naming how I am noticing (erin jean warde)
And that is what I want regarding digital media: I want to not be drained by a tool. I want to spend more time outside in the sun than inside an online argument. I want a different way of life.
Today’s art is from this article.
inspiration
For screen fatigue
O Father whose eyes move to and fro throughout the earth to show thyself strong on our behalf, give us respite when our eyes grow tired of being stuck on our screens. When our heads hurt from time spent in video meetings, online classes, and all manner of digital work, give us respite in the form of natural light, embodied activity, and good sleep. Protect the health of our eyes and brains, and make possible for us a different balance, that we might partake of screens in a way that gives rather than drains life, by the energizing power of the Holy Spirit, who reigns with thee and our Lord Jesus Christ, one God, now and forever. Amen.
—from Prayers for the People: Things We Didn’t Know We Could Say to God by Terry J. Stokes
reflection
Today, I finished How to Do Nothing, our book for book club, but before I could finish one book I had already begun reading another: Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport.
And my itch to explore my relationship with the digital world (and attention) is not new. In fact, almost 2 years ago now, I did my first full month with no social media — similar to the digital detox Newport suggests. I remember how hard it was at first, but then how quickly I came to love it.
I also remember how quickly I dove straight back into my identity as a Twitter super user the second it was over. Oy vey. Later I would also be diagnosed with ADHD.
Again and again, I feel this calling to building a more balanced cadence of life — in all aspects of it! — but in order to find that cadence, I realize now that the inkling of desiring change around social media isn’t just a far off idea, but something that will be necessary if any healthy cadence is to reach fruition.
If you haven’t read Prayers for the People: Things We Didn’t Know We Could Say to God, please do, as Terry offers prayers for so many conditions of life that evoke sentiments I forget God wants to hear. And, I find the prayer I shared today especially front of heart, as I move ever slowly toward figuring out this cadence.
Like Newport, Terry’s prayer recognizes that it is possible for us to have a different balance, that it is possible for us to “partake of screens in a way that gives rather than drains life,” even when this feels impossible.
And that is what I want regarding digital media: I want to not be drained by a tool. I want to spend more time outside in the sun than inside an online argument. I want a different way of life. Now, to figure out how a new way of life becomes not a want, but the actual way I live.
I am not announcing anything today. No grandiose statements about how I am changing my online presence. I am, however, naming how I am noticing. Naming how I feel called away from screens as recreation, instead hoping to move toward screens as utility (all the while typing on one to tell you about it).
Again, no decisions, but I am considering choosing Digital Minimalism as our January book club, which I would explore alongside a choice for the small paid community to do a digital detox alongside me, so that as a community we could try as much minimalism as is possible for us (recognizing I have to promote a book that is coming out in April, lol). It might also serve as a nice communal respite for those of us who choose to let go of the scroll in favor of a more intentional digital way of life.
So, keep a note of that in your heart, and begin to hold the question of whether you, too, might be called to a different way of relating to social media. Because Lord knows, I am holding the question alongside you. <3
With love & care,
EJW
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