Do you ever feel sluggish, frustrated, or anxious because of your media use? Do you wonder what you can do to reclaim your life in a digital culture?
You’re not alone! Life in a digital world has become a constant movement from one screen to another. Sometimes we just need a detox of our brains and our souls!
As a media educator and film reviewer, I watch a lot of movies and follow the latest trends in social media and AI. Even though I use all these media for my ministry, I sometimes feel the adverse effects of screen use on my spiritual health, energy and overall well-being.
At one point, I decided to stop and assess what was going wrong with my screen time. I took an assessment of one point in my day. I realized I was texting, checking email, reviewing comments on my Instagram post, looking at news stories on Facebook and it all led me down a rabbit hole of endless scrolling. An hour later, I had to anxiously scramble to make a deadline. Not only that, I felt emotionally drained, frustrated and distant from God. I realized I needed to fast from my media.
The unhealthy choices we sometimes make with our media may increase our anxiety and lead to isolation. Most importantly, it can lead us away from God. Loneliness and frustration, dissatisfaction and anxiety are a few side effects of excessive media use. All are reasons for doing intermittent fasts — not with food, but with our screens.
What is fasting, really?
Wellness websites promote intermittent fasting as a way to make healthy choices. It involves doing without all or some food or drink for specific periods of time. It is a noble practice to live healthier lives. Yet, fasting is more than a fad.
Fasting as a spiritual discipline helps us focus on what is truly important. By paring down to the essentials, we remove the clutter from our souls and attend to our relationship with God. We don’t fast for fasting’s sake, but to recharge our lives and reorder them to make room for the Divine Healer.
The six weeks of Lenten practice is the Church’s way of helping us take an assessment of our lives and question how we are living our relationship with Christ. Fasting can help us grow in discipline so we see ourselves, others and Christ more clearly.
Why a media fast?
Not all media is bad and not all of it must be removed from our lives, even if we do abstain for a time. Through detoxing our souls and praying about our media use, we can better understand the role of media in our lives. Media fasting helps us recharge our spiritual life and pray over our media experiences so we can live healthier, holier lives.
Effects of a media fast
Most of the time when we choose to embark on an adventure, we do so to seek a good benefit for ourselves. Doing a media fast provides numerous benefits to our spiritual, mental and physical health. These include:
- Awareness of God’s presence — Media fasting gives greater clarity about God’s grace at work in and around us. We can respond with greater attentiveness and generosity to a God who pours his superabundant love upon us.
- Increased energy — Prolonged screen time saps our energy. Fasting from our media allows for more physical activities that increase mental and bodily energy.
- More focus — Digital media scatters our brain functions through multi-tasking. Shutting off phone notifications can help the brain focus on one task at a time, thereby increasing attention.
- Inner Peace — Media sometimes fill time in between tasks. Living in the present moment without a screen allows opportunities to find joy in the people and situations around us.
- Better relationships — Listening to others, rather than looking at a screen, shows our interest, concern and love. The more attention we give to others, the stronger will be our relationships.
This Lent, the Daughters of St. Paul are doing a Media Fast Challenge, and we’re inviting others to join us at: pauline.org/media-fasting. It is a way for us to hold each other accountable and create a movement of choosing to live well with our media. Make a choice this Lent and take charge of your media use!
Sister Nancy Usselmann, FSP is the author of Media Fasting: Six Weeks to Recharge in Christ.
