Cheating on my Digital Fast

This year’s Digital and Social Media Fast taught me something about myself that I already knew and loath.

I took this photo at Hawk’s Nest State Park in West Virginia while on a nine day motorcycle tour during my social media fast. The video below is from the New River Gorge Bridge, a 3030 feet long steel arch bridge over the New River Gorge in the Appalachian Mountains.

I just wrapped up my annual Social Media Fast and it was unlike any other over the past twenty or so years.

The purpose of this time is to minimize my digital life to slow down and refocus spiritually and emotionally. I wipe social media from my devices and largely access world news the old school way: word of mouth.

What a month to be gone.

Let me recap for you some of what has happened this past month in our world:

• There was an assassination attempt on a former president

• The current president decided not to run for reelection

• Bob Newhart, Shannon Doherty, Richard Simmons, and Dr. Ruth died

• A huge tech issue grounded a ton of flights (I found this out right before getting on a plane)

• The Olympics kicked off with what many saw as a mockery of the Christian faith (I’m gonna have to look into that one)

I’m sure there was a lot more, but this is what trickled through to me the old school way. Some of it even caused me to cheat and read the news because I just couldn’t resist.

And that leads me to the unexpected insight I gained this year: sometimes healthy routines and rhythms can themselves become a new law that enslaves us.

Let me explain.

When I found out former President Trump was shot, I immediately did two things: I turned on the TV and I felt guilty about it. The next day I logged in to a few news sites on my phone and felt really guilty. When President Biden decided not to run, I was all in, downloading Reddit and reading through news constantly for a couple days. I behaved like an addict, hiding my usage and only grabbing my phone when no one was looking. And each time I did, I felt like a hypocritical loser because I broke my fast early.

But here’s the kicker that dawned on me after a couple days of binging world news: there’s nothing intrinsically holy about taking a month away from the news cycle. And my eternity doesn’t hang in the balance when I download an app I said I wouldn’t.

Jesus isn’t up in glory tsk tsking my failure. These weren’t his rules I was breaking, they were mine!

It is so easy to create a system of so-called righteous living for ourselves (with some really good and healthy practices) and to beat ourselves up for not practicing it perfectly.

It’s like we are addicted to law.

At least I am.  That’s what I learned about myself yet again.

For the record, after about a week, I went back to my fast and finished the month fairly strong. I did decent on the rest of my commitments (except my project motorcycle is still silently mocking me even after hours of trying to get it started).

It was a great month and I’m ready to step my digital thumbs back in the water. I’m still not sure what my new social media rhythms are going to be this year, but that’s okay. I think I’ll cut myself some slack for not figuring that out yet.