31-Day Phone Challenge - Day 22

 

Would you consider working if your boss refused to pay you? Probably not.

We must consider cost vs. profit. No business will continue to sell a product for less than it costs them to produce it. They would eventually go out of business.

When you begin tracking your phone use, you may find that you spend many hours online with very little value added to your life. We must ask questions such as “Is the joy I get from my phone worth the time I’m spending on it?”

Another way to look at it is to ask, “If Facebook (or other site) charged me by the minute for the time I spent on their site, what would it be worth it to me?”

Ephesians 5:16 says that we are to "redeem the time, because the days are evil." Life is precious; let’s not waste it.

This summer, a young woman I didn’t know well invited my two little girls and me over for coffee on a random Friday afternoon. For a few hours, we talked about books and writing and motherhood while our girls played. She told me that she had recently deleted her Instagram account and was finding better ways to use her time.

What would happen if more of us cut out some social media time and replaced it with intentional face-to-face communication? How could our churches be transformed if even one hour of phone time a week was replaced with Bible reading and prayer?

Today’s Challenge: This weekend I will encourage you to do a 24-hour phone fast. Prepare today for this fast. This may include letting others know that you won’t be using your phone, printing off directions if you will be traveling, or getting a book from the library. You may want to get the rest of your household on board since it is easier to do a phone fast with your whole family. 

Make plans for how you are going to use all your extra time. If you have something enjoyable planned, you’ll have less time to miss your phone. 

You might even want to set an automated phone greeting or text message response to let others know about your phone fast and give an alternate way to get in contact with you in case of emergency.