More Time and Less Life?
Having a computer or phone can really make your life easier. Forget keeping a roledex of contacts, a day-planner, or reading the newspaper. Many of us keep "everything" on our devices, and would feel lost without them. Our technology is so helpful that we continually find new ways to make ourselves more productive. And as we accomplish more and more tasks throughout a day, we might believe that we are saving ourselves time.
Rebecca Rosen's article in the Atlantic begs to differ with our perceptions of efficiency. She discusses why for over a decade the idea of taking a "digital Sabbath," as devoted time away from your devices, has grown in popularity. Surprisingly, Rosen herself doesn't necessarily think that taking a large block of time away from our technology is the key to living a well-paced and relationally vibrant life. The trouble is that we tend to never learn how to deal with being busy in the moment. Taking a "digital Sabbath" is, of course helpful, but we have not taught ourselves to take smaller Sabbaths throughout the rest of our weeks or months. We do not learn how to integrate our technologically enhanced lives with daily rest, and fellowship. So we end up going long stretches of time, getting a lot of little things done, and never really connecting with anyone, or anything in a meaningful way.
Rosen's advice is geared toward anyone who wishes to counteract the creeping busyness that seems to take over our lives throughout the week. But as Christians we would do well to ask ourselves if our busyness is doing more than just taking up our time. What if we are constantly engaged in the busy tasks of our day and do not take small amounts of time away to think about, pray to, and worship God?
Is all of our "efficiency" effectively cutting down our relationship with God to one day per week?
We could benefit from Rosen's advice to be "mimicking Sabbath in the small" and, as Christians, carve out small blocks of daily time to rest in what Christ has done for us. In this way the rythyms of our lives can help us remember our new identities as children of God, as a redeemed people, and as those who are united with Christ.