I’m doing a digital declutter for Lent, so I’m not going to be ‘around’ on the internet for a while.
Technology is useful, but much of it isn’t vital; if we let it take over our lives, it can be harmful.
That’s why it’s important to take stock of the digital tools we use and ask some simple questions: is what this adds to my life worth more than what it takes away? Is the way I’m using this technology helping me to flourish? Or, my favourite question to ask of anything: is this making me more or less alive?
I think most of us will be aware that our relationship with social media and smartphones isn’t an entirely healthy one. Your attention is a precious gift, and a lot of these technologies are deliberately and aggressively designed to take away as much of it as possible, as often as possible. And if we don’t change anything, nothing will change.
I see Lent as a great opportunity to address this. It’s a chance to, as Henry David Thoreau put it, ‘put to rout all that is not life.’ Take time to think about what you truly value in life, and how you really want to spend your ‘shining, unrepeatable days.’ What really matters in your life – and how can your turn more of your time and attention to it?
These maxims don’t just apply to technology, of course, but all of the clutter and busyness in our lives.
However you spend Lent (or if you don’t ‘spend’ it at all), I pray that it will be a time where you can find more space for everything good, vibrant and worthy – and that includes yourself!
See you on the other side,
Gideon x
(PS a number of my poems are featured in Tearfund’s Lent devotional, as well as some reflections written by myself and others. Do check it out if you’re looking for a devotional to use this Lent.)
Gideon Heugh 