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.
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It is also available for your Kindle and as an audiobook (read by yours truly!).
