Reflection/Exhortation 7: To “Swipe” With God Given Wisdom (09.06.2020)
To “Swipe” With God Given Wisdom by Jacob Ting (Youth Ministry)
We use mobile devices on a daily basis, accessing to the limitless world of the internet and social media. In fact, without us realising, most of us use them aimlessly and futilely. Subconsciously, mobile devices control our brains and attention, changing our habits, relationships and emotions. We often don’t know where the limit is.
Human beings have the problem of distraction and having short span of concentration in today’s fast moving life. Our hearts are often restless, and the design of scientific and technological products makes use of this sense to let us indulge in it with functions such as Comments and Likes. We are eager for sense of freshness, recognition, while the continuous updates on news, postings, advertisements etc make us unable to stop.
What’s more, “fear of missing out” on social media (also known colloquially as FOMO) can make people anxious and fidgety. The incessant sound of notification, the drive of curiosity and the desire to keep up with the information make us constantly swiping the screen, making us always want to pick up the mobile device, not knowing that these devices shorten our time of concentration and make us more and more distracted.
Experts have found that people are happiest when they are focused on difficult tasks. The best time of a person’s life is not when he passively accepts pleasure and relaxation, but when he actively forces his body and mind to the extreme and completes arduous but worthwhile things. Concentration is the key to a purposeful life, which is why constant distraction can be a hindrance.
As believers, we must focus on the ultimate goal, pay attention to the technology we use, re-examine the relationship between ourselves and technology, and draw the boundary between lives both “online” and “offline”. This can be part of our spiritual discipline.
How can we enjoy the advantages of mobile phones and protect ourselves from the disadvantages? Allow me to share a couple of suggestions which might (or might not) work on every individual.
- Mindfulness practice.
Mindfulness is a method of our brain training (in my next sharing, I’m going to share on the marvels of God’s creation – our brains), which pays attention to everything in the moment purposefully and consciously, not making any judgment or reaction, but simply perceiving it and paying attention to it. This can re-train the brain and increase the amount of time you have to focus. Each time before you want to reach for your mobile device, remind yourself to “stop, breathe and live in the moment”, stop the action of reaching for your mobile phone, take a slow, deep breath and pay attention to the details of what you are experiencing at the moment. This in turn would create a speed hump for yourself, preventing (hopefully) the action of reaching for your mobile device without thinking.
- Digital Sabbath
Take one evening, after dinner (usually a time when the online traffic is heaviest, as many would turn to their mobile devices after filling up their stomachs), TURN OFF your mobile phone and all devices that have access to the Internet. Remember that the purpose of you is not to punish yourself, but to make yourself breaking away from these devices. In the beginning, you may feel uncomfortable all over, uneasy. You would feel that something is amiss, out of place, which is only normal as we are so used to “date” our mobile devices wherever and whenever we can. You can then observe how you feel when you don’t have a mobile device, let yourself relearn how to deal with yourself without a mobile device, using the extra time (it can be just 15 to 30 minutes, worry not, you can still breathe) to meditate, pray, read a short passage of Bible or to reconnect with the real world.
We are living in a time where every day’s work or life is inseparable from information technology, such as mobile phones, computers or networks. They help us work more efficiently, but they also make us feel more busy and distracted. They seem so pervasive, interesting, and useful that some people find it impossible to avoid them, but that doesn’t mean we have to give in to them. We must exercise our mind and will. We need to re-establish ways of interaction with it to make technology more beneficial to us. We have to be thoughtful and focused enough to tame our restlessness and control the device instead of being controlled. We must do so, because only in this way can we find ourselves free from the bondage.
The Scripture in 1 Corinthians clearly tells us that there are many things in the world that you can do, but not all of them are good for you. And don’t let these things dominate you. God wants us to be free. When you find that you are controlled by anything, come to God and ask the true Light to release us, leave the bondage and regain freedom in Christ. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:12:
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. (NIV)
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. (ESV)
May God give us wisdom that we may use the mobile device with astuteness.
