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We are constantly fighting the battle with our digital stuff. Sometimes, we luxuriate in the opportunities provided by technology. Sometimes, we feel powerless to just. stop. scrolling. How can we have a better relationship with technology? We need to do a digital detox. In this episode, we’ll go over our digital decluttering checklist with for main steps: Reflect, Limit, Curate, and Replace.
S1E38 – Why You Need Space in Your Life to Truly Serve God – A More Beautiful Life Collective Podcast
Do you feel frazzled – like you are stuck in the rat race of the modern day’s focus on productivity? In today’s episode, we are talking about why you need margin in your life to hear God’s voice and recognize the needs of those around you. Then, we are going to talk about the special ability of those who have more space in their lives to truly serve and minister to others. We need more margin people.
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I’m your host, Cayce Fletcher, and you can learn a little bit more about me here.
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Keep creating a life you love, and cultivating your heart for God.
This is Season 1 Episode 36 of A More Beautiful Life Collective Podcast.
Every morning I felt like I was going through the same battle. I’d wake up, do my morning routine, and then finally settle down on the couch to finish my coffee while the rest of the house got out of bed. My son would race through the hallway in the morning, laughing and smiling, only to have his laughs turn to whining after about 5 minutes.
“Can I watch a show?” “Can we turn on Paw Patrol?” “Why can’t we watch anything?” “I want to watch a show.”
Anyone with young kids knows that unchecked the whining can get pretty relentless… and pretty annoying.
When it comes to screens, we often are swept along with the tide of culture. From trains in the Victorian era… to Automobiles in the mid-20th century… to computers and the internet at the turn of the 21st century. We just view this steady progression of technology as inevitable. We don’t often stop to question if the implications and effects of the technology are good. We would sacrifice anything in our pursuit of progress.
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15 to 20 years after the advent of the Smartphone and social media, we are finally starting to question the effects of technology on our kids and ourselves. We are beginning to recognize that there are far more effects than we think concerning technology. It’s not just about an increase in connectivity, productivity, and information. It also leads to an increase in anxiety, workaholism, depression, and a general sense of ‘vegging out.’
Last year, we focused on the question: Should you go on screens? (S1E4) Many of us live like technology is lord of our lives – rather than letting Jesus be lord of our lives. We may be smartphone zombies or allow technology to become between us and our relationships with others. We may try to stop our technology use and go cold turkey – deleting social media apps or switching to a flip phone to try to curb our usage.
I recently read a post from one of the authors of the homeschool curriculum that I used. Her child was growing up right at the advent of early smartphone adoption, and so she gave her middle school daughter a phone because that was what everyone was doing at the time. She realized over time what a negative force that smartphone was in her daughter’s life. She wrote about her younger kids, “When we know better, we do better.”
Maybe smartphones and the internet weren’t around when you were a kid, but at some point, most of us have let some amount of regular technology use into our lives. We play video games, we use social media, or we have a constant stream of information via Cable News, Twitter, or YouTube. At the same time, study after study – in addition to anecdotal evidence – shows the negative effects of this technology usage.
So, what are we to do? If we know better, we should do better. But, how can we do better?
Why You Need a Digital Decluttering Checklist
Today, we are going to focus on the habit of technology usage, a habit that we’ve talked about several times on the blog and podcast. This is one that I feel a constant struggle with. Technology is the primary distraction for us and our kids. It is the issue that plagues parents the most. It is the thing we are least equipped to deal with. It is the uncharted territory of the modern age.
Smartphone makers and app designers are strategically creating methods to make us spend more time on our phones and use our psychological predispositions against us. There are also lots of good things that we can access on technology – from grocery shopping to newborn baby pics from friends and family to the occasional break provided by the entertainment we can get.
The question becomes what habits can we put in our lives that help us put technology in its proper place while allowing for the fact that sometimes we will use it. How can we balance technology use with outside time and ‘people’ time? How can we use technology wisely?
I’ve already written about technology use before and given you reasons why we should limit technology in our episodes ongoing ‘no screens’ and on quitting social media. Today, I’m going to give you four steps for a digital decluttering checklist that can help you put technology in its proper place. I have a digital decluttering guide that you can access in the show notes. You can also view a short playlist on YouTube that walks you through 30 days of digital decluttering. (Be sure to subscribe to get all the videos in the playlist.)
Digital Decluttering is the process of putting technology in its proper place. When we declutter our things, we work through value judgments in order to figure out what is worth keeping in our lives and what is clutter that we just don’t want to deal with. When we declutter, we sort through the items, keeping the best and getting rid of the rest. The first thing we have to do is look honestly at the amount of things we have and ask ourselves do we really need this in our lives. (Do you really need 500 pens??)
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I think it’s helpful to view digital decluttering as a four-step process that walks you through the assessment and evaluation of your digital habits. The goal is to put technology in its proper place. Today, we are going to go over our digital decluttering checklist which will help you to put technology in its proper place. Check out our FULL GUIDE to the 30 Days of Digital Decluttering with a digital decluttering checklist on our shop.
4 Steps in our Digital Decluttering Checklist: Reflect, Limit, Curate, and Replace
Step 1. Reflect: Always ask yourself WHY
Step #1 in our digital decluttering checklist focuses on analyzing our current technology usage. We need to know where we are before we can attempt to make a change. To help us analyze our technology usage, we first need to look at the devices themselves.
There are a few truths we need to remember about our devices:
- Devices are designed to capture our attention. They are designed to be very addictive (just like cigarettes and vapes).
- Unlike other drugs, technology is also seen as benign and is pervasive in our everyday lifestyle.
- Every time we go to a device we are first looking for some kind of input or release, whether that’s in the form of entertainment, information, or connection. Over time, we grow dependent on our devices as habits (aka addictions) form surrounding our screen time.
- People who have developed apps and other devices don’t care about you as an individual. They desire your attention to make money. Instead of a product being the commodity, you and your data have become the commodity. The more your eyes are on these apps, the more data they get, and ultimately the more money they make.
- The other side of the attention economy is the influencers. These people desire your attention to widen their influence. Influence is not necessarily bad. But, we must understand what someone is influencing us to do. If someone is just trying to get you to buy cosmetics, become more consumeristic, or subscribe to a certain ideology that is against Christian beliefs, you need to be (1) aware of their influence and (2) willing to remove yourself from that influence.
Mama Bear Apologetics uses the acronym ROAR to give believers a tool to assess the message of an ‘influencer’ online.
- Recognize the message
- Offer discernment (affirm the good and reject the bad)
- Argue for a healthier approach
- Reinforce through discussion, discipleship, and prayer
When you start the process of the digital decluttering checklist, you need to first assess your current usage, influences, and motivations.
Ask yourself:
- How much technology am I using?
- What types of technology (devices and apps) am I using?
- What am I being influenced by? What am I being influenced to do?
Journal about your technology usage to reflect on it.
Step 2. Limit: Place Boundaries
Understanding why you are using technology and how you are being influenced by technology will help to inform the next three steps. The next thing you must do in the digital decluttering checklist is place limits on your technology use.
I always think about this verse when I talk about boundary lines. Psalm 16:5-6 says, “LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night, my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”
I love that. In the context of this verse, we have to remember the portion that God gave each Israelite tribe when they arrived in the Promised Land. The markers on the land became their boundary lines and represented the full measure of God’s inheritance. There’s a certain sentiment of contentment and gratitude as this Psalmist glorifies God for the portion he has received. He doesn’t ask for more. He doesn’t look at someone else’s land (or life) and covet that. He is just resting in God’s specific inheritance for him.
When we talk about limitations, I always think about them in terms of these boundary lines. When we place limits or boundaries, we are practicing self-denial and self-control. We are intentionally telling ourselves we can’t have everything that we want. But, when we put these boundaries in place, we can ‘rest more securely’ in the life that we’ve chosen. Our attitudes move from constant wanting, jealousy, and turmoil – think hustle culture – to being grateful, content, and at peace with what God has given us now.
The Bible never explicitly talks about the type of addictive technology that we have now, but you listen to episode 3 to get an idea of what the Bible does say about technology. With prayer and study – and using the information you gathered from step 1, set some limitations on your technology use.
A limitation or boundary could look like this:
- I will not check work-related emails, phone calls, and text messages after I get home each day.
- I will not look at my phone at the dinner table.
- I will not look at my phone before I read my Bible each morning.
- I will not watch screens each night after 8 pm.
- I will not spend more than 2 hours scrolling on my phone each day.
Each of these statements is focused on limiting a behavior. They are things that you will not do. Limitation in this way is like fasting – it is a form of self-denial. You may feel withdrawal from your screens, but that is okay. It is a form of digital detox. You are waking back up to the real world.
Step 3. Curate: Keep the best, get rid of the rest
Step 3 in your digital decluttering checklist is to curate what technology you want to keep.
After you have set limits on your technology usage, you can begin to choose the best things about technology to keep in your life. Just pause and take a second to think about some of the things that you really like about technology. Write your list down to help you with this step.
My list includes:
- Doing grocery pickup (especially so I don’t have to have 2 young kids having meltdown tantrums in the store)
- Ordering pizza and other fast food items so it’s quicker
- Amazon
- Getting to listen to so many amazing podcasts about all sorts of topics
- Being able to connect with family and like-minded believers and thinkers on social media
- Getting to write my thoughts and record my podcasts for others. Being able to still teach about the things I care about and value.
- Our weekly family pizza and movie night each Friday
- Being able to listen to beautiful music with the touch of a button
I am not anti-technology. In fact, I actually love technology which is why I have to work so hard to make sure that I am setting appropriate boundaries and limits on my time. I would use it all the time if I could!
What we have to understand is the tension between setting good boundaries while still using technology as the good tool that it is. If I can recognize what I actually enjoy about technology, I can begin to curate it.
What is curation? It is keeping the best and getting rid of the rest. You are sifting through all the technology clutter and noise and only keeping what influences you to do great things for the glory of God.
What does curation look like? Go through each of your channels of information on your devices and only subscribe to the things you actually love and are filled up or sharpened by. I don’t think you should exist in an echo chamber – the algorithms on sites are already trying to do that anyway. But, I do think that you should be mindful about who you are letting influence you. If you find yourself angry, upset, or driven to follow mindless trends, you need to curate your feed.
Curation should affect our social media feed, YouTube algorithm, Spotify playlists, podcast subscriptions, and Netflix’s “What should you watch next?” If we find ourselves listening to filth, chances are that filth is seeping into our lives.
Out of all of our steps in the digital decluttering checklist, this is the most important. Curation will change the influences in our lives. If we want to be encouraged to follow after Jesus, the influences in our lives should be pointing us to him. Through curation, we are only putting things into ourselves that will help us to be strong and healthy Christians.
Step 4. Replace: Fill it with things you love
Curation is focused on choosing the best of technology to incorporate into our lives. However, you hopefully have found extra ‘no screens’ time in your life through the boundaries you placed on social media.
The last step in the digital decluttering checklist is replacing the old time that you used to use for screens with new types of activities. Several researchers and thought leaders have called this type of activity ‘embodied activity.’ Basically, we are getting out of our minds and off of the ‘unreal’ world of screens and doing something in the real world with our hands. This may require movement, connection, and nature. And, it is so good for us.
Some ideas for embodied activities are:
- Taking a walk outside every day
- Planting a garden
- Painting or crafting
- Journaling with pen and paper
- Connecting with someone face-to-face
- Cooking or baking
The best types of these activities are relatively mindless tasks that use your hands and have a physical result at the end.
If you have been a heavy screen user, you might find that you just don’t know what you like to do. Try out different activities and see what you like. You can find a full list here on our soul-care episode.
Now you try: Your Digital Decluttering Checklist
Today, we’ve talked about how to practice digital decluttering. This habit will help you to use screens wisely while freeing up your time and mind to enjoy God’s good creation in the body that he has given you.
We follow four steps in our digital decluttering checklist:
- Reflect
- Limit
- Curate
- Replace
If you would like to get a step-by-step guide, visit the show notes and download our 30 days of Digital Decluttering.
Until next time, keep creating a life you love, and cultivating your heart for God.
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