Keeping a Digital Rule of Life (in Quarantine)
Two Sundays ago, just before I was about to go up and preach for the worship service, I received a notification on my phone. It informed me that my daily screen time usage for the week was 6 hours and 8 minutes! At first, I was in denial because I had never surpassed 6 hours of screen time in a day, EVER. But I guess, along with many other new experiences from the quarantine life, there is a first time for everything.
What I should explain is that I had gone back on social media earlier that week after going off of it for the Lenten season. I felt like I needed a way to better connect and engage with our members so I made the decision to go back online. And while it was truly a gift being reconnected with people and seeing how everyone was spending their days while living under quarantine (some quite hilariously and amusingly, if you ask me), I started to notice something. After several days had passed, I started to notice a spike in my anxiety levels – especially in the evening. And self-admittedly, I was finding that it was getting harder and harder to stay in the non-anxious presence of the Lord in the quiet moments of solitude.
If you recall several weeks ago, I gave a message about how the result of living a distracted life is an anxious one. I realize that living in a constant state of distraction can lead to a shallow life, as well – one that works against letting our “roots grow down into Him” as Colossians 2:7 says and bearing the fruit of the Spirit that we so desperately need for this hour.
“… living in a constant state of distraction can lead to a shallow life, as well - one that works against letting our ‘roots grow down into Him’…”
Like many of you, the coronavirus has not only disrupted the rhythms in my life but my rule of life as well. So, in my attempts to reset my rule of life – especially in the area of digital devices and media consumption, I thought I would share three of them with you.
Digital Rule of Life #1: Set time blocks for when you will use your digital devices
I started doing this for my children by limiting their iPad time in the afternoon from 2-5 pm. Then, I thought that perhaps I should be setting limits for myself, too. I noticed that scrolling through massive amounts of media just before going to bed isn’t restful or helpful to my soul. I’d like to encourage us to put down our digital devices after 10 pm to read a good book, talk with our spouses and family, or spend a few quiet moments to pray. I also try to set time blocks for my digital device usage in the mornings just because that’s when I do my best work and I would go online in the afternoon during iPad time with my kiddos for a brief mental break. Setting some time blocks can be a good way to curb some of your digital consumption and create more margin for you to engage in other things. (Pro tip: The ‘Do Not Disturb’ function on iPhones is a great feature to silence your phone notifications for a time.)
Digital Rule of Life #2: Set time limits on your phone apps
If time blocking isn’t your thing, you can always set time limits on any of your digital device apps that you spend too much time and bandwidth on. For iPhone users, you can go to ‘Settings’ → ‘Screen Time’ → ‘App Limits’ → ‘Add Limit’ → choose a category of apps or a single app (e.g. ‘Social Networking’; ‘Instagram’) → and set a time limit for that day. I hear that Samsung and Google Pixel phones have a feature like this, as well. As my spiritual director told me, while limits might feel a bit restricting at first, they may actually lead us towards finding greater freedom - especially, internal freedom. In setting limits for our digital device usage, we are creating ways to keep us from becoming bound or overly attached (or addicted) to them, resulting in greater freedom.
“In setting limits for our digital device usage, we are creating ways to keep us from becoming bound or overly attached (or addicted) to them, resulting in greater freedom.”
Digital Rule of Life #3: Take a digital sabbath
I have to admit that I didn’t stick to my digital sabbaths very well this past week, but in the weeks leading into quarantine, I committed to keeping a 24-hour digital sabbath. Of course, I would still use my phone to text or call my wife and occasionally read the news, but I tried to stay off my phone for any other activity (namely social media) for a good 24-hour period so that I didn’t consume too much media. While initially it was hard, I realized that this digital sabbath 1) gave me more time to do other things like go for an afternoon walk (remember, limits = freedom), 2) made me more present with my family and with the Lord, and 3) I found that I was more energized and refreshed mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for work the next day.
Try these three things and see if they help you.
Don’t get me wrong, if there ever was a time for me to be thankful for technological advances, it would be now. In many measures, technology has made life under quarantine more bearable and even amusing (especially when I am in need of a good laugh). But sometimes too much of any good thing can be a bad thing. So, let’s enjoy what God has given us, technology and digital devices, but let’s set some limits on how we use them so that we can find the space to breathe and discover greater internal freedom. Finally, let’s use this hour of great disruption to reclaim technology for the greater good.