Abiding with Christ in a Digital Age

‍We have no more time allotted to us than humans did 50 years ago, and yet we have been given more access to one another than any other generation has ever experienced. You and I can be accessed through our social media inboxes, text messages, and calls any time of day or night. Messages roll in, as they’re held in a thin black box tucked in denim with vibrating whispers that trigger an urgency that is hard to ignore. Man heard another whisper long ago, “it is not good for man to be alone.”[1] Or as I would say here, it is not good for humanity to be alone.

 According to a statistic given by Pew Research, approximately 46% of teens and 32% of adults describe their smartphone device use as "almost constant".[2] Constant connection through smartphone devices is a proven cause of cognitive fatigue that has led many people to a sense of loneliness and anxiety.[3] In the book of John, we hear Jesus tell His disciples to remain constantly connected. But it wasn’t the type of connection we see pursued today in 2026. It wasn’t even a human form of constant connection. This constant connection was to be had with the only one who is constant, God himself. In John, Jesus tells His followers, “Remain in me, and I in you, apart from me you can do nothing.”[4] Now, of course, we were also made for one another,  and I believe God’s hands are in the technology of smartphone devices and social media, but they are only gifts to us if we prioritize the giver of them more than the gift itself.

We can see this poor prioritization play out in the life of the Israelites in the wilderness when Moses went up to meet with God and he later came down to find them worshiping a golden calf. This golden calf was created with the very gold the Israelites pillaged from Egypt when God freed them from their captivity. That very gold was their testimony of freedom; it was a display of God’s great love for them and faithfulness to bring them into the joy of being His alone. No longer enslaved by those who meant harm to them. They used the very gold that spoke to God’s freedom to enslave their hearts into idolatry.

You and I were made for community with one another, but only in the proper order of our love and attention first to God. When smart phones entered the social chat, they rewired how each of us go about our day. With a new video, picture, news article, and message fed to our souls every time we open our screens, we have been lured to be dependent on constant connection. This allurement comes with promises.  Promises of comfort, purpose, relationship, being known and wanted. It bids a cry of desire for you and me, and we, full of an appetite for knowledge and a sense of belonging, answer its cry.

When the sense of connection is lost, our minds short-circuit with urgency to have what we once had, not realizing what we had was a weak counterfeit of what we were made for. What we once had remains unable to bring peace to the anxiety it created. We try to recreate it, with digital touches just as our devices taught us.

I told my husband a few weeks ago I wanted to throw his phone in the lake. I know, very subtle of me in getting a point across. Subtly has never been my style. I didn’t want to throw his phone into the lake because he’s always reaching for it, but because it’s always reaching for him. People are always reaching for him. Multiple calls a day, text messages, Instagram messages, and Facebook (which I threw into the lake of “deactivated”).  

Fifty years ago, in 1976, a family owned a single landline telephone. If you wanted to reach someone, you would have to call this landline and hope that they were home to answer it. Conversations often would wait until you saw that person again in-person or until maybe they wrote you back from the last letter you sent them. (Personally, I believe email is the beautiful alternative to snail mail.) People would make plans with one another in advance, with set times and places to meet. Communication had natural boundaries. Solitude, patience, and boredom were normal and embraced by everyone. In comparison, today we can easily fall victim to the pressure of responding instantly to digital communications. Being left on “read” is poor manners, and “ghosting” someone is inconsiderate. The constant notifications overwhelm one’s mind with stimulating demands. No one was made to be reached 24/7 because no human being is God.

But those digital reaches continue to reach to each of us. We’re addicted, enslaved to our devices and to the expectations of culture that we are swimming in. How do we get out? How do we break free like those Israelites leaving Egypt? The answer has some practical moves to take and some soul work to brave, but I know you, and I can do it because God made us for Himself and for one another in an authentic, obtainable way.

‍ ‍

So What Do We Do Now?

#1. Our digital technology has trained many to confuse access with intimacy. We were not created to maximize the number of people we are connected to.  We were created to faithfully love the people God has actually placed around us. Jesus had crowds of people following him around, but he also had the twelve disciples, and even within the twelve disciples, he had three, Peter, James, and John, whom he prioritized taking up the mountain to witness His transfiguration. The practical lesson here is: you and I can’t be close to everyone; we can love everyone, but we can only go deep with a few. This is actually quite freeing once you embrace it.

#2.  We have to abide in Jesus first. When we prioritize Christ, His voice, His commands, we will be less inclined to pursue the opinions and attention of others. The more you abide, the less of an imposter you will feel. Take a moment today to read all of John Chapter 15.

#3.  Go Analog. The goal isn’t to completely rid yourself of digital touch points through the week but to have in-person connections be the priority. If it can be said over a phone call, make it an in-person conversation. If it can be said over a text, make it a phone call. Instead of reaching out to many each week with quick text dialogs, pick a few that you could have a meaningful conversation with over the phone instead. Pick one that you can go to coffee with or invite over to dinner instead of just connecting over social media video sharing.

            This all sounds easier said than done, and that’s because it is. To prioritize the best, you often have to say no to lesser things. This might take you putting your phone away for a few hours a day to help you detox from the addiction of checking it often. It might take you resisting the urge to reach out to others before you reach out to God. It might take you abstaining from social media for a week or two. But all these steps are unto the greatest yes, and that is to abide in your first love, Jesus Christ. God made you for Himself and can show you the best way to remain connected to Him and love those around you in an authentic, meaningful, deep way.

‍___________________ ‍

[1] Genesis 2:18 ESV

[2] Faverio, Michelle, and Olivia Sidoti. 2024. “Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, December 12. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/12/12/teens-social-media-and-technology-2024/.

[3] Columbia University. 2023. “Smartphones, Social Media, and Their Impact on Mental Health.” Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University. https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/research/research-areas/child-and-adolescent-psychiatry/sultan-lab-mental-health-informatics/research-areas/smartphones-social-media-and-their-impact-mental-health.

[4] John 15:5