Giving Up Screen Time

Three months ago I shared with you a post entitled “St. Lucy, Patroness of the Smartphone Generation.” It focused on my desire to take a step back from screentime in Advent (or Lent-lite). Now that Lent is here, I thought it may be a good time for me to revisit my own advice.

For my own Lenten journey I have discerned and decided that I need to detach from my need to know everything… all.the.time. I think the refresh button is the most clicked button on my interweb machine. REFRESH. REFRESH. REFRESH. REFRESH.

I suffer not from FOMO but a more nuanced condition I will call FOMOOKSBEED or the fear of missing out on knowing something before everyone else does. On one level it is out of a desire to stay informed (election years will do that to a person with FOMOOKSBEED) but on a much deeper (read:broken) level, knowledge is power. Being the first to share some exciting information, hilarious video, provocative article, or to ask “did you see what that Corgi did?!” works against all those recitations of the Litany of Humility.

The quickest way to deal with FOMOOKSBEED is to take a break from The Screen—Computer, TV, iPad, Tablet, and the most addictive of substances, the Smartphone!

So if you’re still wavering on what to give up for Lent… and googling or refreshing until you find the perfect blog to give you the perfect penance to solve all of your spiritual struggles, lay waste your time-wasting, and make you the productive and peace-filled future saint you long to be… I hope this helps…

St. Lucy, Patroness of the Smartphone Generation

This post was originally published on TheCatholicOutpost.com on March 6, 2017.

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