July 22, 2024 • 33 mins
In today’s world, our smartphones have become almost indispensable. They keep us organized with calendars, to-do lists, and reminders. They keep us connected with family and friends through calls, texts, and social media. They entertain us with games, music, podcasts, and videos.
However, today’s episode isn’t about getting rid of our smartphones; it’s about using them in a way that aligns with the gospel. Matthew 10:37 tells us that whoever loves anything more than Jesus is not worthy of Him. Our first desire must be to be wholly devoted to Jesus, ensuring that our smartphone use reflects that devotion. We need to be mindful of how our phones impact our spiritual lives, making sure they enhance rather than hinder our walk with Christ. We’re going to walk through how we can bring our use of technology back to the gospel, prioritizing our relationship with Jesus above all else.
Head over to ThankfulHomemaker.com for full show notes on all the links and resources mentioned in today's episode.
Grab the Free PDF on technology mentioned in the episode in the Free Library
50+ Things to Do Instead of Scrolling Social Media
EP 33: Is Your Smartphone Changing You?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:26):
I'm Marci Farrow from Thankful Homemaker, and I'm so glad to be with you today.
Our episode is titled Wisely Navigating Our Technology.
And before we dive in, I want to let you know about a free PDF handout available for this episode.
You can find it over at my resource library at thankfulhomemaker.com backslash free dash library.
(00:49):
I just I believe it's going to be a helpful companion to our discussion today,
and I will make sure to link it in the show notes. I didn't want to forget to mention that.
So in today's world, our smartphones, they become almost indispensable.
They keep us organized with calendars, to-do lists, reminders.
They keep us connected with family and friends through calls and texts and social media.
(01:11):
They entertain us with games and music and podcasts and videos and so much more.
And today's episode, it's not about getting rid of our smartphones.
Phones. It's about using them in a way that aligns with the gospel.
Matthew 10 37 tells us that whoever loves anything more than Jesus is not worthy of him.
(01:31):
So our first desire must be to be wholly devoted to Jesus, ensuring that our
smartphone use reflects that devotion.
We need to be mindful of how our phones impact our spiritual lives,
making sure they enhance rather than hinder our walk with Christ.
We're going to walk through how we can bring our use of technology Back to the
(01:52):
Gospel, Prioritizing Our Relationship with Jesus Above All Else.
I want us to think deeply about our relationship with technology.
It's really easy to get caught up in the convenience and the connectivity our
devices offer, but we must examine our motives.
Are we using our smartphones to seek approval from others?
(02:15):
Are we chasing likes and comments and validation on social media?
Or are we genuinely connecting and using these tools in ways that honor God and enrich our lives?
It's really crucial that we reflect on how our tech habits impact our spiritual
health, our relationships, and even our daily responsibilities. That's a big one.
We're going to discuss practical steps to ensure our technology use aligns with
(02:39):
our faith, helping us to use these tools wisely and intentionally.
And then together, we're going to explore how to balance the benefits of technology
while keeping our hearts and minds focused on Christ.
This involves setting boundaries and cultivating good habits and being mindful
of the the content we consume and the time we spend on our devices.
And I also want to mention that I have an older episode. It's titled Episode
(03:04):
33, Is Your Smartphone Changing You?
And then I also have an article called 50 Plus Things to Do Instead of Scrolling Social Media.
Both of those are really excellent compliments to this episode,
and they just offer some additional insights and practical tips.
I'm going to link to them and the show notes too for you to explore further,
along along with some good books that have helped me that I'll talk about as we move forward here.
(03:26):
So by being intentional and Christ-centered in our tech habits.
We can transform our relationship with technology into one that supports and
strengthens our walk with the Lord.
So let's dig in here. So let's talk about some benefits of technology.
We live in a world where our phones are with us all the time.
I really appreciate all the things my phone can do for me.
(03:48):
It keeps my calendar, my to-do list, my grocery list, messages,
phone calls, everything's in one place.
I can listen to sermons and podcasts and audiobooks and music.
I can track my family with Life360, and I can know when my husband's almost
home, which I love that. It brings me peace of mind.
It helps me track my exercise and movement. I can keep a food log.
(04:10):
I can navigate new destinations. I love GPS, right? Without pulling out a paper map or an atlas.
I can manage my bank account and pay bills and quickly look up contact information of church members.
I can play Wordle with my granddaughter.
Paying at the grocery store has never been easier. And I love being able to
take my photos and organize them into albums and be able to share those moments
(04:35):
with loved ones on social media or through texting.
Plus, it allows me to interact with all of you, which is such a blessing.
I can read from my Bible anywhere if I have my device.
Listen to a sermon. I can listen to my Bible, right, audibly being read to me.
I can listen to podcasts that edify me in my walk with the Lord.
I can easily add a prayer request to my prayer app so I don't forget to pray
(04:58):
for that person that shared a request with me. I can work on my scripture memory.
I can read books on it with the Kindle app. there are
so many good and helpful things that these little computers that
we carry can help us do so while i
may seem to be focusing a bit more on the negative aspects
in this episode as we move forward i did want to acknowledge that there are
(05:19):
so many positives and how technology helps us in so many ways there are conveniences
and connections i personally am very thankful for and i believe it's important
to recognize the good along with the challenges.
So let's talk about the distractions. Then we have this flip side,
right? The distractions.
Our phones constantly draw us in with social media and news apps.
(05:43):
We can feel the need to keep checking our email or check our Facebook likes or messages.
You can easily open the Instagram or Facebook app on your phone to check the
feed and realize you've been scrolling for 15 minutes or more.
And that can add up to quite a bit of time in the day.
I think about years ago, people could only reach us at home through a phone
attached to the wall. There was no email or text messaging.
(06:07):
You had to talk by phone in person or write a letter.
If you didn't have an answering machine, and I know growing up we didn't,
you never knew if you missed a call if you weren't home.
We also didn't have 24-hour news back then. It was only during certain times
of the day or you got it through the daily newspaper.
I sometimes miss what I like to think of those as simpler days.
(06:29):
I don't know that they truly were, but my mind Mine tends to picture them in
that way. I was also a lot younger then, too.
Our phones, computers, and tablets, they can be distractions from our prayer life and Bible reading.
Notifications can be distracting. And there's that temptation that as we're
reading our Bible on our tablet or our phones,
it can be really easy to get bored, or you just don't feel like thinking so
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hard that your mind wanders, and you switch to checking email,
or you head to social media.
Because those activities, they're just easier for our brains to process.
Our priorities may become out of whack when the spiritual disciplines,
They take a back seat to these digital distractions. Our time on social media
can lead us to compare and envy.
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We may focus on what others have, and we lose sight of the blessings that we have from the Lord.
So if digital communication is how primarily you interact with others,
it's going to hinder your in-person
relationships and the depth and the quality of your time with them.
You may have many more connections because of social media, but they're going
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to be of lower quality, and they're not going to have the depth that those in-person
relationships can foster.
There's so much information online, even seemingly good resources,
that at times it can make it hard to discern truth from error at times.
The knowledge we take in from those small bites of information as we find ourselves
skimming articles and scrolling, they're going to give us a superficial understanding
(08:00):
of issues, and then we can begin to lose how to think deeply and critically.
I can keep going here, but let me just bullet point just a few more things.
Depending on your usage, it can be an interruption to your sleep when you find
yourself using your device late at night.
Our interaction online, it can make us more prone to sin. We can have responses
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that are not covered in grace and truth with others.
We're not seeking to love that person. And maybe we forget as we're typing that
that's a real flesh and blood person we're responding to in possibly a very harsh and sinful way.
It's much harder to correct or challenge someone in person than it is online.
Our responses tend to be much harsher and less patient.
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We don't patiently think them through maybe as well online as we would when
that person's in front of us.
Our responses would tend to be probably much gentler and kinder and a little more thought through.
That constant intake of information, it can prevent us from being fully present
in the moment. And this can happen during the dinner table or family worship
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time or our own time alone with the Lord.
Lord, have you ever found yourself
just on your phone looking at it while your child's talking to you?
And they're not the priority in that moment.
We can fall into the trap of pleasing others instead of pleasing the Lord by
looking to our likes and comments and followers.
That can become where we find our sense of worth in our social media.
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It can begin to become a form of idolatry. And then also just the thought when
you think this through that we are now reachable anywhere and anytime that can
feel a little stressful and a bit intrusive, right?
So we're not even just concerned about ourselves, but also how are we conditioning
our kids, our kids, or for me, our grandkids.
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This affects all ages. It's easy to get caught up in our smartphones,
even with the good things we're listening to or reading.
So we want to think through how can we better manage our technology use within our own families.
Again, just how often do we find ourselves scrolling through social media when
we should be doing chores or
spending time with our children or spending time in the Word and Prayer.
(10:11):
I really appreciated Andy Crouch's book, The TechWise Family.
It offered practical and thoughtful guidance. It provided really good insights
that can help us navigate technology more effectively within our households.
And I want to share some key takeaways from this book. And just a note, I want to share this.
I use technology to gather these thoughts. I use something called the ReadWise
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app, and it connects to my Kindle, and it keeps track of all my highlights and
it makes them really easy to search.
I'm just reminding you here again that I really appreciate technology.
It's been a huge help to me in so many ways.
So here's a few key takeaways that I grabbed from his book.
It's a great read if you have a family with young children still at home.
It was a good read for me as a grandmother now.
(10:56):
So make sure, and these are things you can take them wherever they're at,
whatever pertains to your family.
I'm just gonna shoot some of the nuggets that I pulled from it.
So make sure you establish clear guidelines with how technology is used in your home.
Maybe you set specific times or time limits for device use or watching TV or playing video games.
You want your technology to serve your family's values and not detract from them.
(11:19):
And then create tech-free zones where you designate certain areas of your home that are tech-free.
That's probably the table where you eat dinner, whether it's your kitchen table
or your dining room and the bedrooms, right?
We want to promote good conversation at the dinner table. We want it void of
distractions, and we want our bedrooms to be a place that fosters a restful environment.
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We want to model behavior, right? As parents, we, our grandparents,
our actions speak louder than words.
Demonstrate responsible and balanced technology.
You should be setting an example for your children on how to use it.
And then promote activities that foster creativity and physical engagement.
Think of things like reading, playing board games, spending time outdoors, right?
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This is going to help your kiddos to balance their intake of digital content.
And then think about maybe having what a lot of people call a digital Sabbath.
Implement regular tech-free periods, like where the entire family takes a break
from screens to reconnect with each other and engage in non-digital activities.
Maybe it's taking a walk together. Maybe you do this every Sunday,
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you just disconnect, or monthly or quarterly.
Or maybe you do it on family vacations. If your older kids want to share their
vacation photos, I'm having a hard time speaking today, their vacation photos
with friends on social media, they can always do it when you get back.
Maintain open dialogue with your kiddos about technology use.
You want to discuss its benefits, the potential pitfalls.
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Encourage your children to share their experiences and their challenges with
technology, and make sure that you share yours with them. him.
So let's talk a little bit about the good and the bad of social media,
because being connected, it's part of how God designed us, right?
And technology, including social media, allows us to connect in so many wonderful ways.
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When our daughter lived in Norway, I was so thankful for Skype because it allowed
us to see and connect with her and her family.
I love my time together in our Patreon group on Zoom because we can see,
connect, and we can learn more about each other.
I love being able to see the ladies' faces and hear their voices,
and I know more about them in that way.
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So when I'm interacting with them online, I already know them,
and I really appreciate that.
Social media and online platforms, they offer countless opportunities to learn
and access educational content and resources.
I really appreciate finding solid content to read or listen to,
and there are so many resources that have helped to enrich my walk with the Lord.
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Through social media, I can share encouraging messages. I can stay updated on prayer requests.
I can participate in online Bible studies and discussions with believers from
all over the world that strengthen and encourage me in my walk with the Lord.
So these tools, when we use them wisely, they truly can be a blessing.
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But social media, it can sometimes make us reflexive rather than reflective
because it can be really easy to judge posts, deciding in a moment whether to
like or reject them without much thought.
We need to engage intentionally and invest time in others.
Online interactions, they should supplement. They should never replace our in-person relationships.
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Relationships relying too heavily on social media
as our primary source of connection it can leave
us feeling lonely or isolated it's never going to
replace the warmth and authenticity of face-to-face interactions
plus it can distract us from important tasks
like spending quality time with family and friends and completing our daily
responsibilities online interaction to learn to listen to sermons is not a replacement
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for church your church family needs to be priority over that time your Your
pastor's sermon is priority over the sermons you take in online.
This is key. Your church family needs to see you in person.
We need to remember that while technology offers a lot of benefits,
it presents challenges, right?
So as Christians, using these tools wisely, it's vital.
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We want to, again, ensure that
they enhance rather than hinder our relationships with God and others.
By being intentional about our technology use, we can enjoy its benefits,
and we can And then maintain a balanced and a reflective approach.
And this is really important.
I want to talk about biblical literacy. Tony Reinecke, he had just such a great
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section in his book on this.
He stated that smartphone use doesn't make us illiterate, but illiterate.
Or we're able to read, but we're just not willing to do it, to invest the time in it.
He shares that we grow lazy in our literacy and powers of concentration.
So we're to be people of the book. So as Christians, our Bibles are the oldest
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and longest book we've ever read. It's complex.
It has the most authors that we've read in one book. It's all under the inspiration
of the Spirit. It can just be daunting.
But it is a book we need to take the time to read and comprehend slowly.
Slowly one term jesus uses repeatedly in the scriptures is have you not read
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we have our bibles right we have multiple copies and we have them on our devices
but have we comprehended them have we meditated on what they say and thought deeply.
Tony stated in his book that spirit-wrought literacy is a supernatural gift
given to us so that we can see invisible things.
To do this, we have to cultivate literacy because when we lose literacy,
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we lose the quote, substance of things hoped for.
And hope is a confidence in things unseen. Think here Hebrews 11.1.
So we're trying to see things we can't see with our eyes. It requires literacy
and concentration and to see as God sees and not as man sees.
We need to not allow spiritual hardening to happen.
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God wants us to see through all that man sees.
We can see what's on a screen or the media we're surrounded with,
but God wants us to see them through all that and see the eternal glories.
So we need to strive to nurture our spiritual literacy, right?
Allowing us to see beyond the visible and focus on the eternal glories that
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God wants us to perceive.
And when we do this, we align our perspective with God's and we maintain a deeper,
more meaningful connection with him.
We can't allow our smartphone use to replace or diminish our time with the Lord
and his word and meditating on his truths.
Because if we're deficient here, we're going to have issues in all areas of
our lives, not just our smartphone use.
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Charles Spurgeon said, and he was much before our smartphone era, by a lot, right?
He said, if Satan can disrupt your devotions, he can disrupt your day.
So think about that. How often do we wake up to meet with God,
and the first thing we grab, maybe even before our coffee, is our phone?
I'm guilty. I'm raising my hand here, and I regret every time I do it.
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Nothing good comes from it, and my affections can get easily drawn into it.
Because here it's much easier to glance at email or scroll Instagram instead
of reading my Bible, which requires effort, work, and concentration.
Some studies have shown that if your smartphone is within your reach,
a part of your brain is constantly saying, should I check my phone? Should I check my phone?
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One statistic, and it was the highest number, said the average smartphone user
checks their phone every 4.3 minutes.
Some say it's more than 85 times a day, And this obviously isn't true of everyone,
but it is a lot more than we should be doing, right?
So at least in the morning, make sure you've separated yourself from your phone
or anything else that could easily come between you and your time with the Lord.
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Your quiet time, it still counts if you do it without taking a photo and posting it on Facebook.
In one of his Ask Pastor John episodes, John Piper discussed why we may check
our phones first thing in the morning and the possible consequences.
He said, he said, we may want to boost our ego to see how many likes we got in a Facebook status.
He said, it's a quick way to avoid responsibility or the hardships we have to
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deal with in getting our day started.
Sometimes it's a desire to be mindlessly entertained instead of engaging my mind.
And then he continues. He says, what if I check my phone first thing in the
morning and I'm the first one to come across some bad news in my email?
Or what if I'm on Facebook and instead of likes, I find hateful comments on his status?
He says, I've not even taken the time in the morning to be prepared for the battle.
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Was that five minutes of me checking my phone worth being drugged down to small-minded things?
So what are some benefits, friend, of seeking the Lord first thing in the morning?
Like when you wake up in the morning, may it start first with a cry out to the Lord, right?
Let him know you love him, you need his help, and do this before you pick your
head off the pillow. Psalm 5.3 tells us, O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice.
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In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
So I've went through this many times in many previous posts or podcasts to take
the time the night before to set out your reading materials in the morning.
Make sure you have your area with what you're going to do when you spend time
with the Lord already ready to go.
Because the benefits with starting your day with the Lord and not your phone
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are you're strengthened in the Lord, right? right, for whatever the day may bring.
You've not wasted precious time given to you by the Lord, and it's more freeing
to check that phone after you've
prioritized and put the important things first. I know it is for me.
After sitting at his feet first thing in the morning, you're reminded of how
your Heavenly Father cares and loves you, right?
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Jesus is enough. I'm not done yet. Sorry, that's coming again.
But hearing him speak to you through his word, it's going to be a sweet reminder
all through the rest of your day.
Charles Spurgeon said it best. He said it's a good rule never to look into the
face of a man in the morning till you have looked into the face of God.
So let's talk about some litmus tests for our technology use.
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Ask your spouse or your children about your phone habits. Tell them they can
be brutally honest with you.
Consider what God has called you to do in your family, church,
work, school, community, home, right? What are your responsibilities?
And you're gonna see what's a waste of time and what's not.
Without direction, our smartphones can fill a void in our lives and they can
become idols pretty quick.
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They can expose our heart's desire, seeking approval, being liked,
appearing intelligent.
Ask yourself, how am I influencing others and why? Is it for me or someone else?
Tony Reinecke, he had these self-reflection questions in his book.
He said, and I'm going to put these, they're part of that PDF,
that handout that goes with this too, along with practical tips he gives,
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and I'm going to go through here in a little bit.
He said, do my smartphone behaviors move me more toward God or away from him?
Do my smartphone behaviors edify me and others, or do they build nothing of lasting value?
Do my smartphone behaviors expose my freedom in Christ or my bondage to technology?
He gives some practical tips, too. He provided 12 boundaries to consider as we use our smartphone.
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These are really helpful. I'm going to dash through them. They're in the main post at the blog.
They'll be there for you, and they're also in that PDF. of. He said to make
sure you turn off non-essential push notifications, to delete expired non-essential and time-wasting apps.
And I'm adding to that to make sure that we unsubscribe from app services that we don't use anymore.
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So make sure before you delete that app that if you're subscribed to something,
you stopped paying for that, right?
Because that can be a huge money savings each month.
Keep your phone out of the bedroom at night. Use a real alarm clock, not your phone alarm.
Guard your morning and evening routines by muting notifications an hour before
bed and until you've finished your morning disciplines.
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Use self-restricting apps to limit your smartphone functions.
And I know from me on this on my iPhone, I can use the screen time feature to do this.
Respond to emails and messages at strategic points during the day.
He says, invite feedback on your phone habits from your spouse, friends, and family.
Keep your phone out of sight during meals.
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He says, He says, leave your phone in a drawer, car, or power it off during
family time, church, or with friends.
Take regular digital detoxes to recalibrate your priorities.
And he says, evaluate your practices based on the positive and negative impacts.
It's really spending time evaluating it.
And how we're using it is key because sometimes we just don't even take the time to think about it.
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He says to utilize screen time tracking apps to see where you're spending your time.
He talked about consider turning off the color on your phone to make it less appealing.
That didn't help me at all. Just so you know, I've tried that.
He says set down times for your phone to avoid distractions during certain hours.
So Cal Newport also wrote a book called Digital Minimalism.
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It's not a Christian book. in it. He offered some really practical guidance
on how to manage your phone so it supports rather than distracts from your quality of life.
It was a helpful read for me, a book I really, I do recommend it. It was a good read.
I'll put some other resources in the main show notes of books that were a help
to me in thinking this through and helping me put this, really in thinking it
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through for me to work through in my own life and then helping me put this episode together.
But Cal Newport suggested to take a 30-day break from all optional technologies,
things that you don't need for work or important things, like we obviously need
our phone and our messaging.
But he said to take what he called a digital declutter. So he said delete various
apps, social media, websites that are optional.
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And he encouraged in this time to explore and discover offline activities that
bring you joy and satisfaction.
Then he said after that 30-day period that you carefully reintroduce only the
technologies that provide substantial benefits to your life.
So I'm going to walk through with you, if you're still here with me, my personal plan.
So this is a plan that I'm putting together to guard my social media and technology
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use, because I am very plugged into technology.
Again, it's a help to my day in so many ways, but I want to be intentional in
this use of it and implement guards on my social media and technology use that
can help me to keep my focus and priorities in the right place.
I want to focus on my walk with the Lord and my family and all the other responsibilities.
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I don't feel addicted to it, and I've had breaks from it, and I enjoy that time away a lot.
But I'm still working through what it looks like for my blog,
and I know I've discussed that here before, and I'm still working through that.
So between Tony Reinecke's book, The 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You,
and Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism, they were the two resources I used to
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help me put together a plan and set boundaries for my tech use.
I really, I needed to sit and clarify why I used it.
Like personally, Facebook has been a nice way for me to connect with long distance
family and friends. I love seeing photos of what people are up to.
Messaging makes it nice to connect with some of my family members there.
I enjoy tech for things like podcasts and sermons.
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I'm so appreciative of the apps that help me to manage my calendar and my tasks.
I learn online with a lot of various courses and I use different Bible apps.
These are all things I've benefited from.
My husband, you'll laugh at this, but he's really my news source for the most part.
I'm just not a news app person, unless the Babylon Bee counts.
I don't think so, though.
But I do like to listen to Albert Moeller's The Briefing when there are certain
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events I'd like to be a bit more informed about coming from a Christian worldview.
I like my Apple Watch. It helps me to keep track of my fitness goals and check the weather.
Audiobooks and Spotify, they're almost a daily part of my life.
So for the blog, it's been a help in engaging with my listeners and readers.
It's a way for me to share current and past blog and podcast episodes.
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I always hope to encourage and point others to Christ in what I share from quotes
to all my other content. That's my hope.
I've enjoyed building our Patreon community and spending time with the ladies on Zoom calls.
Like in the past, we studied books of the Bible, had book fellowship meetings,
and just got on to our casual coffee chats and talked about various aspects
of our lives. as homemakers to just encourage each other and share ideas.
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So for me to be intentional and set some boundaries for my tech use,
here are some things that I'm working on implementing now.
So I'm not going to use my phone until after I spend time in the Word in the morning.
So I don't check email or social media until I've read my Bible,
worked on my scripture memory, had my prayer time, and planned my day.
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And then in the evenings before bed, I can only read a physical book or I can read on my Kindle.
We don't allow phones at the dining table, and I don't keep my phone in my bedroom,
but I leave it in the kitchen downstairs, and it goes into what's called the
do not disturb mode from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., and I do use my watch as an alarm if I need one.
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I'm setting time now to get online and check email for social media for 15 to
30 minutes twice a day, so later in the morning and then again a little later
in the afternoon, like before I need to get dinner ready.
So I'm just shooting for that twice daily. and until
this becomes a habit because it's not yet I'll probably
set an alarm on my watch to let me know when it's time to check in and
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I can just do that really quick each day just set an alarm twice and
as I know what my day is going to look like that those are the
two times I'm going to check social media so I want to avoid email and social
media on Sundays if it is possible which usually it is for me and I don't post
online for thankful homemaker on those days either So instead of relying on
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social media to be updated when my favorite bloggers and podcasters put up new content,
I make sure to subscribe to podcasts.
I do it on Apple Podcasts. That's just where I listen in. Personally,
I host my podcast on Podbean because you can't host on Apple.
So I know my husband uses the Podbean app.
I use an app called Reader, and Reader brings all my online reading into one
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place automatically for me.
I just subscribe to blogs on there, their feeds, and I can put email newsletters
I get in there, you know, just the RSS feeds. I can put PDFs in there.
So it's an app, and when I'm ready to catch up on these articles,
I just open this app, and it's all there ready for me to read and go through.
(29:35):
It's also the resource I use, how I save articles to share in my monthly newsletter with you.
It just keeps track of them with me and I can flag them so I know,
hey, this is what I want to share for what's, you know, I'm going to start the July newsletter.
So actually, if you're listening and you don't subscribe, do it because I'm
getting ready to send my July newsletter and you'll get some of those articles in there.
But it works similarly to apps like Pocket or Instapaper. It's just nice because
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I don't have to go on social media to find those blogs or get online on the
computer. I can just look at it right in the app, and it's already sorted for me.
So as I'm saying that, again, I'd love to encourage you, if you're a regular
listener here, make sure you subscribe to the podcast on whatever podcast catcher app you use.
Leave a review if you get a moment. I'd so love that, too.
(30:19):
And that you subscribe to the blog so you don't have to rely on social media
to see when I have a new episode or post up.
You'll get it in your email once a month. You get access to the free library
of resources and printables.
And again, my newsletter is only monthly, sometimes bi-monthly,
sometimes I send to you, but it's filled with devotionals, practical tips,
encouraging articles, all things to enrich you in your walk with the Lord is always my hope.
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So I did an app audit on my phone and tablet and I eliminated apps I don't need.
I got rid of them. Again, I made sure I unsubscribed to services that I don't use anymore.
I removed my social media apps from my phone and I left them on my tablet for now.
My tablet doesn't usually leave the house unless we're traveling,
but I may remove them from there too. I need to see how it works for me right now.
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I've simplified the home screen on my phone to display the most important apps
I use, and I turned off all notifications except for phone calls and text messages.
I love the new widgets on the iPhone, and I utilize that a lot for things like
weather and podcasts and audiobooks, so they're just bigger,
and they're there on my screen.
I also updated my favorites list for my phone.
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It's people that I can put in my favorites list, so when I have Do Not Disturb
on, I'm still able to get calls and messages from my immediate family members,
but no other their calls and messages can get through, which I really appreciate that.
I need to regularly review this and evaluate on how I'm doing.
And that is, I want to do that. So I'm looking forward to that.
So why am I doing this? And why am I doing this episode to share with you?
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Because we need to master our technology so it doesn't master us. That's key.
So as we are winding down here, our technology is a gift, but we need to use
it with care and discipline.
Discipline john piper said these digital tools are
a treasure chest of the glories of god and i
want to close here with some words from tony reinecke again he said
(32:09):
we can't his book 12 ways your phone is changing you it's just a really good
classic read for us as believers so if you've not read it i really encourage
you to pick it up and read it he says we cannot marvel at technology by abusing
it true wonder requires humility wonder is the special joy of god reserved for those who
have become childlike and humbled under the awe of a divine Father.
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In humility, we become wonderers, freed from secular disenchantment,
from commercially driven promises that materialism cannot deliver,
and from temporal entrapments in order to more clearly behold God's glory in
and through our technology." I so love that quote.
But it's such a profound reminder that true wonder, it requires humility.
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And as we navigate our use of technology, I pray that we're going to strive
to approach it with a childlike awe and a heart grounded in humility.
Because when we do that, we free ourselves from the distractions and false promises of materialism.
And it allows us to see and use technology as a tool to behold and to share God's glory.
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Glory so my friend let's be intentional mindful
and christ-centered in our tech habits always always
seeking to honor the lord in all that we do
because jesus truly is enough always i'm
so so thankful for your time today again the full show notes are at my blog
at my little home on the web at thankfulhomemaker.com remember why you're if
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you pop over there remember to grab a copy of the pdf for this session too the
link to that again will be in the show notes i am so so thankful for my dear friend,
and I pray that you have a very blessed week.
Music.
Music.
(00:26):
I'm Marci Farrow from Thankful Homemaker, and I'm so glad to be with you today.
Our episode is titled Wisely Navigating Our Technology.
And before we dive in, I want to let you know about a free PDF handout available for this episode.
You can find it over at my resource library at thankfulhomemaker.com backslash free dash library.
(00:49):
I just I believe it's going to be a helpful companion to our discussion today,
and I will make sure to link it in the show notes. I didn't want to forget to mention that.
So in today's world, our smartphones, they become almost indispensable.
They keep us organized with calendars, to-do lists, reminders.
They keep us connected with family and friends through calls and texts and social media.
(01:11):
They entertain us with games and music and podcasts and videos and so much more.
And today's episode, it's not about getting rid of our smartphones.
Phones. It's about using them in a way that aligns with the gospel.
Matthew 10 37 tells us that whoever loves anything more than Jesus is not worthy of him.
(01:31):
So our first desire must be to be wholly devoted to Jesus, ensuring that our
smartphone use reflects that devotion.
We need to be mindful of how our phones impact our spiritual lives,
making sure they enhance rather than hinder our walk with Christ.
We're going to walk through how we can bring our use of technology Back to the
(01:52):
Gospel, Prioritizing Our Relationship with Jesus Above All Else.
I want us to think deeply about our relationship with technology.
It's really easy to get caught up in the convenience and the connectivity our
devices offer, but we must examine our motives.
Are we using our smartphones to seek approval from others?
(02:15):
Are we chasing likes and comments and validation on social media?
Or are we genuinely connecting and using these tools in ways that honor God and enrich our lives?
It's really crucial that we reflect on how our tech habits impact our spiritual
health, our relationships, and even our daily responsibilities. That's a big one.
We're going to discuss practical steps to ensure our technology use aligns with
(02:39):
our faith, helping us to use these tools wisely and intentionally.
And then together, we're going to explore how to balance the benefits of technology
while keeping our hearts and minds focused on Christ.
This involves setting boundaries and cultivating good habits and being mindful
of the the content we consume and the time we spend on our devices.
And I also want to mention that I have an older episode. It's titled Episode
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33, Is Your Smartphone Changing You?
And then I also have an article called 50 Plus Things to Do Instead of Scrolling Social Media.
Both of those are really excellent compliments to this episode,
and they just offer some additional insights and practical tips.
I'm going to link to them and the show notes too for you to explore further,
along along with some good books that have helped me that I'll talk about as we move forward here.
(03:26):
So by being intentional and Christ-centered in our tech habits.
We can transform our relationship with technology into one that supports and
strengthens our walk with the Lord.
So let's dig in here. So let's talk about some benefits of technology.
We live in a world where our phones are with us all the time.
I really appreciate all the things my phone can do for me.
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It keeps my calendar, my to-do list, my grocery list, messages,
phone calls, everything's in one place.
I can listen to sermons and podcasts and audiobooks and music.
I can track my family with Life360, and I can know when my husband's almost
home, which I love that. It brings me peace of mind.
It helps me track my exercise and movement. I can keep a food log.
(04:10):
I can navigate new destinations. I love GPS, right? Without pulling out a paper map or an atlas.
I can manage my bank account and pay bills and quickly look up contact information of church members.
I can play Wordle with my granddaughter.
Paying at the grocery store has never been easier. And I love being able to
take my photos and organize them into albums and be able to share those moments
(04:35):
with loved ones on social media or through texting.
Plus, it allows me to interact with all of you, which is such a blessing.
I can read from my Bible anywhere if I have my device.
Listen to a sermon. I can listen to my Bible, right, audibly being read to me.
I can listen to podcasts that edify me in my walk with the Lord.
I can easily add a prayer request to my prayer app so I don't forget to pray
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for that person that shared a request with me. I can work on my scripture memory.
I can read books on it with the Kindle app. there are
so many good and helpful things that these little computers that
we carry can help us do so while i
may seem to be focusing a bit more on the negative aspects
in this episode as we move forward i did want to acknowledge that there are
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so many positives and how technology helps us in so many ways there are conveniences
and connections i personally am very thankful for and i believe it's important
to recognize the good along with the challenges.
So let's talk about the distractions. Then we have this flip side,
right? The distractions.
Our phones constantly draw us in with social media and news apps.
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We can feel the need to keep checking our email or check our Facebook likes or messages.
You can easily open the Instagram or Facebook app on your phone to check the
feed and realize you've been scrolling for 15 minutes or more.
And that can add up to quite a bit of time in the day.
I think about years ago, people could only reach us at home through a phone
attached to the wall. There was no email or text messaging.
(06:07):
You had to talk by phone in person or write a letter.
If you didn't have an answering machine, and I know growing up we didn't,
you never knew if you missed a call if you weren't home.
We also didn't have 24-hour news back then. It was only during certain times
of the day or you got it through the daily newspaper.
I sometimes miss what I like to think of those as simpler days.
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I don't know that they truly were, but my mind Mine tends to picture them in
that way. I was also a lot younger then, too.
Our phones, computers, and tablets, they can be distractions from our prayer life and Bible reading.
Notifications can be distracting. And there's that temptation that as we're
reading our Bible on our tablet or our phones,
it can be really easy to get bored, or you just don't feel like thinking so
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hard that your mind wanders, and you switch to checking email,
or you head to social media.
Because those activities, they're just easier for our brains to process.
Our priorities may become out of whack when the spiritual disciplines,
They take a back seat to these digital distractions. Our time on social media
can lead us to compare and envy.
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We may focus on what others have, and we lose sight of the blessings that we have from the Lord.
So if digital communication is how primarily you interact with others,
it's going to hinder your in-person
relationships and the depth and the quality of your time with them.
You may have many more connections because of social media, but they're going
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to be of lower quality, and they're not going to have the depth that those in-person
relationships can foster.
There's so much information online, even seemingly good resources,
that at times it can make it hard to discern truth from error at times.
The knowledge we take in from those small bites of information as we find ourselves
skimming articles and scrolling, they're going to give us a superficial understanding
(08:00):
of issues, and then we can begin to lose how to think deeply and critically.
I can keep going here, but let me just bullet point just a few more things.
Depending on your usage, it can be an interruption to your sleep when you find
yourself using your device late at night.
Our interaction online, it can make us more prone to sin. We can have responses
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that are not covered in grace and truth with others.
We're not seeking to love that person. And maybe we forget as we're typing that
that's a real flesh and blood person we're responding to in possibly a very harsh and sinful way.
It's much harder to correct or challenge someone in person than it is online.
Our responses tend to be much harsher and less patient.
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We don't patiently think them through maybe as well online as we would when
that person's in front of us.
Our responses would tend to be probably much gentler and kinder and a little more thought through.
That constant intake of information, it can prevent us from being fully present
in the moment. And this can happen during the dinner table or family worship
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time or our own time alone with the Lord.
Lord, have you ever found yourself
just on your phone looking at it while your child's talking to you?
And they're not the priority in that moment.
We can fall into the trap of pleasing others instead of pleasing the Lord by
looking to our likes and comments and followers.
That can become where we find our sense of worth in our social media.
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It can begin to become a form of idolatry. And then also just the thought when
you think this through that we are now reachable anywhere and anytime that can
feel a little stressful and a bit intrusive, right?
So we're not even just concerned about ourselves, but also how are we conditioning
our kids, our kids, or for me, our grandkids.
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This affects all ages. It's easy to get caught up in our smartphones,
even with the good things we're listening to or reading.
So we want to think through how can we better manage our technology use within our own families.
Again, just how often do we find ourselves scrolling through social media when
we should be doing chores or
spending time with our children or spending time in the Word and Prayer.
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I really appreciated Andy Crouch's book, The TechWise Family.
It offered practical and thoughtful guidance. It provided really good insights
that can help us navigate technology more effectively within our households.
And I want to share some key takeaways from this book. And just a note, I want to share this.
I use technology to gather these thoughts. I use something called the ReadWise
(10:33):
app, and it connects to my Kindle, and it keeps track of all my highlights and
it makes them really easy to search.
I'm just reminding you here again that I really appreciate technology.
It's been a huge help to me in so many ways.
So here's a few key takeaways that I grabbed from his book.
It's a great read if you have a family with young children still at home.
It was a good read for me as a grandmother now.
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So make sure, and these are things you can take them wherever they're at,
whatever pertains to your family.
I'm just gonna shoot some of the nuggets that I pulled from it.
So make sure you establish clear guidelines with how technology is used in your home.
Maybe you set specific times or time limits for device use or watching TV or playing video games.
You want your technology to serve your family's values and not detract from them.
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And then create tech-free zones where you designate certain areas of your home that are tech-free.
That's probably the table where you eat dinner, whether it's your kitchen table
or your dining room and the bedrooms, right?
We want to promote good conversation at the dinner table. We want it void of
distractions, and we want our bedrooms to be a place that fosters a restful environment.
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We want to model behavior, right? As parents, we, our grandparents,
our actions speak louder than words.
Demonstrate responsible and balanced technology.
You should be setting an example for your children on how to use it.
And then promote activities that foster creativity and physical engagement.
Think of things like reading, playing board games, spending time outdoors, right?
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This is going to help your kiddos to balance their intake of digital content.
And then think about maybe having what a lot of people call a digital Sabbath.
Implement regular tech-free periods, like where the entire family takes a break
from screens to reconnect with each other and engage in non-digital activities.
Maybe it's taking a walk together. Maybe you do this every Sunday,
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you just disconnect, or monthly or quarterly.
Or maybe you do it on family vacations. If your older kids want to share their
vacation photos, I'm having a hard time speaking today, their vacation photos
with friends on social media, they can always do it when you get back.
Maintain open dialogue with your kiddos about technology use.
You want to discuss its benefits, the potential pitfalls.
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Encourage your children to share their experiences and their challenges with
technology, and make sure that you share yours with them. him.
So let's talk a little bit about the good and the bad of social media,
because being connected, it's part of how God designed us, right?
And technology, including social media, allows us to connect in so many wonderful ways.
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When our daughter lived in Norway, I was so thankful for Skype because it allowed
us to see and connect with her and her family.
I love my time together in our Patreon group on Zoom because we can see,
connect, and we can learn more about each other.
I love being able to see the ladies' faces and hear their voices,
and I know more about them in that way.
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So when I'm interacting with them online, I already know them,
and I really appreciate that.
Social media and online platforms, they offer countless opportunities to learn
and access educational content and resources.
I really appreciate finding solid content to read or listen to,
and there are so many resources that have helped to enrich my walk with the Lord.
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Through social media, I can share encouraging messages. I can stay updated on prayer requests.
I can participate in online Bible studies and discussions with believers from
all over the world that strengthen and encourage me in my walk with the Lord.
So these tools, when we use them wisely, they truly can be a blessing.
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But social media, it can sometimes make us reflexive rather than reflective
because it can be really easy to judge posts, deciding in a moment whether to
like or reject them without much thought.
We need to engage intentionally and invest time in others.
Online interactions, they should supplement. They should never replace our in-person relationships.
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Relationships relying too heavily on social media
as our primary source of connection it can leave
us feeling lonely or isolated it's never going to
replace the warmth and authenticity of face-to-face interactions
plus it can distract us from important tasks
like spending quality time with family and friends and completing our daily
responsibilities online interaction to learn to listen to sermons is not a replacement
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for church your church family needs to be priority over that time your Your
pastor's sermon is priority over the sermons you take in online.
This is key. Your church family needs to see you in person.
We need to remember that while technology offers a lot of benefits,
it presents challenges, right?
So as Christians, using these tools wisely, it's vital.
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We want to, again, ensure that
they enhance rather than hinder our relationships with God and others.
By being intentional about our technology use, we can enjoy its benefits,
and we can And then maintain a balanced and a reflective approach.
And this is really important.
I want to talk about biblical literacy. Tony Reinecke, he had just such a great
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section in his book on this.
He stated that smartphone use doesn't make us illiterate, but illiterate.
Or we're able to read, but we're just not willing to do it, to invest the time in it.
He shares that we grow lazy in our literacy and powers of concentration.
So we're to be people of the book. So as Christians, our Bibles are the oldest
(16:09):
and longest book we've ever read. It's complex.
It has the most authors that we've read in one book. It's all under the inspiration
of the Spirit. It can just be daunting.
But it is a book we need to take the time to read and comprehend slowly.
Slowly one term jesus uses repeatedly in the scriptures is have you not read
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we have our bibles right we have multiple copies and we have them on our devices
but have we comprehended them have we meditated on what they say and thought deeply.
Tony stated in his book that spirit-wrought literacy is a supernatural gift
given to us so that we can see invisible things.
To do this, we have to cultivate literacy because when we lose literacy,
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we lose the quote, substance of things hoped for.
And hope is a confidence in things unseen. Think here Hebrews 11.1.
So we're trying to see things we can't see with our eyes. It requires literacy
and concentration and to see as God sees and not as man sees.
We need to not allow spiritual hardening to happen.
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God wants us to see through all that man sees.
We can see what's on a screen or the media we're surrounded with,
but God wants us to see them through all that and see the eternal glories.
So we need to strive to nurture our spiritual literacy, right?
Allowing us to see beyond the visible and focus on the eternal glories that
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God wants us to perceive.
And when we do this, we align our perspective with God's and we maintain a deeper,
more meaningful connection with him.
We can't allow our smartphone use to replace or diminish our time with the Lord
and his word and meditating on his truths.
Because if we're deficient here, we're going to have issues in all areas of
our lives, not just our smartphone use.
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Charles Spurgeon said, and he was much before our smartphone era, by a lot, right?
He said, if Satan can disrupt your devotions, he can disrupt your day.
So think about that. How often do we wake up to meet with God,
and the first thing we grab, maybe even before our coffee, is our phone?
I'm guilty. I'm raising my hand here, and I regret every time I do it.
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Nothing good comes from it, and my affections can get easily drawn into it.
Because here it's much easier to glance at email or scroll Instagram instead
of reading my Bible, which requires effort, work, and concentration.
Some studies have shown that if your smartphone is within your reach,
a part of your brain is constantly saying, should I check my phone? Should I check my phone?
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One statistic, and it was the highest number, said the average smartphone user
checks their phone every 4.3 minutes.
Some say it's more than 85 times a day, And this obviously isn't true of everyone,
but it is a lot more than we should be doing, right?
So at least in the morning, make sure you've separated yourself from your phone
or anything else that could easily come between you and your time with the Lord.
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Your quiet time, it still counts if you do it without taking a photo and posting it on Facebook.
In one of his Ask Pastor John episodes, John Piper discussed why we may check
our phones first thing in the morning and the possible consequences.
He said, he said, we may want to boost our ego to see how many likes we got in a Facebook status.
He said, it's a quick way to avoid responsibility or the hardships we have to
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deal with in getting our day started.
Sometimes it's a desire to be mindlessly entertained instead of engaging my mind.
And then he continues. He says, what if I check my phone first thing in the
morning and I'm the first one to come across some bad news in my email?
Or what if I'm on Facebook and instead of likes, I find hateful comments on his status?
He says, I've not even taken the time in the morning to be prepared for the battle.
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Was that five minutes of me checking my phone worth being drugged down to small-minded things?
So what are some benefits, friend, of seeking the Lord first thing in the morning?
Like when you wake up in the morning, may it start first with a cry out to the Lord, right?
Let him know you love him, you need his help, and do this before you pick your
head off the pillow. Psalm 5.3 tells us, O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice.
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In the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
So I've went through this many times in many previous posts or podcasts to take
the time the night before to set out your reading materials in the morning.
Make sure you have your area with what you're going to do when you spend time
with the Lord already ready to go.
Because the benefits with starting your day with the Lord and not your phone
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are you're strengthened in the Lord, right? right, for whatever the day may bring.
You've not wasted precious time given to you by the Lord, and it's more freeing
to check that phone after you've
prioritized and put the important things first. I know it is for me.
After sitting at his feet first thing in the morning, you're reminded of how
your Heavenly Father cares and loves you, right?
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Jesus is enough. I'm not done yet. Sorry, that's coming again.
But hearing him speak to you through his word, it's going to be a sweet reminder
all through the rest of your day.
Charles Spurgeon said it best. He said it's a good rule never to look into the
face of a man in the morning till you have looked into the face of God.
So let's talk about some litmus tests for our technology use.
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Ask your spouse or your children about your phone habits. Tell them they can
be brutally honest with you.
Consider what God has called you to do in your family, church,
work, school, community, home, right? What are your responsibilities?
And you're gonna see what's a waste of time and what's not.
Without direction, our smartphones can fill a void in our lives and they can
become idols pretty quick.
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They can expose our heart's desire, seeking approval, being liked,
appearing intelligent.
Ask yourself, how am I influencing others and why? Is it for me or someone else?
Tony Reinecke, he had these self-reflection questions in his book.
He said, and I'm going to put these, they're part of that PDF,
that handout that goes with this too, along with practical tips he gives,
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and I'm going to go through here in a little bit.
He said, do my smartphone behaviors move me more toward God or away from him?
Do my smartphone behaviors edify me and others, or do they build nothing of lasting value?
Do my smartphone behaviors expose my freedom in Christ or my bondage to technology?
He gives some practical tips, too. He provided 12 boundaries to consider as we use our smartphone.
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These are really helpful. I'm going to dash through them. They're in the main post at the blog.
They'll be there for you, and they're also in that PDF. of. He said to make
sure you turn off non-essential push notifications, to delete expired non-essential and time-wasting apps.
And I'm adding to that to make sure that we unsubscribe from app services that we don't use anymore.
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So make sure before you delete that app that if you're subscribed to something,
you stopped paying for that, right?
Because that can be a huge money savings each month.
Keep your phone out of the bedroom at night. Use a real alarm clock, not your phone alarm.
Guard your morning and evening routines by muting notifications an hour before
bed and until you've finished your morning disciplines.
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Use self-restricting apps to limit your smartphone functions.
And I know from me on this on my iPhone, I can use the screen time feature to do this.
Respond to emails and messages at strategic points during the day.
He says, invite feedback on your phone habits from your spouse, friends, and family.
Keep your phone out of sight during meals.
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He says, He says, leave your phone in a drawer, car, or power it off during
family time, church, or with friends.
Take regular digital detoxes to recalibrate your priorities.
And he says, evaluate your practices based on the positive and negative impacts.
It's really spending time evaluating it.
And how we're using it is key because sometimes we just don't even take the time to think about it.
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He says to utilize screen time tracking apps to see where you're spending your time.
He talked about consider turning off the color on your phone to make it less appealing.
That didn't help me at all. Just so you know, I've tried that.
He says set down times for your phone to avoid distractions during certain hours.
So Cal Newport also wrote a book called Digital Minimalism.
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It's not a Christian book. in it. He offered some really practical guidance
on how to manage your phone so it supports rather than distracts from your quality of life.
It was a helpful read for me, a book I really, I do recommend it. It was a good read.
I'll put some other resources in the main show notes of books that were a help
to me in thinking this through and helping me put this, really in thinking it
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through for me to work through in my own life and then helping me put this episode together.
But Cal Newport suggested to take a 30-day break from all optional technologies,
things that you don't need for work or important things, like we obviously need
our phone and our messaging.
But he said to take what he called a digital declutter. So he said delete various
apps, social media, websites that are optional.
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And he encouraged in this time to explore and discover offline activities that
bring you joy and satisfaction.
Then he said after that 30-day period that you carefully reintroduce only the
technologies that provide substantial benefits to your life.
So I'm going to walk through with you, if you're still here with me, my personal plan.
So this is a plan that I'm putting together to guard my social media and technology
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use, because I am very plugged into technology.
Again, it's a help to my day in so many ways, but I want to be intentional in
this use of it and implement guards on my social media and technology use that
can help me to keep my focus and priorities in the right place.
I want to focus on my walk with the Lord and my family and all the other responsibilities.
(25:39):
I don't feel addicted to it, and I've had breaks from it, and I enjoy that time away a lot.
But I'm still working through what it looks like for my blog,
and I know I've discussed that here before, and I'm still working through that.
So between Tony Reinecke's book, The 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You,
and Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism, they were the two resources I used to
(26:00):
help me put together a plan and set boundaries for my tech use.
I really, I needed to sit and clarify why I used it.
Like personally, Facebook has been a nice way for me to connect with long distance
family and friends. I love seeing photos of what people are up to.
Messaging makes it nice to connect with some of my family members there.
I enjoy tech for things like podcasts and sermons.
(26:20):
I'm so appreciative of the apps that help me to manage my calendar and my tasks.
I learn online with a lot of various courses and I use different Bible apps.
These are all things I've benefited from.
My husband, you'll laugh at this, but he's really my news source for the most part.
I'm just not a news app person, unless the Babylon Bee counts.
I don't think so, though.
But I do like to listen to Albert Moeller's The Briefing when there are certain
(26:44):
events I'd like to be a bit more informed about coming from a Christian worldview.
I like my Apple Watch. It helps me to keep track of my fitness goals and check the weather.
Audiobooks and Spotify, they're almost a daily part of my life.
So for the blog, it's been a help in engaging with my listeners and readers.
It's a way for me to share current and past blog and podcast episodes.
(27:07):
I always hope to encourage and point others to Christ in what I share from quotes
to all my other content. That's my hope.
I've enjoyed building our Patreon community and spending time with the ladies on Zoom calls.
Like in the past, we studied books of the Bible, had book fellowship meetings,
and just got on to our casual coffee chats and talked about various aspects
of our lives. as homemakers to just encourage each other and share ideas.
(27:30):
So for me to be intentional and set some boundaries for my tech use,
here are some things that I'm working on implementing now.
So I'm not going to use my phone until after I spend time in the Word in the morning.
So I don't check email or social media until I've read my Bible,
worked on my scripture memory, had my prayer time, and planned my day.
(27:50):
And then in the evenings before bed, I can only read a physical book or I can read on my Kindle.
We don't allow phones at the dining table, and I don't keep my phone in my bedroom,
but I leave it in the kitchen downstairs, and it goes into what's called the
do not disturb mode from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., and I do use my watch as an alarm if I need one.
(28:10):
I'm setting time now to get online and check email for social media for 15 to
30 minutes twice a day, so later in the morning and then again a little later
in the afternoon, like before I need to get dinner ready.
So I'm just shooting for that twice daily. and until
this becomes a habit because it's not yet I'll probably
set an alarm on my watch to let me know when it's time to check in and
(28:31):
I can just do that really quick each day just set an alarm twice and
as I know what my day is going to look like that those are the
two times I'm going to check social media so I want to avoid email and social
media on Sundays if it is possible which usually it is for me and I don't post
online for thankful homemaker on those days either So instead of relying on
(28:51):
social media to be updated when my favorite bloggers and podcasters put up new content,
I make sure to subscribe to podcasts.
I do it on Apple Podcasts. That's just where I listen in. Personally,
I host my podcast on Podbean because you can't host on Apple.
So I know my husband uses the Podbean app.
I use an app called Reader, and Reader brings all my online reading into one
(29:14):
place automatically for me.
I just subscribe to blogs on there, their feeds, and I can put email newsletters
I get in there, you know, just the RSS feeds. I can put PDFs in there.
So it's an app, and when I'm ready to catch up on these articles,
I just open this app, and it's all there ready for me to read and go through.
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It's also the resource I use, how I save articles to share in my monthly newsletter with you.
It just keeps track of them with me and I can flag them so I know,
hey, this is what I want to share for what's, you know, I'm going to start the July newsletter.
So actually, if you're listening and you don't subscribe, do it because I'm
getting ready to send my July newsletter and you'll get some of those articles in there.
But it works similarly to apps like Pocket or Instapaper. It's just nice because
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I don't have to go on social media to find those blogs or get online on the
computer. I can just look at it right in the app, and it's already sorted for me.
So as I'm saying that, again, I'd love to encourage you, if you're a regular
listener here, make sure you subscribe to the podcast on whatever podcast catcher app you use.
Leave a review if you get a moment. I'd so love that, too.
(30:19):
And that you subscribe to the blog so you don't have to rely on social media
to see when I have a new episode or post up.
You'll get it in your email once a month. You get access to the free library
of resources and printables.
And again, my newsletter is only monthly, sometimes bi-monthly,
sometimes I send to you, but it's filled with devotionals, practical tips,
encouraging articles, all things to enrich you in your walk with the Lord is always my hope.
(30:42):
So I did an app audit on my phone and tablet and I eliminated apps I don't need.
I got rid of them. Again, I made sure I unsubscribed to services that I don't use anymore.
I removed my social media apps from my phone and I left them on my tablet for now.
My tablet doesn't usually leave the house unless we're traveling,
but I may remove them from there too. I need to see how it works for me right now.
(31:04):
I've simplified the home screen on my phone to display the most important apps
I use, and I turned off all notifications except for phone calls and text messages.
I love the new widgets on the iPhone, and I utilize that a lot for things like
weather and podcasts and audiobooks, so they're just bigger,
and they're there on my screen.
I also updated my favorites list for my phone.
(31:25):
It's people that I can put in my favorites list, so when I have Do Not Disturb
on, I'm still able to get calls and messages from my immediate family members,
but no other their calls and messages can get through, which I really appreciate that.
I need to regularly review this and evaluate on how I'm doing.
And that is, I want to do that. So I'm looking forward to that.
So why am I doing this? And why am I doing this episode to share with you?
(31:48):
Because we need to master our technology so it doesn't master us. That's key.
So as we are winding down here, our technology is a gift, but we need to use
it with care and discipline.
Discipline john piper said these digital tools are
a treasure chest of the glories of god and i
want to close here with some words from tony reinecke again he said
(32:09):
we can't his book 12 ways your phone is changing you it's just a really good
classic read for us as believers so if you've not read it i really encourage
you to pick it up and read it he says we cannot marvel at technology by abusing
it true wonder requires humility wonder is the special joy of god reserved for those who
have become childlike and humbled under the awe of a divine Father.
(32:31):
In humility, we become wonderers, freed from secular disenchantment,
from commercially driven promises that materialism cannot deliver,
and from temporal entrapments in order to more clearly behold God's glory in
and through our technology." I so love that quote.
But it's such a profound reminder that true wonder, it requires humility.
(32:55):
And as we navigate our use of technology, I pray that we're going to strive
to approach it with a childlike awe and a heart grounded in humility.
Because when we do that, we free ourselves from the distractions and false promises of materialism.
And it allows us to see and use technology as a tool to behold and to share God's glory.
(33:15):
Glory so my friend let's be intentional mindful
and christ-centered in our tech habits always always
seeking to honor the lord in all that we do
because jesus truly is enough always i'm
so so thankful for your time today again the full show notes are at my blog
at my little home on the web at thankfulhomemaker.com remember why you're if
(33:36):
you pop over there remember to grab a copy of the pdf for this session too the
link to that again will be in the show notes i am so so thankful for my dear friend,
and I pray that you have a very blessed week.
Music.
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