God makes boundaries for our good. In the beginning, “the earth was without form and void” (Genesis 1:2). God gave order and boundaries to creation, and it was good. In the same way, our interactions with technology need order and boundaries. A chaotic and boundaryless relationship with technology is anything but good.
In Job 38, we hear about God making boundaries within His creation: “Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?” (Job 38:8–11). God established order within creation, giving the sea and clouds and all things their proper boundaries. God’s will for what is good and orderly puts things in their proper place.
What might we learn from God’s good order and boundaries as it relates to our use of technology? What sort of boundaries do we need for technology in our daily life, our homes, our relationships, and our congregations?
As people set free from sin in Christ, we are not chained to technology. When technology has order and boundaries, then it can flourish and be used well. Here are three practical suggestions from my book Redeeming Technology: A Christian Approach to Healthy Digital Habits for establishing boundaries for technology—especially when it comes to our smartphones.
Can you disconnect? Turn off your smartphone and put it away for an extended period of time. As they say when something is easy to do, “No problem.” But if the answer is no—if you weren’t able to put it away or cannot imagine stepping away from your smartphone—then there may be a problem. Feeling the need to have something ever present in your life implies dependence on that object. Sometimes, we are truly dependent on something; it’s essential for life, such as the oxygen we breathe. However, smartphones are not essential for life. If you can’t be away from your smartphone, then that dependence is a problem.
Try fasting. You can’t fast from something if it is always part of you. Put some distance between yourself and your electronic devices. Fasting from your smartphone should be an ongoing practice. Physically put away the smartphone—not in your pocket, but in a drawer somewhere—and put Holy Scripture in its place. Without the constant mental white noise from the smartphone, less distraction interferes between you and God. Fast from your smartphone periodically throughout your day. Turn it off when not in use. If necessary, check it periodically throughout the day at regularly spaced-out intervals. When on your phone, limit your use to five minutes or less at a time.
Time your fasts purposefully. For example, you may be able to engage in a prolonged fast from your smartphone while on vacation. On a beach vacation with your family, you may have the luxury of turning it off, putting it in a drawer, and taking it out one week later. The first few days are the hardest (as with any withdrawal), and then you may remember or get a taste of what life is like without smartphones. If you are not on vacation, try establishing a time when you regularly put your phone away or on airplane mode.
Interact thoughtfully. Fasting will help you develop self-control to interact more thoughtfully when you do use your smartphone. Do not respond to electronic communications when emotionally upset. Impulsive actions are done without first thinking about how to respond, but fasting will help you get in the practice of waiting to respond.
Do not feel pressured to be always available and to respond immediately to electronic messages in an effort to reassure others or avoid conflict; this type of behavioral pattern is not helpful or healthy. If others become upset about not immediately receiving responses from you, this reaction may be about them and their issues with digital technology. It’s alright if an hour or day goes by before responding to a text message or email.
These practical suggestions can easily be adapted to other sorts of technologies beyond our smartphones. You can make minor changes to these suggestions so that they apply to computers and digital devices, social media, and email.
Rather than just taking new technology out of the box and putting it to use without any thought or reflection, it’s good to take time to establish some boundaries. Like we hear God saying in Job 38, we should say to our technology, “thus far shall you come, and no farther.” When technology has boundaries, it can thrive and flourish in its proper place.
Scripture: ESV®.
Quotations adapted from Redeeming Technology: A Christian Approach to Healthy Digital Habits © 2021 A. Trevor Sutton and Brian Smith. Published by Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.