The Olympics are coming to close, and the talk of the global town is on the shocking dropout of Simone Biles. Flashback to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where she became the first female U.S. gymnast to win four gold medals at a single Games, This year, in Tokyo, she was set to dominate the competition; think Michael Jordan in his prime taking on a middle school B team.
But, that didn’t happen.
Biles pulled out of the competition and her reason for doing so flirts with the diabolical. When asked for an explanation for her withdrawal, she said, “As soon as I step on the mat it’s just me and my head… dealing with demons in my head (…) I have to do what’s right for me and focus on my sanity and not compromise my health and my well-being.” She later went on to say she felt like “the weight of the world” was on her shoulders.
Biles has 6.7 million Instagram followers, 1.6 million on Twitter, and another 1.5 million on Facebook. With a simple scroll through those feeds with her chalked up finger, she surely felt trapped; anyone with such a large online following would feel that pressure. It’s enough to plant several seeds of doubt in your head.
That’s what demons do.
Demons are infiltrating the Olympics, and Biles isn’t the first to notice it.
Suni Lee, the eventual All-Around Gold medalist from the U.S., recognized the demons too, but she called them by a different name – social media.
After rising to an all-time high after winning the All-Around events, Lee took to the uneven bars, an event she was heavily favored to win, and managed to win the bronze. After her disappointing finish, she told Insider that she “got distracted and lost focus a little bit when I won the gold medal.” She further explained that it was her massive growth in her social media audiences (1 million followers in one weekend!) that overcame her focus.
Demonic activity is present wherever there is hope. It doesn’t matter if you are a chiseled Olympian seeking gold in Tokyo or a withered widower seeking holiness in an adoration chapel,if you seek to better yourself, the demons are coming for you to distract, divide, and destroy that hope.
Your device (which shares the same latin root word as, you guessed it, demon), is keeping you from the perfection you desire.
To be clear, as I mentioned in my book Detached, “Your phone isn’t the devil. On the contrary, your phone has an immense potential for good, just as it has an equally immense potential for bad. Everything hinges on your ability to contemplate the good that can be produced through the use of your phone. The thing itself isn’t the issue. It is how you choose to use it that makes screen time either a holy encounter or a self-destructive behavior.
Wereached a moment in human history where our digital lives intertwine dangerously into real life. If athletes are recognizing the negative effects of our devices and loosing out on gold medals, maybe we should call out our own screen addictions before we miss out not only on our current lives, but the eternal life to come.
Time to do a digital detox? Please consider getting a copy of my award-winning book, Detached: Put Your Phone in Your Place, a 21 day retreat from your screens.
The cult classic Pacific Rim is BY FAR one of the greatest (and most underrated) films of all time. If you haven’t seen it yet, put it on your “must see” list ASAP. It hits on a pop level because of its superheroesque motif and it hits all of the hipster trends for not having anything to do with actual superheroes.
What interested me most, however, is its development of what the movie refers to as “drift compatibility.” Again, you need to watch the movie to understand precisely what drift compatibility is, but I’ll do my best to do it justice in the next paragraph of this post. If you already know what I’m talking about, skip it.
Essentially, earth’s armed forces create these mega robots called Jaegers. They are the size of skyscrapers and more powerful than space shuttles. They built them to defend the planet for alien monsters that warp into our atmosphere through an undersea portal along the pacific rim. While the robots are remarkably strong, there’s a catch: it takes two pilots to operate one Jaeger. Not just any pilot will do; the two need to be “drift compatible.” This means that they have to share a special connection that will allow their minds to unite as they operate the sides of the Jaeger they are responsible for. If one of the pilots is injured in battle, the other takes on the totality of the robot’s operation systems which overtaxes the pilot and makes their brain (and body) split.
“Drift compatibility” is non-fiction. It is an actual thing found in our world. It is found in various degrees in every culture and race. BFFs have it. Great teachers have it with their students. Even the minds behind some of the people you follow on twitter could likely drive a Jaeger with you.
However, I’d argue that the greatest form of drift compatibility in today’s (and yesterday’s and tomorrow’s) world is in the union of a sacramental marriage.
When two people are connected with the hitch that is God’s grace, there within them creates a union that makes the two not only of one mind, but of one flesh. The result is a co-existence of souls within one another. Side effects of said unity can create mounds of intermediate graces, pools of redemptive suffering, and the combination of grace and suffering which I like to call children.
More importantly, however, the sacrament creates a common thought between the spouses that places the others’ needs at the forefront of every decision. When you’re married, even a solo trip to the grocery store is accompanied by thoughts of “what does my wife need while I’m here?” Or “I bet my husband would love a box of Fruity Pebbles.” With kids, this superpower grows exponentially because every word you speak, every action to make is accompanied by a singular thought of “am I doing everything I can to make this family holy?”
Theologian James Keating coined this shared mental telepathy between spouses as co-natural thought. It is the drift compatibility that allow the two to share more than just their mental strength, but their spiritual and physical powers as well. Together, they maneuver the Jaeger of their marriage and battle against the sins that try to break them apart. Sometimes, one of them takes a hard hit to the soul and it’s up to the other to split the very fibers of their self to keep the fight going.
This is where the mystic reality takes precedent over the movie: when the single spouse has to take on the brunt of the marriage responsibilities, it is then when the grace of God kicks in like nitrous oxide in a Fast and Furious flick. He overwhelms the two by pouring love to the one spouse through the other, strengthening them both in one, singular flesh.
Drift compatibility. Co-natural thought. Call it what you want, but in the end, it will always symbolize two things: God & love. Which, in reality, is actually one thing because God is love.
In a similar way, so too is one spouse joined to another in one flesh through the sacrament of marriage.
I was listening to a podcast recently that discussed the differences between the Wizarding World and the Muggle World in the Potterverse. The hosts made the fascinating argument that the Wizarding World is everything the Muggle World used to be prior to the industrial revolution, but with magic. The primary points of evidence were their unfamiliarity with Muggle technology and their lack of necessity of it. For example, Arthur Weasly’s curiosity about the use of a rubber duck as well as his illegal hoarding of a non-functional car make us muggles look like aliens to be monitored and studied.
Add a little bit of magic, however, and the reasons why the Wizarding World need not require knowledge of the human’s technological means of survival become relevant. If you can cast a spell on a sponge, scrubber, and soap to wash your dishes, then you need not a dishwasher. If you can aparate or travel by floo powder or portkey, then who needs a car (even a flying one)?
It seems, then, that the Wizarding World would be the superior race in that they are able to remain innocuous to the Muggle World. And that’s just the thing: it is only the witches and wizards who can live undercover in the muggle world while us non-magic folk remain ignorant to their existence.
Why?
Why would a witch or wizard who has the entirety of chocolate frogs and efficiency of spell-lived lives even want to dwell among us non-magic folk? And why, by Merlin’s beard, would we be so dense so as to not realize the existence of this earthly paradise?
The answer, in short, is Christmas.
J.K. Rowling, like two masters of high fantasy before her, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, knew that there is no magical world without a mystical one. They knew that behind every magic wand, every ring of power, every professor’s wardrobe, there exists an even deeper, celestial truth: that God Himself became a muggle.
Harry lived among the post-industrialized people whose technological “prowess” was still light years behind the Wizarding World. And yet, here we are, more than 2,000 years removed from the moment of the Incarnation when God came down from heaven and tread upon our world undercover for the first 30 years of His earthly life.
Witches and wizards do something similar in Rowling’s stories; they’ve left their magical paradise to dwell with us muggles. But unlike Jesus, who came to save us from our sins, they seek answers to their deepest spiritual longings through the race in which God Himself shared His DNA. One could argue that they ask themselves questions like “Where does this power come from?” “Is there a God?” and “If God does exist, then why am I even here?”
The answer is Christ, and we know they’ve come to understand this truth when Harry leans toward Ron and Hermione on his first holiday break at Hogwarts and says, “Happy Christmas.”
The same goes for the Hobbits who celebrate Yuletide in Middle Earth, and the Pevensies who helped bring Christmas back to wintery Narnia.
It just goes to show that the fate of the Wizarding World (and any fantasy universe) would be found in some druid dark arts solstice nonsense had it not been for Christ, and it is that truth that keeps any magical race connected to humanity through the mystical bonds of God. He is Who allows us to see one another with the same dignity and love as our Creator.
Hence why all (good) fantasy eventually leads us to Him, for even “the boy who lived” must bow down to the boy who is life.
If Thomas Aquinas was alive today, what do you suppose he would think about our use of social media?
As you know, I’m a huge Thomas fan. I’m also a big proponent AND critic of tech use when it comes to advancing ourselves spiritually. So, I figured the Angelic Doctor wouldn’t mind if I stole his via negativa strategy to lay out the arguments of how social media affects the soul.
This was a TON of fun to write.
Aquinas on Social Media’s Effect on the Soul
Secunda Tertia Pars
Question 91
Article 1. Whether social media is good for the soul
Objection 1. It would seem that social media harms the soul due to its innate temptation toward narcissism on behalf of the soul that uses it. Accounts are opened willfully through the use of one’s intellect and posts are curated to provide an audience only the positive actualizations that befit one’s progress toward attaining “likes” and “followers.”
Objection 2. Such platforms create within one’s soul a higher degree of digital connectivity with other users leaving access to real-world communities ignored and, to a certain extent, avoidable. This occurring because the social media user prefers their curated digital communities over the flesh-and-blood connections, partly because of the ease that social media provides them and partly because they lack the social skills to flourish in an actual one-on-one interaction with other human beings.
Objection 3. Further, social media is said to be addictive by nature. Its constantly streaming colors and sounds appeal to the senses and create within the soul a mental dependency which overcomes the agent intellect and produces behavioral addictions based on social cravings and communal acceptance.
Objection 4. Social media is the primary source of communication for human life. Under the guise of being the most efficient, progressive, and easy way to advance ideas, humanity has degraded oration and intercommunicative operations as secondary means to articulating present realities.
On the contrary, It is written “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks” (Lk. 6:45).
I answer that, social media use and, consequently, those who use it are able to garner from it sufficient meritorious value if governed by the virtues of prudence and temperance. According to Pius VI, “The Church recognizes that these media, if properly utilized, can be of great service to mankind, since they greatly contribute to men’s entertainment and instruction as well as to the spread and support of the Kingdom of God,” and “the Church recognizes, too, that men can employ these media contrary to the plan of the Creator and to their own loss” (Inter Mirifica).
It holds then, that social media can and should be used as a unique tool to advance personal sanctification through the intake and production of content that is suitable to actualize one’s state from one potentiality to another of a higher degree. Hence, the use of social media, and by cross-activity with other platforms within the Internet, the soul can grow in knowledge, relationships, and evangelistic zeal when the content is proportioned to advance the souls sanctity.
But, one must be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mat. 10:16) when using such tools. Constant and consistent reflection of conscious can help determine if the soul’s current state is in danger of falling into any number of temptations brought upon it by the evil one. Hence, it belongs to the virtues of prudence (II-II q.47) and temperance (II-II q.141) that the soul is able to find use for the digital tools as opposed to having the tools use it.
Reply to Objection 1. Narcissism is a product of a soul who has deprived itself of pure goodness. If social media use is governed by virtuous prudence and temperance, it becomes an act of worship, a means to glorify God in both thought and deed. Such effects are the fruits of a soul who has been given the Divine grace of wisdom and right judgement.
Reply to Objection 2. Love manifests itself in a myriad of ways, but all degrees in which love is given are overshadowed by God, who “is love.” If prudence temperance rightly govern social media use, the soul’s longing for love, both through digital connectivity and flesh-and-blood interactions, will find their total reality in God. As St. Paul states, their “hearts may be encouraged as they are brought together in love, to have all the richness of fully assured understanding, for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:2-3).
Reply to Objection 3. Addiction is caused by a lack of self-control in a soul. Attachment to social media is comparable to attachment to food, drink, lust, etc. Hence, St. Paul encourages ”Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom.12:2). In avoiding sin and pursuing virtue, social media becomes a manned tool of agent intellect and not a dictator of reason.
Reply to Objection 4. As stated in I q.34 a.1, “according to the Philosopher (Peri Herm. i) vocal sound signifies the concept of the intellect. Again the vocal sound proceeds from the signification or the imagination, as stated in De Anima ii, text 90. The vocal sound, which has no signification cannot be called a word: wherefore the exterior vocal sound is called a word from the fact the it signifies the interior concept of the mind.” Since vocal words have this apparent reality, the same applies to written words and inferred meanings from pictographics. They can, therefore, be used for the betterment or detriment of one’s soul based on whether the mind from which they come is motivated by virtue or by vice.
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I grew up in the 80s and 90s. My childhood was spent playing outside, dabbling in Sega Genesis and the original Nintendo, and watching everything from the Simpsons to Rocko’s Modern Life on TV.
When it rained, I stayed inside. When I had beaten my video games, I had to wait for (and earn money to pay for) the next game I wanted to get. When my shows weren’t on, I had to find something else to do. Boredom, then, became the interlude between the many activities of my daily routine.
But boredom was so much more than that. It was the catalyst to a slew of brain activity and imaginative thought. When I was bored, I would think outside my television box and discover new ways to do things. I’d draw. I’d read. I’d play board games with my family. On top of that, I’d contemplate the world and my place in it. In the end, I’d find my way to realizing God’s presence in my life because in the silence and solitude of my boredom, I’d pray.
People have an inert necessity for silence and solitude.
We also have a natural inclination to avoid boredom.
Prior to the tech revolution and the development of smart devices, our minds would use boredom to its advantage. In the silence and solitude of our lives, we would…
organize our day
plan our lives
balance our emotions
rationalize our being
and contemplate our God.
This would lead to being more fully alive. Boredom was, and still is, the crux of our mental health.
Now, the smart device has kidnapped our mental stability. When moments of silence and solitude present themselves, we tend to glance at our smartphones and, in an instant, we activate our mental powers and become one with the constant humming of digital noise and constant companionship. This makes silence and solitude an optional virtue; no longer a necessary ally in attaining a great life. When the screen is on, our curiosity takes control and our minds and intellects are kidnapped by a desire to view content from invisible, digital people.
As a result,
our days become less organized
our lives less complete
our emotions imbalanced
our beings questioned
and our God ignored.
If the digital addiction continues, our intellects will have never contemplated truth, beauty, and goodness by His natural design as we will have chosen the light from a screen as opposed to the light of Christ. We will arrive at the point of such mental stress that life will become unbearable and the God in whom we find the very essence of our being will cease to exist in our overly digitized minds.
Pixels will overcome prayer.
Code will overwhelm Divine inspiration.
Likes will replace true love.
Technology is a very formidable servant, but it is tyrant of a ruler. We need silence and solitude in our lives. We need moments of boredom to internalize our emotions as well as rest our minds. It is time to rediscover the great advantages that boredom provides of our lives by dethroning the current king of our attention that is our screens.
It is time to learn how to use technology to grow spiritually, live efficiently, and become more fully alive.
If you liked this post, you are going to love my latest book, Detached: Put Your Phone in its Place. With Lent coming up, it is the perfect time to take a retreat from social media and other apps to focus on building up your spirituality. It only takes 21 days to learn how to use your screens to make your life better instead of allowing it to weaken your intellect, your will, and ultimately your soul.
St. Thomas Aquinas is arguably one of the most intelligent Saints to have ever lived. His intellect was stellar to say the least. The question that I’ve always asked is, how did he get that way?
I found my answer in the most unlikely of places: a defunct blog by a Dominican nun who had discovered the actual daily routine of the Angelic Doctor in one of his biographies.
As I read the daily grind of this medieval scholar, I got to thinking, “This can be adapted to modern living!” And so, I decided to make a challenge out of it- The Aquinas Challenge.
If you are curious as to how Aquinas lived in today’s world (and how YOU can live like him too!), take the 5-day Aquinas challenge today. Grab some friends, send them this blogpost, and sign up today at AquinasChallenge.com.
You’ll want to sign up quickly because I’ll be closing the doors to this challenge on at 10PM on Jan. 29th!
Please share the url on facebook, twitter and instagram and see how you can live like Aquinas for 5 days.
