This is part 7 in a series of posts.
Part 1: Introduction | Part 2 – Biblical Principles at Stake: Godliness | Part 3 – Biblical Principles at Stake: Relationships | Part 4 – Biblical Principles at Stake: Stewardship | Part 5 – Biblical Principles at Stake: Joy & Peace in Christ | Part 6: Why is Social Media & Technology so Addicting? | Part 7: Applications
This material was first presented in a talk at First Baptist Church in Durham, N.C. Watch it here.
We’ve looked at how social media and technology can effect us detrimentally if used unintentionally. We also considered why it’s so difficult to dial back our social media use to a healthy degree. So, let’s now look at some applications.
What Do We Do?
General Application
1. The first thing we should do is consider using what Cal Newport calls the craftsman’s approach.[1] A craftsman doesn’t buy a tool just because it has some positive benefits. He selects a tool if it does the job better and its positives outweigh the negatives. That’s how we should approach technology. Every device and app will have some positives, but that isn’t enough reason to use it. The positives must outweigh the negatives. We need to engage in a robust cost-benefit analysis of tech and apps. How does it effect my productivity as a whole, my relationships, my spiritual health, my emotional health, etc. Man wasn’t made for technology, but technology for man. It’s a tool available for our benefit, if it isn’t truly beneficial than don’t use it.
2. Delete social media apps from your phone.[2] This may sound extreme, but mobile versions of social media apps pose the greatest threat to using our time intentionally. You don’t have to quit those social media platforms, but you don’t need to access them on the go either. These companies do everything possible to get you to use these services compulsively. Do we really want them in our pocket?
3. Consider a digital detox. Delete all non-essential apps from your phone and do not use them at all for a month and then after a month evaluate what you want to use. Ask yourself the questions: Would that time have been better if I used this service, and did people care I wasn’t on it? If no, then why use it?[3]
4. Don’t click the like button, or sparingly. The more things you like the more social media builds your algorithm to see only what you like. This puts you in an echo chamber rather than being exposed to other voices and opinions.
5. Have periods of time each day and if possible a day each week where you turn your phone off. These times help us use our free time well and loosen technology’s compulsive grip on us.
6. Wage war against social media and technology for your time. Cal Newport tries to warn us that this isn’t a casual decision.[4] As we’ve seen so far, technology and social media effects many significant aspects of our lives and the owners of these companies are incredibly rich and powerful and they are intent on winning the battle for your time and attention. Wage war. JC Ryle said, “You might be careless about your soul, Satan is not.” Well, you might be careless about your time, social media companies are not, and neither is Jesus I might add. Sherry Turkle points out that we know unhealthy food is bad for us, but it tastes good so we eat it but try to do it sparingly.[5] In many ways, we haven’t figured that out with tech. We think, “this is great I can use this all I want without it affecting me at all!” Weeeeelllll…
7. Don’t feel the need to follow breaking news. Read a story the next day when the facts have come in and a responsible journalist posts a story with all the verifiable facts. Reporters are paid to wade through conjecture and sources to find the story. We just have to wait a day. This helps with not being bamboozled by misinformation, which studies show spreads on social media six times faster than truth.
8. Use technology to lead to meaningful social interaction, not replace it. Don’t mistake technology’s connection for real conversation.
9. Reclaim your leisure time. If we take back our time from social media and technology, we must be ready to fill the void it will leave with good things. So many more substantive options exist for our free time than scrolling on social media or streaming services. Many have found that giving our mind something meaningful to do at night will cause us to be more rested and fulfilled.[6] Using our leisure time intentionally will also seemingly multiply that time. Mindlessly scrolling causes our free time to vanish before we know it. Working without a screen on seems to slow down time. But, even if it flies by we will have used it doing something meaningful and productive.
There was a tech conference at which a CEO of Facebook was raving about how users were spending 12 hours a day on Facebook. A reporter raised their hand and asked them, “Do you think you would have accomplished what you have if you had spent 12 hours a day on Facebook?”[7]
Andy Crouch says, remove leisure that asks little of us and develops little in us. We get out what we put into things. Don’t just consume what others make. Invest time making things that will be valuable afterward, maybe for years afterward.[8] Maybe that’s valuable memories with loved ones, maybe it’s a project or craft or learning a skill. Use your leisure time intentionally. Let’s not be so busy liking other people’s memories that we don’t make some of our own.
10. Schedule the time you will spend surfing the web or checking social media apps. This kind of intentionality in using those services terrifies social media companies and minimizes opportunities for distraction. For example, imagine social media apps charged you by the minute. How would your usage change? Use it that way. It’s okay to enjoy technology and social media, we just have to be wise about our usage. We don’t need to denigrate technology, we just need to put it in its place.
What about for parents?
- Andy Crouch says, as parents we are called to give our kids a better life not an easy one.[9]
With that in mind we should encourage kids to do things that are most rewarding. Just like us, kids should pursue activities that demand much of them.
Andy Crouch shares that technology and some toys are actually too easy for kids to master.[10] Devices are engineered to be easy to use, and kids master them too easily. Screens only respond to certain types of touch. They aren’t as multifaceted, tactile and complex as other toys or activities, which develop learning and motor skills much better. Often times we buy toys for kids which are easily mastered and quickly cast aside. As captivating as screens are for kids they also exacerbate boredom and not develop them as well.
In place of these we should buy things that continually reward. Books, instruments, skateboards, Legos, sporting equipment, etc. These things demand much but develop and reward more than screens and simple toys.
2. Limit screens during important family time. Don’t allow devices at meals. Ask about each other’s day and really listen. Greet one another meaningfully when you arrive and leave.
Kids 10-years-old and younger are the first generation to have to compete with screens for their parents’ attention. There are numerous examples of families severely cutting back the use of screens in the house. Though there was usually a rough withdraw stage, after about a month the families, including the kids, were much happier, more engaged with one another and less bored (Crouch, 133).
When we do use technology as a family use it in ways that brings us together rather than isolates. Watch a movie or a video together, but avoid mindlessly watching. Use screens for a purpose.
3. Try not to use technology as a babysitter. All moms and dads have been in a situation where a screen was a very helpful tool to occupy kids for a few minutes while they check out of the grocery store or finish up a meeting. Yet, we should be careful to overuse technology to assuage our kids’ behavior. When kids are arguing it’s much easier to put a screen in front of them rather than have a difficult conversation about sharing or treating each other harshly. These conversations are challenging but it’s where character is formed.
In a world where everything is made to be as easy as possible Christians must stay committed to having the hard conversations and not using screens to avoid conflict entirely. James 1:2-3 says “consider it pure joy my brothers when you face trials of many kinds.” We need trials to grow in Christlikeness and so do our kids. The better life is harder to cultivate than the easy life, but kids will thank you in the end.
Where Do We Get the Strength to Do This?
I like technology. I’m amazed by so much of it. But I just don’t believe that getting the newest thing and using it all the time is necessarily making our lives better. Paul said I beat my body and make it my slave that I might run the race. I think Paul would say this about technology today. I beat my smartphone and make technology my slave that I might run the race in such a way to win the prize. Are we doing that? Or has our smartphone and technology made us its slave? The goal isn’t to be technologically relevant or to have the newest gadget or to be socially influential. The goal is to lead meaningful and truly joyful lives in obedience to Christ and in obedience to Christ is the only way to live meaningful and joyful lives.
God created us to love him and enjoy him forever not to be loved, liked and followed by people online. He created us to love others and pursue meaningful relationships not connect shallowly. He created us to marvel at his creation not at a screen. He created us to do and make things that bless others and are truly rewarding not to swipe away our time mindlessly. He created us to make memories not just to consume them.
But how do we do this? Maybe you are completely with me so far, but you still know the pull of screens and social media. Where can we get the self-control to take charge and wage war for the benefit of our time, our relationships and spiritual lives?
In short, our hearts must be captured by Christ. The problem is that our hearts are easily captured by other things. Our hearts are captured by the praise of others so we compulsively use social media. Our hearts are captured by worldly pleasure so we scroll instead of meditate on Scripture. Our hearts are captured by comfort so we go to our phone instead of initiate meaningful conversations. But when our hearts are captured by Christ then we will say, “Lord, I want more of you, and I want more of the life you made me for.”
The best way for our hearts to be captured by God is the gospel. God’s love for us is found in its greatest density at the cross. We must get a clear picture of Jesus in agony in the garden, yet our sins gladly bearing. We must see the Father turning his face away from his beloved son as he is stricken and afflicted for our sake. Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, so we could wear the crown of life.
What is a like, a favorite, compared to God saying, “I love you. I died for you. You are precious to me.” It’s insanity to prefer a lit-up little heart icon on social media over the light of the gospel lighting up our hearts with the love of Christ.
Tony Reinke writes, “We fear being left out of the thoughts of others by not being on social media, but we are in God’s thoughts!” (46).
When our hearts are satisfied with the love of Christ it frees us to make wise decisions about our time. Christ’s love gives us the self-control to be tech-wise.
All things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. We don’t have time to kill, but time to redeem. We can only do that, when we realize we’ve been redeemed.
Part 1: Introduction | Part 2 – Biblical Principles at Stake: Godliness | Part 3 – Biblical Principles at Stake: Relationships | Part 4 – Biblical Principles at Stake: Stewardship | Part 5 – Biblical Principles at Stake: Joy & Peace in Christ | Part 6: Why is Social Media & Technology so Addicting? | Part 7: Applications
[1] Cal Newport, Deep Work, 1st edition (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016). 191.
[2] Newport, Digital Minimalism. 223.
[3] Newport, Deep Work. 205.
[4] Newport, Digital Minimalism. 221.
[5] Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation. 126.
[6] Newport, Deep Work. 214.
[7] Newport, Digital Minimalism. 199.
[8] Crouch, The Tech-Wise Family. 79.
[9] Crouch. 64, 68.
[10] Crouch. 81.
Mike McGregor
Mike McGregor (MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is Director of College Ministry at First Baptist Church in Durham, N.C. You can follow him on Twitter at @m5mcgregor.
