Sabbath Practice Week 4:
Digital Rule for Sabbath
Just as we said last week that rituals help us acquire new taste, they also help us rightly identify and curb bad taste. Habitual practice over time can either help us develop a good palette or bad one. Technology, or the digital space, for many of us is a habitual practice that that is forming tastes. And we need to evaluate what those tastes are.
Just think for a moment how strongly technology affects our bodies. Have you ever felt that phantom vibration that convinces you someone’s texted only to find out it was in your head? Or your hand literally just by habit reaches into your pocket while waiting in a line? Have you ever felt FOMO (fear of missing out) that deeply affects your emotional state of the day when you see a group of friends having fun without you on Instagram? Have you ever felt apathy and an overwhelming sense of blah after binging Netflix? If this is the case, think about what it’s doing within our hearts!
It’s incredibly disturbing when we stop and think about the physical and emotional changes the little computer in our pocket has on us. The desires and tastes it creates. Whether mild or severe, almost all of us suffer from some degree of digital dependence.
This is exacerbated by the demands of our phones being non-stop: another text, email, task, post, invite, buzz. They create desires and then leave us unsatisfied, yet chasing them more and more. And yet, Sabbath is a day set aside to stop, a day where we say “no” to distraction and say “yes” to rest in God and his good world.
Now, we can’t point to a command in scripture that prohibits technology on the Sabbath. Jesus didn’t have a smart phone and we cannot attribute “thus saith the Lord” to a technology command. However, we can offer this invitation: what if behind the buzz of our phones and demands of technology there was an invitation to greater rest, freedom and peace?
That’s why for this week’s practice we invite you to consider the role technology plays in your life and to utilize Sabbath as a day to resist its hold.
We invite you to do this by creating a Digital Rule of Sabbath. And while rule is a word that makes many of us withdraw, the original idea of rule is that of a trellis. It’s a structure that helps a vine grow, be protected, and develop the most fruit possible. Likewise, we think developing a structure for our technology will help us live life to the fullest—it will protect us from the formation of lesser desires formed by cultural narrative, it will protect us from the algorithms that reinforce our ideas and cause division, and space away will help us acquire new tastes for deeper trust and communion with Jesus, his gifts, and those around us.
So we’re inviting you to arrange (rule) your Sabbath as a day without technology (or at least significantly less technology). Here’s a few suggestions as you make your own digital rule:
Decide on a window of time you will spend with your phone powered down and put away. This could be the full 24 hours or a few selected hours or windows of time. Whatever you decide, try to stick to it! (Note: nothing’s permanent, so challenge yourself). When it’s supposed to be away, turn it off and put it in a box in your closet.
Decide what you will and won’t use your phone for on Sabbath. You might decide you want to be able to call or text, but that you won’t use social media, web browsing, shopping or email.
Delete the apps you waste a lot of time on (e.g. Instagram, Facebook, News, etc). You can always re-download them after Sabbath!
Make social plans for your Sabbath on Preparation Day so you don’t need to be on your phone the day of.
Set limits on media. There’s nothing wrong with watching a movie or your favourite show on your Sabbath, but a binge is likely not to lead you into greater rest, worship and communion with Jesus. So, set a limit for yourself (e.g. one movie, ____ episodes, etc).
Explore Sabbath activities that don’t require technology. If you’re prone to veg on Netflix, try picking up a book. If you like to bond over movies, try a board game or walk with others.
*Note: because of the hold technology has in our society and in our hearts, this will feel awkward, hard, and restrictive at first. Press on! We need a new habit to reform our old one, so commit to practice this for 3-4 Sabbaths and see what happens!
Questions to Ponder:
Reflect:
What has been the overall experience of your Sabbath practice? Has it been restful, hard, easy? What ways are you seeing fruit? What ways are your struggling?
What beginning, ending, and gratitude rituals did you use? How did they help orient the day “to the Lord”?
Anticipate:
How would you describe your relationship with technology? If you have the capability to see your screen time usage on your phone, what does that say about where you spend your time? Are you surprised by anything?
How does a Sabbath break from technology sit with you? What would be hard about unplugging for a day?
What digital rule for Sabbath can you create to help limit your technology this week? What do you hope to experience through this break in the digital space?