4 Signs Your Phone Is Stealing Your Soul

During Quarantine
• Heather RigglemanCrosswalk.com Contributing Writer
• 20206 May

It seems like we’ve all been home forever and there is no clear end in sight. While the
rest of our lives have been interrupted, ‘online life’ has been largely uninterrupted.
Laptops, tablets, and smartphones have allowed us to work remotely at our jobs, shop
online, chat face-to-face, order groceries, meet on Zoom for Bible Study, watch church
on Facebook, or download movies and music. In other words, our devices have allowed
us to stay engaged with the world and fulfill many activities of our lives online.

With the list above, the world is literally at our fingertips. It’s true that smartphones offer
connectivity. But for some, being stuck in your home has caused screen time to rise to
unhealthy levels. Actor John Harlan Kim joked, “Weekly report available. You averaged
34 hours of screen time per day last week.

Phil Stamper tweeted, “Thoughts and prayers to everyone who just got their weekly
Screen Time report. Is your phone quietly steal your soul during lockdown?
Take a look at the people in your life...are your relationships thriving or sinking? What
about that stack of books you wanted to read? Are they collecting dust? How about your
fitness activity? Is your yoga mat or treadmill still shoved in a corner? And the most
important question, where is your Bible? Better yet, when was the last time you opened
it? We all know how easy it is to get sucked into the virtual vortex online, so how do we
stop our smartphones from stealing our soul?

Sheer determination? How’s that working out for you?

For some of us sheer ‘willpower and determination” techniques don't work very well.
The reason is simple: With all this downtime in quarantine, we can easily become
addicted to our phones.

“Smartphones and the social media platforms they support are turning us into bona fide
addicts,” according to an article published by Harvard University. If you were an
alcoholic, you get the alcohol out of your house. If you’re addicted to casinos, you stay
away from those establishments. And if you feel addicted to your phone, even just a
little bit, you’ll have a better chance of breaking the habit if you take action. If you aren’t
sure it’s an issue, here are a few signs and tips to combat the issue.

1. You Perk Up to Notifications

You know that excited, jumpy feeling you get when you hear your phone chime? That’s
dopamine. God created our brains with this amazing chemical to encourage us toward
things that are pleasurable and rewarding. And it’s also the reason we get addicted to
our phones. So when your phone buzzes, the hopeful surge you feel rushing through
your brain is telling you, “You need to check this now.”

Lots of things stimulate dopamine. Hugs from a loved one, your favorite dessert, and
even music. But when your brain is wiring itself to the chime of your phone, it’s time to
turn off those notifications.

If you don’t feel the vibration of your phone or the sound of the notifications from texts,
email, and social media platforms, dopamine loses its power.

It’s time to be honest with yourself. Do you really have to hear about every post,
message, or tweet right now? When you think about it, I bet you’ll realize that most of
them (maybe even all?) aren’t exactly urgent. Do you know what is urgent? Your time
spent in God’s Word.

If you’ve been drawn to your notifications more than your phone, it’s a good idea to get
into the settings of your phone to turn them off. The next step is to take a cue from Billy
Graham. He kept his Bible open and near him at all times. Leave your Bible on your
coffee table or on your office desk, wherever you spend the most time during
quarantine, and pray for the desire to thirst for His Word.

Photo Credit:©GettyImages/OcusFocus

2. You Can’t Stand Boredom

As adults, we've had so much going on in our lives before the pandemic that boredom
just wasn’t possible anymore, but now it is! And it’s a GOOD thing. Have you ever
thought that perhaps social distancing could be God’s gift to not only rewire your brain
but take back your soul from the daily hustle?

Boredom is a gift. That’s right, a God-given gift.

Unfortunately for us grownups, we could be missing out on a lot by not being bored.
Researchers believe that being bored can lead to some of our most original thoughts.
Boredom encourages people's minds to wander, leading them to more associative and
creative ways of thinking. In fact, being bored is both a warning that we are not doing
what we want to be doing and on the flip side, it is what truly motivates us to switch
goals and projects.

It gives us a chance to hear that still small voice.

Some believe that boredom can lead us to do altruistic things. When we're bored, we
lack perceived meaning in our activities and circumstances. This, they say, triggers us
to search elsewhere to re-establish our self-meaning of our God-given purpose, calling,
and gifts.

When you put the phone down, it opens your eyes to the environment around you.
People, textures, colors, sounds, or different shades of greens, browns and blues
outside your front door. It opens your mind to the present and becoming comfortable
living in the moment--the way God intended. You won’t believe how your perspective
will change and the amount of gratitude that will come.

3. You Feel a Sense of Loss When Separated from Your Phone

You, my friend, have what is known as Smartphone separation anxiety. If you’ve ever
been forgetful enough to leave your phone at home for the day or lost it completely,
chances are you have felt smartphone separation anxiety. If you feel the same way
during quarantine because your phone is upstairs and you’re on the couch, it’s definitely
a telltale sign of an unhealthy connection to your device. It sometimes seems as if our
phones function like an extra limb on our body. The average person touches their phone
2,617 times a day but that’s just the average user. Some touch their device up to 5,400
times daily and this is on the rise during quarantine.

We weren’t meant to live with anxiety. We were designed to commune with God. If your
phone is causing anxiety when separated from it, or it’s always within an arm's length,
put it down.

Set aside time every day to be away and off of your phone.

When you budget money, you don’t ban yourself from spending money ever. You
budget a certain amount to spend while the rest goes into savings. This gives you the
freedom to shop without guilt. Time is the same way. If you know you’ve given yourself
20 minutes to check texts and Voxer at 2 p.m., it’ll be easier to put your phone down at
10 a.m. This allows you to respond to messages that need responses but, on your
terms, not that anxious feeling.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Ridofranz

4. Virtual Relationships Trump Real Relationships

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Do you roll over and
kiss your spouse? Or do you grab your phone and start scrolling through social media
or checking emails? Or what about this scenario: Your kids ask you a question, you
reply, “Yeah, uh-huh just a second.” They pester repeatedly but get the same response.

Chances are you’ve been sucked into the virtual vortex on your phone.

We’re so focused on maintaining virtual relationships with people that aren’t in the room,
that we don’t realize how it’s hindering our real relationships. It means we aren’t giving
our full attention to those we’re actually, physically with. Have you ever wondered how
cell phone affects relationships? Or perhaps, the better question to ask, has your phone
injured relationships during quarantine?

Another sign is your significant other telling you they feel neglected. Do others ever ask
you to put your phone down and it's becoming a source of tension? Typically, the big
three disputes for couples are usually about sex, money, and kids but it seems
smartphones could be on the rise, especially during quarantine. Being plugged into our
devices means we aren’t truly present in the moment.

Remember what it was like to really look into the eyes of your partner? What about
those inside jokes? Maybe you’ve forgotten what it feels like to be deeply connected
because your phone replaced your partner.

It’s time to put the phone down and remember what it felt like to be in relationships.

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/24/screen-time-iphone-coronavirus-quarantine-covid/

https://www.businessinsider.com/dscout-research-people-touch-cell-phones-2617-times-a-day-2016-7

Photo Credit: ©Courtney Clayton/Unsplash

Heather Riggleman is an author, national speaker, former award-winning journalist and

podcast co-host of the Moms Together Podcast. She calls Nebraska home with her
three kids and a husband of 21 years. She believes Jazzercise, Jesus, and tacos can fix
anything and not necessarily in that order! She is author of Mama Needs a Time
Out and Let’s Talk About Prayer and a contributor to several books. Her work has been
featured on Proverbs 31Ministries, MOPS, Today's Christian Woman and Focus On the
Family. You can find her at www.heatherriggleman.com or on Facebook.