Why You Desperately Need a Tech Fast

The bullet-train pace of technological development in our age has overtaken us, with barely time for a breath. The advent of the smartphone kicked up the pace, but AI’s rapid innovation and adoption have been so fast that there’s been essentially no time to adjust. The COVID-era put millions in a tech-centered world where information, work, and social relationships were reduced to talking to screens–and many have stayed in that world perpetually. 

Neurological studies on brain development have been confirming what many of us already knew–these technologies are having a severe effect on us. Rapid rises in anxiety, depression, and social isolation, especially among school-age children, combined with a plummeting ability to focus and perform basic tasks, are painting a bleak picture of our future if we aren’t able to get tech use under control. 

It’s clear that significant steps are needed to curb the negative effects of mass tech usage, but most of the response has been limited to school-age children. Across the US and the rest of the world, school phone bans have gone into effect over the last five years. These rules are primarily meant to constrain the chaos that has resulted from having phones in school, but they don’t include teaching children how to use tech instead of being used by it. 

What Tech is Doing to Your Mind

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. – James 3:16 

It’s well documented that excessive screen time (or “doomscrolling”) can have a similar effect on the brain to that of addictive drugs. The constant hit of dopamine keeps us scrolling, and the shift from personally curated timelines and social media feeds to the slot-machine-like style of TikTok shorts (which are now the preferred format of nearly every social media app) keeps us hooked in, losing precious time. Minutes add up to hours that lead to significant portions of our weeks. 

This addiction manifests in different ways for men and women. The male-driven algorithm tends to feature titillating, sensual content to keep them engaged, while similar content is pushed on women to entice them to meet the demand. A website like “OnlyFans” demonstrates this dynamic perfectly: Men are enticed to give in to their lust, putting their time, energy, and money into pseudo-sexual experiences, while women are drawn into selling themselves to envy, sensuality, and financial gain. 

Aside from the drive of sensuality, envy plays a large role in social media engagement. Consumers are hit with a constant barrage of people who are better looking, happier, and more satisfied with their careers and lives. An incessant game of comparison is played in the mind, where everything we see is juxtaposed against the reality we inhabit, whether or not what we see is real. This can produce completely unrealistic expectations about what our lives should look like. 

Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but if there is any good word for edification according to the need of the moment, say that, so that it will give grace to those who hear. – Ephesians 4:29

Gossip and slander present another enticement. For the best illustration, take a look at your town’s local Facebook page. A deluge of abuse is hurled towards anyone posting almost anything, even the most benign of comments or questions. The ability to hurl insults and hostility without the danger of what doing so in real life would risk has given many a pseudo-bravery. Gossip, public shaming, and slander populate the local feeds. 

However, despite all the obvious tech-related enticements, another shift has occurred, especially since the events of 2020. Social media feeds have become filled with much more negative content–posts designed to elicit outrage in the viewer. We are more likely to keep scrolling and consuming content when we are angered by what we’re seeing. Our phones have been collecting our biometric data for years, and the developers and marketers of apps know what we’re feeling and what will keep us engaged. Outrage keeps us coming back for more. 

What You Can Do

The late Charlie Kirk’s last message to the world was not a specific political strategy or goal. Rather, in his posthumously published book, Stop in the Name of God, Kirk advocated for a return to honoring the Sabbath as a way to reorder American life and change course to a more righteous, orderly, and fruitful future. A significant part of his argument was that tech devices were stealing true, biblical rest from us, and honoring the Sabbath would require a weekly tech fast. He said, 

“…the scale of the (technology) crisis demands something greater than screen-time tracking or mindfulness apps. What’s needed is a cultural reset–a sacred structure that mandates disconnection, reinstates silence, and teaches young people how to be bored, how to be present, and how to live unplugged for sustained periods of time.”

Kirk made some practical suggestions on how to start a routine tech fast. Here are a few more:

Brick, Lockbox, House Rules

Establish concrete, non-negotiable rules for tech use in your home. Have a “no-phones-at-the-table” rule for all meals. Don’t have the TV, radio, or podcast on while you’re eating together. This is more difficult if you live alone, but still necessary. Purchase a Brick device. This small square can be used to make your smartphone into a dumb phone, and you can schedule specific times whent its “bricked.” If you have older children at home with phones, consider using a lockbox with scheduled times for digital fasting. Establish firm expectations on tech use, and when and how its use is appropriate in your home. 

Purposeful Time Off

In addition to weekly tech fasts, consider setting aside longer periods throughout the year, if possible, to deprogram from tech usage. If you’re going on vacation, disable social media apps so that you’re not scrolling through the time off. Create reading goals and stick to them. Establish good nutritional habits that don’t feed the tech-addiction cycle. View movies and TV shows with intentionality–don’t scroll through a streaming app to find something to watch. When you do find something to watch, put your phone away so that you aren’t doing double-screen time (scrolling while streaming). 

 Embrace Silence

Psalm 1 says that the “blessed man” “meditates” on the “law of the Lord” “both day and night.” The Hebrew word, hagah, used in this passage for “mediate,” is sometimes translated as “devise,” “utter,” or “moan.” To meditate requires intentional quiet. To consider the truths of God’s word, a lack of distraction is necessary. It’s worth setting aside intentional time, especially outside, in nature, to declutter the mind, list out what you’re thankful for, and remember what God has brought you through up to this point in your life. 

The constant barrage of things completely outside of your control, constantly buzzing on your phone, necessitates finding purposeful quiet.   

Conslusion

We don’t know where the rapid innovations currently surging through our society will take us. The advent of AI presents a massive monolith of unknowns. But we do know that the “earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1). We also know that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” God, who “works all things together for good for those who are called according to His purpose,” knows where all the apprehension and difficulty we’re experiencing is going, and has decreed us to live in this particular period of His story. 

Our charge is simple: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, God has elected His people to be a place of calm in a sea of trouble. Let’s ensure that our hearts and minds are conformed to His image, and not the image of the world.