Digital Distractions

So, are you addicted to your smartphone? Many experts say yes! Check out Tony Reinke’s first words in his book ‘Twelve Ways Your Phone is Changing You': “We check our smartphones about 81,500 times each year, or once every 4.3 minutes of our waking lives, which means you will be tempted to check your phone three times before you finish this chapter.”  James Stewart writes  “The average user now spends fifty minutes every day- in the Facebook product line (Facebook, Messenger, Instagram) a number that continues to surge by strategic design.” (New York Times, May 4, 2016)

Do you have your phone or does your phone have you? I had to stop and think about my answer to that question! I take pictures. I keep my calendar. I text people. I write emails. I check the weather. I use my alarm. I check the news. I check facebook. I check ESPN and twitter. I can even practice Spanish on my phone!

So, grabbing our phone first thing in the morning is pretty typical for most of us. So, what is the problem with that? I love the wisdom of the seventeeth-century Christian, mathematician Blaise Pascal. In his day, he wrote “I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.” How many of us unconsciously grab our phone with the flick of a thumb at the first thought of boredom? I certainly do!

To be without distraction is a harsh reality for many. We’re all just one ping or alert away from something that will redirect us from our heart’s greatest need. A distraction can come in many forms. We can be worried about the news or weather. We desire to be amused. We want to know what’s happening with people. We don’t want to miss out! We're bored. There's nothing wrong with any of these things, but sometimes they consume us. When was the last time you evaluated your personal digital use?

Check out some of the diagnostics questions we can ask ourselves in the digital age: (Tony Reinke, Twelve Ways Your Phone is Changing You, pp. 52)

Do my smartphone habits expose an underlying addiction to untimely amusements?
Do my smartphone habits reveal a compulsive desire to be seen and affirmed?
Do my smartphone habits distract me from genuine communion with God?
Do my smartphone habits preoccupy me with the pursuit of worldly success? 
Do my smartphone habits center on what is necessary to me and beneficial to others?
Do my smartphone habits disengage me from the needs of the neighbors God has placed right in front of me?

So, do you have your phone or does your phone have you? I encourage you to cultivate wise thinking and healthy habits with your phone. I’ve started the new year with a new goal in place to deal with my personal digital distractions. How about you?

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.