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A wake-up call to the addictive power of the screen and suggested ways we might push back.

This is my fourth in a series, highlighting key aspects from each chapter of my new book, While We Were Sleeping: A Wake-up Call For All Christians (2025). (Check out my YouTube channel, where I am posting a weekly reflection on each chapter, to complement this post.)

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Lindsey Fuchs, mother of three primary-aged boys living in Sydney, is a passionate advocate for children to grow up free from screen addiction and its associated sociopathic adverse effects. A couple of quotes from her story:

One day I was at a family party. One of the children there had an iPad. The mother said to her child, ‘I need to take that away.’ The child, not even 18 months, shifted into aggressive behaviour. I had never seen a child behave like that over a screen…

Someone from church gifted me Kevin Lemen’s book, How to have a New Kid by Friday: How To Change Your Child’s Attitude, Behavior & Character In 5 Days.

The Lemen book gave me the courage to put on my big-girl-pants and be a mom. It reminded me of the authority that my husband and I have. We made the choices that are best for our children, and the results were remarkable…

Talking about the connection between screen addiction and porn; I know that schools are one of the first places kids see pornography, and it’s usually by Year 4, either on the devices brought in from home or on the devices that the school provides, and schools fail to install effective filters, or the kids learn how to get around them. Then peer pressure forces each other to look at it…

I would love to see that everyone is as appalled as I am, but that is far from the case. When I share this with people, for instance, when we are at a playground having a chat, and they are lamenting screen use, or the fact they can’t connect with their husbands anymore, or their husbands are not connecting with their kids, as they are on their phone; their reaction is often; ‘it is what it is!’ They feel powerless to do anything. 

Distraction or Addiction?

Lindsey names the elephant in the room. Most of our society shrugs their shoulders and says, “It is what it is!” Do we have to accept this? Are we counting the cost to the individual and to society at large? Consider these adverse effects, from Edward Luker’s research:

Hyperarousal looks different for each person. It can include difficulties with paying attention, managing emotions, controlling impulses, following directions and tolerating frustration. Some adults or children struggle with expressing compassion and creativity, and have a decreased interest in learning. This can lead to a lack of empathy for others, which can lead to violence. Also, kids who rely on screens and social media to interact with others typically feel lonelier than kids who interact in person.

Can we tell the difference between distraction and addiction? I guess we can at the extremes, but what about at the boundary? There are so many competing views and emotions around the word addiction.

Many might point the self-righteous finger at the addict and subconsciously build a wall, building an ever-growing hurdle for the addict to overcome, in effect, locking them into their addiction. This can’t be a demonstration of empathy.

I conducted my own mini-research into this interaction between stimulus and the addict. My take-home was for the free “to deepen their connection with the addict”.

It’s not too late

Rather than going with the flow, shrugging and saying, “It is what it is!”, let’s take a stand and push back against the tide at our doorway, however impossible it may feel.

There are helpful tips we can seek to implement. As adults, we can model the healthy use of screens and video games to our young. We can unplug when we first get home from work, at dinner and when driving. We can intentionally explore alternative methods of relaxation and entertainment, such as bushwalking, playing games, having a dance party or reading a book. We can keep all screens out of bedrooms and, in our homes, require that all devices be charged outside of bedrooms overnight.

The habit of sitting at home around the meal table with others is a significant theme in the Bible, often representing fellowship, sharing, and the importance of hospitality. Several verses highlight this idea, including those in Luke 14:10, 1 Corinthians 11:34, and Matthew 8:11. Sitting around the table with no screens is such a wonderful time for building positive memories.

David Murrow demonstrates how screen time weakens our faith in God. For example:

Screens have become the objects of our worship. Anything that commands our attention nine hours a day can be accurately described as an idol. Christians now spend the vast majority of their free time interacting with screens. Not God. Not people. Screens are the true object of our worship.

Screen time is displacing spiritual disciplines. Take prayer, for example. In the pre-iPhone era, I used to spend idle moments communing with God. Now, if I have a few minutes standing in line or waiting at the baggage carousel, I tend to reach for my phone. Instead of turning my heart toward Christ or praying for people I meet, I find myself scrolling social media or playing Candy Crush.

We miss opportunities to fulfil our mission in life. If our noses are buried in our screens, we pay less attention to the world around us. Time that could be spent fulfilling our God-given mission is instead devoted to watching reruns or blasting imaginary on-screen foes.

Screens tempt us. 1 John 2:16 says, ‘For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.’ No single verse better describes what screens do to us. They inflame our lusts with an endless gallery of sensual images (desires of the flesh), objects and lifestyles to covet (desires of the eyes), and people to look down upon (the pride of life).

The ubiquity of screens is diminishing our interaction with strangers. Banks are closing branches, encouraging us to use their app and no longer have a real person we can talk with on the phone. Supermarkets have laid off staff, so we are encouraged to use the self-checkout system while listening to the prompts of an AI voice.

Buses and trains now have us tap on and tap off without any interaction with humanity. Airports have laid off security staff, so we now must scan our passports on a screen. Churches encourage us to download their app and use our phones to scan the QR code for details.

These are just some examples of the isolation we are being forced into by our screen addiction. How can we witness to those in our community if we never interact with them? How can we encourage the downtrodden and the hopeless with a smile if we never see them?

Screen addiction is changing us, has changed us. All this has happened While We Were Sleeping. Let’s wake up to ourselves. Every small step we take to reverse this trend can be a giant leap forward for mankind.

Some steps I have taken

I always go to the real checkout in the supermarket, if there is one. Thankfully, they seem to put the most gregarious, chatty cashier on the till, so a conversation is easy.

I encouraged my church to always have a URL available, not just the QR code. I haven’t gone this far yet, but I might encourage my church not to use QR codes at all!

I use my phone for very limited purposes, as I know the power of addiction can have on me. I use it for phone calls, SMS (not MMS), WhatsApp text and phone calls (I have friends and family in the UK), the Bible App, the weather and photos.

My limited use of my mobile screen frustrates family and friends at times, but it’s my way of taking a stand and all being well, ensuring I don’t traverse the boundaries between use, distraction and addiction.

In this season of Lent (40 days up to Easter), let’s consider fasting from an aspect of our screen use. Monitor our response, measure what goes in its place. Perhaps you will be able to cull that application forever!

Conversation

If this post has provoked you or raised a question, please use the comment section below. I would love to “talk with you further about these things.” (Yes, this requires screen use, but note the sensation: it’s not in isolation, it’s in communication.)

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Image courtesy of Adobe.