Have you ever done a fast? It’s not incredibly common in our culture anymore (unless it’s giving up something for Lent or a juice fast to drop a few quick pounds, it seems!). Well, it’s an age-old practice that pastor and author, Darren Whitehead, can save us from our phones.

The 40-day digital detox started a year ago with his Franklin, TN church congregation either fully or partially fasting from all apps not considered utility on their phones. (So yes, you can still work and call/text!). And it was an overwhelming success! They’ve now done it multiple times, and Darren is giving us the inside scoop on the program in his new book, The Digital Fast: 40 Days to Detox Your Mind and Reclaim What Matters Most.

Darren’s major concern is that “our smartphones are now taking from us more than they’re giving to us.” Yikes! But it’s so true. And the beautiful outcome of this fast for nearly all who’ve embraced it is restored time and attention and joy. Darren reminds us that these devices, while a necessary and helpful tool, have gone from something we have mastery over to things that have mastery over us.

Do you want to reclaim your time? Your attention? Your focus? Your joy??? Don’t throw out your iPhone, but do embrace the millennia’s old practice of fasting, the point of which is to put something aside in order to pick something more life-giving up. What would you have room to enjoy, to pick up again, if you put down your phone for a detox?

See more resources from Jonathan Haidt here.

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