iPhone or Android? Mac or PC?

Whatever your preferences are when it comes to computers, phones, or tablets, I can guarantee you all of our devices have at least one major, rarely used feature in common. Despite all of their differences in style and layout, every single one of these marvels of modern technology comes with a clock. Unfortunately, no matter how prominently displayed those clocks may be, they are the feature that is easiest to overlook. Once we focus our eyes on our screens, time can often slip away completely unnoticed. Through them we have access to so much information and entertainment that it can be a serious challenge just to step away.

The internet’s addictive nature is no accident. It is a hook that has been carefully developed by web developers. YouTube, news sites, social media platforms, and games all have the same quality of offering new material relevant to what they know you’re interested just to keep you clicking more links and staying there longer than you intended.

Just as it is with our money, our abilities, and anything else we’ve been given by God, we will give an answer for how we spend our time. We are called to be good stewards of all God has blessed us with, and we will give an account for the time we spend captivated by our devices, social media sites, or games. When we have time to comment, like, and share status updates, scroll through hundreds of tweets, beat countless video game levels, or read every story on espn.com, your favorite news site, etc. but don’t find time in our day to study the Word, stop to concentrate on uninterrupted prayer, or spend time with others, we have a problem. As author John Piper has been quoted as saying, “One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.”

The internet in and of itself is neither good nor bad—it all depends on how we use it. Similar to how the sites we visit can determine whether we’re using the internet for positive purposes or negative ones, so our use of time can be a determining factor in that same question. It’s not wrong to enjoy video games, news sites, (clean) online entertainment, or social media, but it can become wrong when it consumes our lives as an idol. Here are three ways we can avoid the idolatry of technology, devices, and the internet.

1. We must be intentional with our time.

When you consider the laws of supply and demand, there’s nothing on earth in higher demand and with less supply than time. We all know how foolish it is to simply spend money without knowing how much we have or without planning some kind of budget. Why, then, do we not see how foolish it is to spend our time recklessly in that way? The problem with internet addiction isn’t that someone sits down and plans to spend four hours a night online while neglecting his family or ignoring his work. The problem is that he does it unknowingly, just like someone who has no awareness of their bank account as they go on a spending spree. An example—the popular trend on college campuses of “Netflixing.” Thousands of students and twentysomethings take part in this practice of watching a dozen episodes of a television show in one sitting or watching entire seasons (twenty-plus episodes) over the course of a weekend.

Instead of allowing countless hours to slip away, if you’re the kind of person with this type of internet addiction you need to have a plan— a budget for your time, in a manner of speaking. Because the clock on your computer seems to become invisible, it takes some kind of intentional effort to remind yourself of the time you’ve spent. Set a timer. Use plug-ins like WasteNoTime that track your time and shut you out once you go over the limit.

2. We must train our minds.

As a person in the millennial generation who has had a cell phone my entire adult life, it took me some time to notice just how tied I had become to my mobile device.

I would impulsively check it every five minutes or so. I would pull it out of my pocket every time the conversation hit a lull or when I would have to wait for someone. If I left home without it or left it in the car, I would either turn around and get it or have a mental reminder that I forgot it every few minutes. While it sounds extreme, chances are really good that you know someone like that. If you’re under thirty, chances are good that you ARE that person, or have been. 84% of respondents to a Time magazine survey said they couldn’t go a day without their phone. 50% sleep with the phone right next to their bed (including 80% of 18-24 year olds).1

Now consider this: the next generation is going to be even more dependent on their phones and tablets. All you need to know about that can be learned very quickly. Simply hand an iPad or smartphone to the average two year old and watch how quickly they swipe to their favorite apps and start playing games. We’ve created at least one totally tech-dependent generation, and the next faces even more of an uphill battle to develop proper habits when it comes to technology.

Our minds have been rewired to cyclically require contact with our devices. Beyond just cell phone usage, the same can occur on your computer as emails, Facebook/Twitter posts, and news updates constantly rolling in can condition us to check for new items every few minutes. When dealing with any other negative habit (nail biting, impulsive eating, teeth grinding, etc.) the key is to be conscientious of the problem and proactive in curbing the habit.

If you’re the type of person who has developed a subconscious dependence on your devices, you have to start taking note of your habits and actively changing them. If you’re not sure if you’re this type of person, ask your family or friends. It can be annoying, frustrating, or demeaning for them to deal with someone so disengaged in the conversation that they’re more interested in the cell phone. Learn your habits and start to train yourself in a way that you can be comfortable with your usage of technology. Delete the apps that you find yourself subconsciously navigating to over and over. Don’t be afraid to turn your phone off or leave it behind if it’s going to be a distraction. Train your mind to handle the gift of technology the right way.

3. We must disconnect.

The command to “Be still and know that I am God” gets more difficult all the time with technology keeping us one notification away from reconnecting, but it’s still something God wants us to do. The ability to enjoy silence while shutting out the world and entering into the presence of God is vital in the life of a Christian, and that doesn’t happen unless we purpose to set aside a regularly scheduled time to disconnect completely. In addition to prayer and study, I encourage you to set aside disconnect time for reading books, spending family time, working with your hands, or whatever other productive use of time you might need occasionally. Because our habits can become so strongly formed and because we can waste so much of our lives on the internet unintentionally, it’s crucially important that we stop the stranglehold that the 21st century has placed on us and return some time for genuine connection with other people and recharging our lives with simple pleasures the internet just can’t offer.

Maybe you’re not the kind of person who spends much time online. But, I guarantee you know someone who is. Since this issue is one that crosses into the areas of stewardship and idolatry, it’s not something that Christians can ignore. We need to talk about it, and we need to make sure our own lives are completely committed to Jesus Christ, both when we’re online and when we’re disconnected.

By Jack Wilkie

 

1 Jason Gilbert, “Smartphone Addiction: Staggering Percentage of Humans Couldn’t Go One Day Without Their Phone,” Huffington Post, Web, 16 August 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/smartphone-addiction-

time-survey_n_1791790.html, 4 March 2014.