A growing number of people are speaking out against our dependence on screens in recent years.
It’s become clear that all our screen time is doing nothing good for our brains — or for our relationships.
Now the Vatican has entered the chat with a Jubilee Year update that could only happen in today’s world.
Growing concern about screen use
In 2020, Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma rang alarm bells about what exactly social media is doing to our brains.
Books like 2022’s Stolen Focus and 2024’s The Anxious Generation (we reviewed it here) showed how social media hijacks our attention and decimates our happiness.
In 2024, the U.S. Surgeon called for warning labels to be added to social media platforms, similar to warnings on cigarettes and alcohol.
As recently as last month, health expert Dr. Andrew Huberman interviewed on his podcast Dr. Laurie Santos, Ph.D., a professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University and a leading researcher on happiness. In a discussion of how to be more mentally present, a thought pattern that brings happiness, Dr. Santos said:
“One of the biggest hacks you can use to get more presence is to … get rid of our phones.”
Given the ample evidence that too much screen time hurts our happiness, it might not be a shock that the Vatican included fasting from online distractions — specifically mentioning social media — on a list of ways to get indulgences in the 2025 Jubilee Year.
A very 21st-century way to get an indulgence
If you took a close look at the “Decree on the Granting of Indulgence during the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025 called by His Holiness Pope Francis,” you might have noticed the unusual item.
Nestled among the usual ways to get an indulgence — going on a pilgrimage, doing a work of mercy or penance — is an option that could only exist in our digital age: fasting at least one day a week from “virtual distractions.”
This option isn’t intended to be frivolous. The Vatican's guidance places this digital fast within a broader context of Christian witness and charitable action. It comes amidst a long list of other options that address serious social issues. Here’s the full paragraph for context (emphasis added):
The Jubilee Plenary Indulgence can also be obtained through initiatives that put into practice, in a concrete and generous way, the spirit of penance which is, in a sense, the soul of the Jubilee. In particular the penitential nature of Friday can be rediscovered through abstaining, in a spirit of penance, at least for one day of the week from futile distractions (real but also virtual distractions, for example, the use of the media and/or social networks), from superfluous consumption (for example by fasting or practising abstinence according to the general norms of the Church and the indications of the Bishops), as well as by donating a proportionate sum of money to the poor; by supporting works of a religious or social nature, especially in support of the defence and protection of life in all its phases, but also by supporting the quality of life of abandoned children, young people in difficulty, the needy or lonely elderly people, or migrants from various countries “who leave their homelands behind in search of a better life for themselves and for their families” (Spes non confundit, 13); it can also be obtained by dedicating a reasonable portion of one’s free time to voluntary activities that are of service to the community or to other similar forms of personal commitment.
This very modern act of abstinence reveals how spiritual growth in the 21st century requires addressing contemporary challenges. By linking social media abstinence with traditional practices like fasting and almsgiving, the Vatican is responding to a very real, if very modern, obstacle to holiness.
All of the usual conditions apply for this indulgence. One must pray for the intentions of the Holy Father, make a sacramental confession, fully repent of one’s sins, and receive Holy Communion.
(Curious what an indulgence is, anyway? Check out our Primer on Indulgences.)
The Church wants our wellbeing
Why would fasting from social media and other virtual distractions be a way to get an indulgence? Because of what the Church desires for its members.
The Church has a lot of rules, but these weren’t made up to make life hard. They help us live life to the fullest. As Christ said, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10).
When we follow Christ, we live in the joy of being who God created us to be. Living according to our Catholic beliefs helps us to be our happiest and holiest selves.
Given all this, we can see how the Vatican’s foray into this contemporary social issue makes sense. Mother Church wants what’s best for us, and the science points to online distractions not being what’s best, at all.
As more voices speak out against the harms of social media, the Decree on Indulgences makes clear the Church’s position. As the Vatican confronts modern ethical issues like this one, it comes as no surprise that the Church would cast a vote for what promotes authentic human flourishing.
