As Lent approaches, it’s time to start thinking of the extra commitment that the season demands. We think of the extra prayers that we plan to say, the extra alms we are going to give, and perhaps the extra pounds we’re hoping to lose by giving up our favorite foods and drinks. There is, however, another extra commitment that we can make for Lent which might be harder than the rest.
Many of us spend more time connected to technology than is good for us. What we need, says Sister Nancy Usselmann in her new book, Media Fasting, is to disconnect from our devices so that we can reconnect with Christ.
Connecting with God in a "hyper-connected world"
Subtitled Six Weeks to Recharge in Christ, Sister Nancy's book is dedicated to “all young adults searching for communion with God in a digitally hyper-connected world." Such is the seeming omnipresence of smartphones, headphones, laptops, desktops and social media that being hyper-connected digitally is a problem affecting all adults, young and old, as well as children. Media Fasting is, therefore, a book we should all consider reading for the Lenten season.
Sister Nancy sets the scene and poses the problem in a series of questions in the opening paragraph of her introduction:
Do you ever feel sluggish, overwhelmed, or anxious after spending too much time in front of a screen? Do you sometimes feel guilty for spending too much money on your favorite game app? Does your media use negatively affect your relationships with God and others? Is it hard to set aside time for prayer each day? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you’re in the right place.
Perhaps we could add another couple of questions. Is there anyone in our techno-addicted age who would not answer “yes” to any of these questions? Won’t most of us answer “yes” to most of these questions? This is why, as Sister Nancy admonishes, we are in the right place when we open the pages of her book. We are in the right place because most of us are in the wrong place most of the time.
Reconnecting with ourselves, too
“Living our lives before a screen often leads to a disconnect from ourselves,” Sister Nancy writes, “diminishing our ability to cope and connect meaningfully with others.” If we want to reconnect to ourselves and others in a more meaningful way, we need to disconnect from our devices. If we want to reconnect more intimately and prayerfully with Christ, we need to disconnect from our devices.
This sounds simple, but it is not very easy to put into practice. Most of us need our screens to work or to stay in touch with those closest to us. Our lives will be disrupted in a bad way, if we unplug completely from technology. The virtues of prudence and temperance are needed, as well as courage. This is where Media Fasting can help. Sister Nancy is not calling for total abstinence but sensible fasting, offering many practical suggestions.
She begins by explaining why fasting is good and necessary and how media fasting can have healthy benefits for the mind, body, and soul. Sister Nancy then provides a guide for how to create a media fasting plan customized to the needs of each individual reader. She meets us where we are in order to lead us to where we should be.
Media fasting tips
She offers many different ways of media fasting, not merely for Lent but as an ongoing adopted lifestyle, including daily fasts, 24-hour fasts, week-long fasts, weekend fasts, monthly fasts, and seasonal fasts. These include:
- Setting our phones on “do not disturb” from an hour before going to bed until an hour after we get up in the morning.
- Setting our phone alarms or a timer for one hour or less to limit video gaming, YouTube viewing and other online activity.
- Removing apps from our phones for set periods of time.
- Refraining from playing our favorite video games for set periods.
- Turning off the radio in the car and fasting from listening to music when exercising or doing chores.
- Reading real paper books rather than e-books, web comics, or fan-fiction sites.
- Avoiding online shopping for a week at a time and going to a real brick and mortar store instead.
As a good spiritual director, Sister Nancy leads us through six weeks of short daily reflections designed to help us limit our engagement with social media, enhance our spiritual life, and support us in keeping to the fasting plan that we’ve set ourselves. Each week follows a theme focusing on the essentials necessary to choosing and living a good life.
As we prepare for the Lenten season, Sister Nancy’s book can help us to spend more time with our God than our gadgets, remembering that the ghost in the machine is not the Holy Ghost and that the devil is not only in the details but sometimes in the devices.
Let’s disconnect to reconnect!
