Your Phone is a Thief: How to Protect Your Time and Attention from Distraction
Your phone is a thief!
All day long, whether it’s buzzing in your pocket or glowing on the table beside you, it has one goal: to steal your most valuable assets, your time and attention.
The thief sneaks in when you sit down to read your Bible, during family meals, or when you’re catching up with a friend at a coffee shop. While other things you own can be replaced or repaired, you never get to relive or recapture these moments in time. Because our attention is constantly under attack, we must become intentional in how we protect our attention and point it to things that we truly value. This is why the psalmist asks God in Psalm 90:12 to help His people,
“to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
He knows that if we remember the shortness of not only our lives but our days, we will use our days, hours, and minutes wisely and protect them from things that seek to rob us.
But it is not just their fleetingness that makes your time and attention valuable; it’s the power of what you give your time and attention to. When you allow your phone to steal your time and attention you are also giving it the power to shape your thoughts, emotions, and actions. In other words, your identity. This is why Paul writes in Philippians,
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Phil. 4:8)
As followers of Jesus, we are to be shaped and molded into the image of Christ by the Spirit and through God’s Word, not by the device that seeks to shape us into its image.
The question is then what do we do? How do we protect our time and attention from this thief? Here are three things I invite you to try:
1. Turn Off Your Notifications
We have all been there. You’re in a meeting at work or catching up with a friend over coffee and then it happens- your phone or watch vibrates. You know it is probably nothing, but you have lost all focus on what was happening in the meeting or conversation. None of that matters anymore. All that matters is what the notification on the phone says. So, what do you do? You fight the desire for a minute. But you can’t help it you pick up the phone to check the notification. In that moment you are allowing the thief to steal your time and attention from yourself but also the image bearer sitting across from you.
Why does this happen? Why can’t we fight the urge to check our notification? One reason is that we have been trained by our phones and apps to expect a reward when our phones ding or buzz and our brains can’t help but want to see what unknown surprise hides behind that notification.
One of the best ways you can fight against this distraction is by turning off all unnecessary notifications. You do not need to know every time you receive an email, someone makes a post on social media, or so-called breaking news happens. Go through your notification and remove any unnecessary ones.
2. Delete Attention Stealing Apps (social media, news, games, etc.)
What apps do you spend the most time on? My guess is that for most of us the answer would be social media, games, or news apps. This is not by accident. While these apps market themselves as if they were selling you connection, important information, or entertainment, what they’re really selling is your attention. It is not just out of generosity that many of these apps are free; rather, it is because the way that Facebook, TikTok, Fox News, and Candy Crush make money is by keeping you locked in on their app. The more time you spend on their apps, the more ads you see, and the more info they collect. How does this work? Let’s look at two quick examples:
One way to fight against this attempt to steal your time and attention is to delete these apps from your phone. This does not remove your access from these platforms, but it does add a speed bump. This little speed bump can help you protect your time and attention.
3. Having a Home for Your Phone
If I were to ask you what you want to prioritize in your life, I am sure that one of the things you would say is time with your family. So why not make that a priority when you are at home? One way to do that is to have a ‘phone home’ in your house. A ‘phone home’ is a location where everyone puts their phone when they enter the house and keeps them until they leave. This way if someone needs to use their phone for something they must get up, go to the phone, and stay at the location of the phone until they are done using it. Just adding these extra steps keeps you from being distracted by your phone while you go about your evening.
Maybe this sounds like a little too much for you. Start with setting some “no phone zones”. For example:
Parents, if you want to see the fruit of setting up practices and boundaries like these in your home, then you must set the example. The most valuable thing you can give your kids is your time and attention. Don’t let your phone steal that from them.
The digital age that we are living in is a unique time in God’s story and if we are going to walk through it faithfully and help others, we need wisdom. Join us for Wisdom in the Digital Age, a new two-week class at Stones on Sunday August 31 and September 7 at 10:45 am.
You can register now here: Registration
All day long, whether it’s buzzing in your pocket or glowing on the table beside you, it has one goal: to steal your most valuable assets, your time and attention.
The thief sneaks in when you sit down to read your Bible, during family meals, or when you’re catching up with a friend at a coffee shop. While other things you own can be replaced or repaired, you never get to relive or recapture these moments in time. Because our attention is constantly under attack, we must become intentional in how we protect our attention and point it to things that we truly value. This is why the psalmist asks God in Psalm 90:12 to help His people,
“to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
He knows that if we remember the shortness of not only our lives but our days, we will use our days, hours, and minutes wisely and protect them from things that seek to rob us.
But it is not just their fleetingness that makes your time and attention valuable; it’s the power of what you give your time and attention to. When you allow your phone to steal your time and attention you are also giving it the power to shape your thoughts, emotions, and actions. In other words, your identity. This is why Paul writes in Philippians,
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Phil. 4:8)
As followers of Jesus, we are to be shaped and molded into the image of Christ by the Spirit and through God’s Word, not by the device that seeks to shape us into its image.
The question is then what do we do? How do we protect our time and attention from this thief? Here are three things I invite you to try:
1. Turn Off Your Notifications
We have all been there. You’re in a meeting at work or catching up with a friend over coffee and then it happens- your phone or watch vibrates. You know it is probably nothing, but you have lost all focus on what was happening in the meeting or conversation. None of that matters anymore. All that matters is what the notification on the phone says. So, what do you do? You fight the desire for a minute. But you can’t help it you pick up the phone to check the notification. In that moment you are allowing the thief to steal your time and attention from yourself but also the image bearer sitting across from you.
Why does this happen? Why can’t we fight the urge to check our notification? One reason is that we have been trained by our phones and apps to expect a reward when our phones ding or buzz and our brains can’t help but want to see what unknown surprise hides behind that notification.
One of the best ways you can fight against this distraction is by turning off all unnecessary notifications. You do not need to know every time you receive an email, someone makes a post on social media, or so-called breaking news happens. Go through your notification and remove any unnecessary ones.
2. Delete Attention Stealing Apps (social media, news, games, etc.)
What apps do you spend the most time on? My guess is that for most of us the answer would be social media, games, or news apps. This is not by accident. While these apps market themselves as if they were selling you connection, important information, or entertainment, what they’re really selling is your attention. It is not just out of generosity that many of these apps are free; rather, it is because the way that Facebook, TikTok, Fox News, and Candy Crush make money is by keeping you locked in on their app. The more time you spend on their apps, the more ads you see, and the more info they collect. How does this work? Let’s look at two quick examples:
- Infinite Scroll: One of the breakthrough web design techniques for social media companies is the infinite scroll, the ability to scroll through social media without ever getting to the end of a page or clicking on a link to keep going. By doing this the app keeps your brain guessing what is next and keeps you scrolling, scrolling, and scrolling.
- Algorithm: These platforms track what you click, watch, and linger on, then give you more of it. Not necessarily what’s true, helpful, or good—but what’s most likely to keep you on the app.
One way to fight against this attempt to steal your time and attention is to delete these apps from your phone. This does not remove your access from these platforms, but it does add a speed bump. This little speed bump can help you protect your time and attention.
3. Having a Home for Your Phone
If I were to ask you what you want to prioritize in your life, I am sure that one of the things you would say is time with your family. So why not make that a priority when you are at home? One way to do that is to have a ‘phone home’ in your house. A ‘phone home’ is a location where everyone puts their phone when they enter the house and keeps them until they leave. This way if someone needs to use their phone for something they must get up, go to the phone, and stay at the location of the phone until they are done using it. Just adding these extra steps keeps you from being distracted by your phone while you go about your evening.
Maybe this sounds like a little too much for you. Start with setting some “no phone zones”. For example:
- at the table during meals
- bedrooms, bathrooms, or behind closed doors
- while watching television or movies as family
Parents, if you want to see the fruit of setting up practices and boundaries like these in your home, then you must set the example. The most valuable thing you can give your kids is your time and attention. Don’t let your phone steal that from them.
The digital age that we are living in is a unique time in God’s story and if we are going to walk through it faithfully and help others, we need wisdom. Join us for Wisdom in the Digital Age, a new two-week class at Stones on Sunday August 31 and September 7 at 10:45 am.
You can register now here: Registration
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