avoid notifications overnight.
7 - Leave your phone in the car when you run an errand, with your LifeGroup, and/or with family.
The knee-jerk reaction for many of us when we experience “boredom” is to look at our phone. But to fight for peace, leave your device in a place out of your immediate reach so that you can simply be in the moment. Fight for the pull to always be stimulated by whatever’s on your phone.
8 - Select what you will look at and when you will look at it ahead of time.
Social media apps and streaming services are designed in such a way to maximize the amount of time you spend on them. Algorithms are created specifically catered to your preference in order to consume as much of your time as possible. So rather than conforming to what technology says you should consume through mindless scrolling and binging - earlier in the day select what you will look at and when. If it’s a show or a movie, is there someone you can enjoy it with?
For more practical resources on this, check out the following:
Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch
12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke
*Read Psychology Today’s “The Myth of Multitasking” and/or Forbes’ "4 Mindfulness Fundamentals To Transform Your Leadership: The Incredible Myth Of Multitasking"