By Katie Ginn
The other night, I introduced Stephen to “Miss Congeniality,” the Sandra Bullock movie from the year 2000. (I had watched “Sonic the Hedgehog,” so it was only fair.) Sandy plays a slovenly federal agent who poses as a “Miss United States” contestant in order to stop a bomb threat at the pageant.
The movie is pretty funny. Props to Sandra Bullock for representing those of us who are more likely to trip over our own furniture than sparkle on a stage. But afterward, I was thinking about how different the story would look if filmed today in the smartphone era.
In one scene, Sandy’s character strolls into the hotel gym with a pizza. Instantly, she has her fellow contestants’ attention. I’m sure the same ploy might work in 2024, but not as quickly. Instead, everybody would be glued to their phones.
The ladies would be sharing selfies, stalking each other’s social media feeds, and watching TedTalks and TikToks – after all, one needs such “content” in order to be one’s best. How did people ever improve themselves without taking advice from the internet? And who needs pizza when you’re gobbling up notifications like candy? (Then again, if likes and shares are sparse, you might want to eat your feelings.)
I’ve been thinking about screen time and smartphones since our church recently announced our new year-long goal: to “create margin in our lives” – including reducing time spent on distractions like our phones – “in order to saturate our community with gospel conversations.”
Ironically, it’s hard to have a gospel conversation when you’re too busy watching snippets of Christian podcasts on Instagram.
My phone is nearly always my biggest distraction from whatever God wants me doing. My average daily “screen time” on that little rectangle is four hours. A small bit of that is for work; some of it might be talking to close friends on Snapchat; but the majority of it is mental clutter posing as affirmation and entertainment. Ewww.
Ironically, as an introvert, what I need more than screen time is legitimate alone time. Shoot, if I even took two of those four hours and devoted them to healthier solitary hobbies — reading, playing piano, etc. — I could use the other two for productive, social, or spiritual endeavors.
Life will only get busier if and when Stephen and I have kids, Lord willing. As it is, we had time to go out to dinner and watch “Miss Congeniality” on a Monday night. We have time to experiment — and experiment, and experiment — with how to properly cook rice. We have time to sleep in on Saturdays if we want. Our level of free time is downright luxurious. Maybe if I spent less of it scrolling, I would feel that luxury.
In light of that, I’d love to say I’ve decided to delete all my social media apps. Realistically, as a media publisher, I don’t think that’s wise.
I’d love to say I’ve found the willpower to drastically reduce my screen time. I’ve tried. But within a week, I was right back at it – taking my phone with me just about everywhere, even to the restroom. It’s silly, but I know some of y’all do it too!
I’d love to have a neat little Christian “lesson” and directive for the end of this column. Honestly, I probably need to seek God’s wisdom for a more specific goal than “spend less time on my phone.” Or maybe I just need a specific pursuit to replace the screen time: “Each week, I will do ABC. By October 2025, I will have done XYZ.”
If y’all don’t hear from me on this for a while, feel free to send a less-than-instant message via postal mail, carrier pigeon, or anything else analog, and I will be sure to share my progress or lack thereof.
Must-reads in this issue
- The pastors in our cover story would agree that distraction is a major challenge in their churches. To hear more of their heart for the body of Christ, check out our cover story.
- One man who certainly isn’t wasting time is James R. Crockett, who has written five books since age 65. Read more about this prolific octogenarian in our “Redefining Retirement” column.
- I got the chance to interview supermodel and businesswoman Kathy Ireland, who’s speaking at Mississippi College later this month! Read her story in “Living My Call.”