We live in a hyper-connective society; one that is overloaded with information, noise, and distraction. It's to the extreme. What I want to share here is how this hyper-connectivity is harmful to our spiritual life and our ability to have a deeper prayer life.
First, what I mean by media is the technology we use: Cell phones, iPods, iPads, tablets, headphones, mp3 players, computers, television, radio and the like. These pieces of technology in our life that, while absolutely fine in and of themselves, have become an overwhelming source of noise, idle time, and distraction in our society.
Second, I'm not asserting that technology and media are bad. What I am asserting is that too much of this media exposure will diminish our ability to cultivate a deeper prayer life and hinder our union with God. Of the people I know who are serious about their spiritual life and relationship with God, at one point or another, these people had to create "rules" to govern their use of media and many have had to cut some things out all together.
When we do this, however, there is actually a freedom that we derive from it; we break one more chain that tied us down to our phone or social media outlet or radio station. Practicing self-discipline in the use of these things is also something that will allow us to create more space and silence to hear God's voice amidst the day, rather than noise and distraction.
Possible Spiritual Effects of the Overuse of Media
First, I will list some possible effects due to the overuse of media and constantly "being connected":
1. Impurity. The temptation to commit sins of impurity - be it by thought, words, or actions - can easily arrive from images and words that come across the screen. When we make an "Act of Contrition," we pray that we will "avoid the near occasions of sin." If media is an occasion of sin, we need to start putting up guards by "unfollowing" certain things or people, or stop visiting certain sites. For repentance in one's life to be authentic and fruitful, the person must avoid those occasions in which they will be tempted.
2. Spiritual sloth. Spiritual sloth is a type of "spiritual laziness" in which we do not aspire after prayer, spiritual reading, and things pertaining to our salvation because one sees it as hard and arduous. It is a distaste and slowness to practice that which is a spiritual good for our souls. If one dislikes prayer and prefers not to take the trouble to daily meditate and pray and would rather turn on the tv at night or if one prefers to not attend Mass because there's other things that "need" to be done, they may very well suffer from the vice of spiritual sloth. The usage of all this technology and screen time only makes our tendency toward spiritual sloth worse. Often, for the beginner typically, prayer is hard and arduous because our fallen nature would prefer other "easier" things to do. The use of media is appealing to those who suffer from this vice because it provides us with an instant pleasure and gratification, whereas prayer is not always met with such "sweetness and spiritual cookies."
3. Idle time. Christ tells us that at our judgement, we will be held accountable for every idle word we speak...
"But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."
[Matthew 12:36]
The time which we spend that does not profit our soul or the salvation of others in some way or another is held up to judgement - so how do we use our time? How often do we speak idly about the business of others, to which it is no concern of ours to share? How often do we scroll our life away, excessively, on social media news feeds and websites? In some way or another, all that we do should be for the glory of God...
"In whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God." [1 Corinthians 10:30]
Watching frivolous television shows and movies that do no good for our soul (but may even bring it harm), listening to countless hours of radio - music or talk shows, scrolling through news feeds, etc... Again, these things are major sources of idle time. As you can see, the key here is excessive (provided that it is first free of sinful and impure content). And as a whole, in our culture, we excessively do these things. It's not for moderate recreation but excessively and constantly done.
4. Pride. Social media in a big way can contribute to our pride. I love how my spiritual director put it: It creates a false sense of self-importance. It makes us think we are bigger than we are just because people "follow" us or "like" our pictures and things we post. Another example of the temptation to pride might be bumping music loud in the car and enjoying the looks of attention we are receiving.... Or always wanting to share our own two sense about things, another indicator of pride and loquacity which are damaging to our spiritual life and the need for silence.
5. Self-absorption. The constant connectivity creates in us a self-centeredness, an "all about me" mentality. We see it the way people block out the world because they prefer to walk in public with their headphones, neglecting to be present to those around them, even if they are strangers. The inability to just put phones away and leave it be when we're spending time with others but instead cannot help but constantly check the phone for unnecessary reasons may indicate the presence of self-absorption. These are all signs of the existence of possible self-absorption; self-absorption takes away from our ability to give selflessly and freely, and even moreso be aware of those opportunities to serve and help another.
6. Vanity. I know it's a common thing in our culture, but selfies are often a sign of vanity.
7. Linked with vanity is often a desire for human respect. Human respect is dangerous in the spiritual life because when we desire human respect, we desire to please others more than God. We may strive for approval of our career, attention for our achievements, or a high opinion of others about our reputation or our looks. It puts us in the dangerous position of making little idols and gods of people's opinions over God whereas really...
"We must obey God rather than men." [Acts 5:29]
A desire for human respect seeks the approval of others over the approval of God: "Let me throw in this profane word to create a funnier and more powerful effect on my statement when people read it..." A possible desire for human respect and human approval.
7. Overexposure to media creates an inability to focus and "be still" before the Lord. I would vouch that those who claim they have problems with attention span may actually find a remedy in lessening their media exposure and "screen time." But really, this constant bombardment of bright lights, noises, booms, and flashiness , changing and switching constantly overstimulates our brains. Our brains are constantly in overdrive processing everything that is happening so quickly and so incessantly. And although one of the immediate effects of media usage is instant gratification and pleasure, in the long run it produces a dullness to life, a proneness to become easily bored and a certain jadedness. We cannot just "be still" because we "get bored." Then our mind wanders to and fro (as it's prone to do already even without so much media exposure!) and flits about like a lost bird. We cannot focus. This then creates one to become easily frustrated in prayer and give up on the endeavor. Persevere! Little by little!
8. It hinders one's prayer life. Here's the main thing, an excessive exposure to these media sources create a lot of extra "noise" and distraction in our hearts and minds. But we need to use our hearts and minds to meditate and pray. We need silence to listen to God's voice and discern His will for our lives and situations.
Then the LORD said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, Why are you here, Elijah? [1 Kings 19:11-13]
A deep prayer life can only be cultivated in times of prayerful silence, and like I've said, the more people desire God and grow closer to Him, the more they shed this "extra noise" in their life. A mark of growing sanctity is a love for silence because the lover sees these as opportunities to commune with the Lord.
I was once listening to my favorite podcast, Divine Intimacy radio, and the host said that he's at a point where the only music he can listen to (at this point in his spiritual life) is gregorian chant. He said it was because even with good, wholesome Christian music, he found that when he tried to meditate and pray and spend moments of silence with God, a song would pop into his head and he had trouble getting it out. The issue was resolved when he took a step back from listening even to Christian songs. As one learns as they grow closer to God, even things that are wholesome and good in and of themselves can still be distractions that hold us back from greater and deeper things that God calls us to.
Now, everyone's situation is different because we're all at different points on our journey, but how often could it be that one tries to pray and be silent and then a song starts playing in their head? This is a distraction that could perhaps be dealt with by cultivating more silence throughout one's day.
Of course, these are not ALL the dangers that excessive media use can pose to our soul, but just some common ones.
Now, before anyone may take offense, I'd like to reiterate that these are all possible sins that may lie hidden within us. I share them only to help make us more self-aware so that we can "clear the path" more for God and His work in us. I'm not saying that just because one may share an accomplishment, that they are seeking human respect. Or if they take a selfie, that they are vain. What I am doing is putting out there how these sins and hindrances in our spiritual life can "creep up" on us and to illustrate the various ways they may manifest through the use of media. If we are honest with ourselves, we will do what we must to avoid these faults for God's sake and the betterment of our own soul.
And, if we don't, and consider such things only "small things" and venial sins, it reveals an attachment to sin and a willed spiritual mediocrity within us, which is nothing but a downward slope away from union with our dear Lord and leads to the eventual death of our spiritual life.
How may one start to work on these areas? Pick and choose one at a time! Don't worry, our Lord is very patient so long as we strive to make a continual and sincere effort to weed these things out.
Suggested ways to limit media overexposure and thereby limit our sins which can occur through it
With that all said, here are some suggested "rules" to help us grow in our self-discipline with the use of these things...(I'm sure you can things of some good suggestions too)
1. No media after 8pm. You can be rigid or flexible with it, change the time; it's up to you, where you are, and what you think will honestly help you grow closer to God the best. You can even try it every other night. But it's a worthy challenge to turn off the tv, shut off the phone (or just put it away), and leave the computer be. NOW there's an open window to pray or do spiritual reading!
2. Limit the number of times you check email/social media or post on it. Maybe just once at night? Maybe twice a day? An even more freeing option is to opt out of notifications and texts that come to your phone through these social media feeds. Rather than scrolling and feeding the addictive habit of needing to check, practice self-denial and offer that act of self-denial to God with a little prayer.
3. No selfies. Avoid the temptation to possible occasions of vanity or human affirmation. Also, a good one, don't "untag" what you would deem as "ugly" or "fat" pictures of yourself. Take it as a humiliation to grow in the virtue of humility.
4. Avoid ranting and discourses about your opinion on things. Be simple. If you have issue, seek consolation from God and bring the matter to Him in prayer.
5. Leave the radio or talk show off in your car or at home. Determine how and when to do this and stick to it. Use the time to pray a decade of the Rosary instead - or even a whole one! Perhaps just listen to a spiritual talk instead. Turning the radio or music off more consistently will help cultivate a love for silence, even if it's repugnant to do at first.
6. When you're out with other people, keep the phone AWAY. Check only out of necessity (and no, viewing newsfeeds, emails, or notifications is not a necessity).
7. Shut off the TV if you're not actually watching it. A lot of times, out of habit, people just leave a TV on just because and it becomes a constant din of background noise. Shut it off.
8. Don't aimlessly browse around other people's business on social media. If you're going to do it, do it with a higher purpose and keep it brief and simple. More clicking equals more wasted time.
9. Get rid of cable on TV. I'm serious. There's so much garbage on there and barely an ounce to benefit the soul. There's more sin than good; and if one is careful about what they watch in that they choose non-sinful content, there's still an easy temptation toward the sin of idle time. What about watching those sports games you like? There's always a way to stream them from the internet if you enjoy that in a moderated way.
10. Limit social media accounts. Do we really need so many? At least cut back.
I actually know more people than you might think who have discarded cable (not necessarily the actual television because as a family they might enjoy watching family movies together) and not only did they say it was the best for their spiritual life, but also the best decision for their time as a family and creating more room for family bonding and interaction.
This by no means exhausts the list of ideas we could come up with to help us discipline our excessive media exposure and create more time for God.
Do you have any other suggestions?
In closing, the first list of the spiritual dangers due to overexposure to media is meant to provide us with a clear picture of the ways in which excessive media exposure can cause harm to our soul and hinder our growth in the spiritual life and union with God. If one is wise and sincerely wants a deeper relationship with the Lord, they may use the latter list as a reference for ideas on how to curb this spiritual hindrance and danger. Yes, danger. Because any temptation toward sin is a possible danger.
Never forget, the Lord has created you and I for great union with Him! And not just in heaven, but we can experience a foretaste of it here below! We are called to the depths of His love, which surpasses all joys and delights and pleasures that this world could offer us, combined! Take it one step at a time, picking out one weed at a time, and always remembering the wisdom of St. Francis de Sales...
"Be patient with everyone, but above all be patient with yourself."
The important thing also to remember in the spiritual life that our growth in holiness doesn't happen once, overnight. It's a resolve to persevere, day by day, failure after failure, sin after sin. Never give up! But I can promise you that if you do make it intentional to silence some of the excessive "noise" around you for the sake of growing closer to God, you WILL progress in the spiritual life and your prayer life will begin to blossom. You will grow in communion with God.
In all that we do, even our minuscule media habits, let us eagerly strive to do it with this sole purpose which will easily transform us into saints...
"In whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do all for the glory of God."