I’ve been wrestling with this. Here’s why… we are so unaware of how AI and the algorithm is shaping our behavior, no matter how intentional we claim to be. Simply the amount of time, our attention is taken from other things because it’s so addictive. It’s meant to do that, it’s a system built on hacking dopamine. There are psychologists behind the scenes who helped create it to do so. I simply don’t want to be a product and I want to keep my free will. I don’t know if it’s possible when addiction is used against me to shape my behaviors. It’s a question of dignity. If my free will is taken away, then so is my dignity.
You make an excellent point about free will. What can our own will do to stand up against the billions of dollars of research thay go into stealing our attention from us?
Yes. I don’t know the answer. Is willfully not participating the only way? I kind of think it is. Like smoking and alcoholism. We know it’s bad for us and addictive. The only way is to quit and never smoke or drink again. But to what extent. Giving up smartphones entirely? It’s difficult, but can be done. You lose all sorts of communication, even with family members. And most of independent journalism is on or only ever seen on social media.
I think if you can do it in moderation, it’s not inherently bad. Like drinking alcohol for those who don’t struggle with alcoholism. I think if you can’t use it moderately or with reasonable virtue, it should probably go to the wayside completely. If your right hand causes you to sin…
Fulton Sheen remarked in a column from Dec 22, 1968 that too often, “we refuse to stay…long enough to find out what the Lord is telling us.” He concluded, “This is the meaning of Christmas for our day—letting the Lord reveal Himself by us standing still, being quiet, letting the winds of heaven play on the strings of our heart.”
It may be argued it is the duty of Christians to resist being swallowed by the distractions of technology. Sheen described us as having a “feverish love of excitement” and tech definitely plays on that human weakness.
It takes a lot of effort and a powerful will to embrace slow living or the analog life. I just wrote an article to my Substack saying that I don’t expect it to be a lasting trend. Hope I’m wrong though! I’ve always had a love for pen to paper, physical books, and looking at a recipe card over my phone screen.
I think I already do this to an extent? I’ll often be at meetings at my children’s school and I’m the only one taking paper and pen notes, I much prefer a paper calendar or planner, I like a paper grocery list so I can check things off. I can’t let go of physical books either. I still spend too much time on my phone for sure, but any little thing to be disconnected from
I’ve thought a lot about this recently! Having this pull spiritually to pull back from social media and using technology all day everyday. Just finished day 1 of the Bible study. My desire to pull away is also fighting my desire to check in on accts like yours that draw me closer to God. Finding a balance. Praying through all this! Love the idea of using pen and paper again like one of the other comments suggested.
So I’m of two minds. Do I spend too much time on social media. Yes. 100%, yes. And I got worse about it this Fall with morning sickness (turns out I am really bad at bearing sufferings and will do just about anything to block them out….) BUT!! And this is pretty important. Being in digital community with people like you, Bridget, has made such a huge impact on my faith life. Simply praying the Impossible Novena with you and the others in our group was an incredible experience. And having the accountability of the group definitely did help me to continue it for all nine months. So I think what I’ll be looking to do is spending more time creating for social media and less time just consuming. I realize to meet this goal I’ll need to outline a bit more of exactly what that looks like, but I think that’s what I’d like.
It's such a broad topic, I'm not sure I can give an overall view in a comment but I will say this. I see a lot of Catholic content that focuses on avoiding technology/social media and emphasising real life interactions both socially and in terms of parishes. I can definitely see why that's something people think is a good idea but to give a different perspective, in many places in the world, being Catholic is extremely lonely. I'm a convert living in Scotland, one of the most secular countries in the world. If I didn't have access to things like Facebook groups for Catholic mothers or Instagram creators like yourself, I would be pretty alone. Our parishes don't have nearly the same type of opportunities for involvement as many in the US either, and there are only so many things one mother can organise while having small children and a job. So I just think it's worth keeping that in mind - it's actually a lifeline for people. I converted in 2009 and didn't make any Catholic friends until 2017 despite going to mass every week and trying to befriend people. The UK is notoriously reserved. If I didn't have social media, I'd have gone mad.
I think this is a great point. I think it’s also important to recognize that if you can move your relationship off of social media, that’s a good goal. For example, if you meet someone via social media and make a connection try to either text, call, or write to one another if you can’t get together physically. So that you have a connection outside of an app.
Idk what exactly the trend is, but I think it’s important to have a balance. The internet can be good and useful for growing in faith, like this group, for example, but reading good Catholic books, on paper, really can’t be beat.
I’m back and forth. Social media has certainly saved my sanity while on pregnancy bedrest, and when isolated far from family, and in connecting with others over parenting, and our Faith. BUT… even though I feel I was present, some of my kids only remember a mom who was busy texting on screen and not responding to their first or second “mom?” and then they gave up trying.
I have regrets.
Could I have done something differently? Maybe I could have stayed connected with family and faraway friends with letters and phone calls. Pioneers survived without churches nearby or talking friends several times a day… and I have a church nearby. I’m not as isolated as they were.
So yes, I am going to make changes, and I hope I can stick to them. I’m going to keep my phone out of the bedroom (analog alarm clock). I’m going to set time limits. I am going to implement apps that limit doom scrolling.
I wish I could make my phone shock me every time I picked it up outside of four 15-minute pockets in my day. 🫣😂
I think a balance of both worlds is a good idea. Everything in moderation...I've been able to connect with likeminded people over social media, so I wouldn't want to leave that. However, proper discernment as to how I engage with it is a must, always. I'm a sinful, prideful creature, and through prayer and experience, and in understanding the nature of sin and suffering, I applaud those who constantly continue this discernment for themselves, as well. Here's to enjoying paper and pen, actual books, and these phone contraptions as useful tools to help us to Heaven!
Before even seeing this chat I actually wrote a blog post about this as my “2025 Recap” in relation with my art business. I feel this pull to be on social media so much less that I didn’t even want to advertise those thoughts HAHA! Since the fall I had set 1-hour limits on all of my social media apps and made it not allowed at all on Sundays (with the exception of sharing the Impossible Novena by ignoring the limit for one minute 😂). I found this change in my routine to be extremely helpful to focus on what’s actually important in my life (my kids primarily). I don’t want them growing up just seeing us “doom scroll” instead of picking up a physical book and reading.
However, as others mentioned, in today’s world that does mean giving up some communication and connection with others. I did notice that I’ve been missing out on a lot of what people share so I learned to be more intentional about who I follow so in my limited time that I go on socials that I’m only seeing what’s going to give me what’s good for my mind and soul. Bridget being one of them (and I think I even chatted with you about this a little a while ago).
The advancements in AI honestly made it easier to stay off of anything digital lately too because it’s getting so ridiculous that it makes everything seem fake. And if I want to live my life in Truth, it can’t be filled with all the nonsense.
I did consider going back to a non-smartphone too, but realistically there’s more pros to having a smart phone (work convenience, transportation, visual communication, etc) that it would be too drastic of a change. So I utilize my app limits instead.
If the world can’t change what I need it to change, then I’ll change my own behaviors.
Has anyone read Paul Kingsnorth's "Against the Machine". I think Kingsnorth is very provocative. One key thesis of his is that we can't avoid "the machine" but we can be intentional about our relationship to it...in fact we must be intentional about it because otherwise the machine will define the terms of the relationship.
Important? Yes! Necessary, no I dont think so. A return to analog promises less distraction, but there are plenty of analog things that still distract (my own personal distraction is reading. A great hobby to have, but not so great when I'm ignoring taking care of my home or spending one on one time with my kids). I also think a return to analog will help retrain our brains for the slow dopamine instead of the crash of dopamine we receive when using our phones. I have also moved away from more Internet usage when AI started to get big. I don't trust it and feel like people are using it to replace whats meant for human relationships and that worries me. Instagram helped me have a great reversion to the faith, but I've noticed i start to compare myself more instead of the "take it or leave it" mentality i had when i cultivated my Instagram following to those living lives i looked up to. I've started a slow return to analog over the last 2 or so years by writing down recipes, my analog watch, an alarm clock, using a paper planner, and printing pictures and putting them in an album to enjoy.
I’ve been wrestling with this. Here’s why… we are so unaware of how AI and the algorithm is shaping our behavior, no matter how intentional we claim to be. Simply the amount of time, our attention is taken from other things because it’s so addictive. It’s meant to do that, it’s a system built on hacking dopamine. There are psychologists behind the scenes who helped create it to do so. I simply don’t want to be a product and I want to keep my free will. I don’t know if it’s possible when addiction is used against me to shape my behaviors. It’s a question of dignity. If my free will is taken away, then so is my dignity.
You make an excellent point about free will. What can our own will do to stand up against the billions of dollars of research thay go into stealing our attention from us?
Yes. I don’t know the answer. Is willfully not participating the only way? I kind of think it is. Like smoking and alcoholism. We know it’s bad for us and addictive. The only way is to quit and never smoke or drink again. But to what extent. Giving up smartphones entirely? It’s difficult, but can be done. You lose all sorts of communication, even with family members. And most of independent journalism is on or only ever seen on social media.
I think if you can do it in moderation, it’s not inherently bad. Like drinking alcohol for those who don’t struggle with alcoholism. I think if you can’t use it moderately or with reasonable virtue, it should probably go to the wayside completely. If your right hand causes you to sin…
Fulton Sheen remarked in a column from Dec 22, 1968 that too often, “we refuse to stay…long enough to find out what the Lord is telling us.” He concluded, “This is the meaning of Christmas for our day—letting the Lord reveal Himself by us standing still, being quiet, letting the winds of heaven play on the strings of our heart.”
It may be argued it is the duty of Christians to resist being swallowed by the distractions of technology. Sheen described us as having a “feverish love of excitement” and tech definitely plays on that human weakness.
It takes a lot of effort and a powerful will to embrace slow living or the analog life. I just wrote an article to my Substack saying that I don’t expect it to be a lasting trend. Hope I’m wrong though! I’ve always had a love for pen to paper, physical books, and looking at a recipe card over my phone screen.
I think I already do this to an extent? I’ll often be at meetings at my children’s school and I’m the only one taking paper and pen notes, I much prefer a paper calendar or planner, I like a paper grocery list so I can check things off. I can’t let go of physical books either. I still spend too much time on my phone for sure, but any little thing to be disconnected from
Tech and living a quieter life is good to me!
I’ve thought a lot about this recently! Having this pull spiritually to pull back from social media and using technology all day everyday. Just finished day 1 of the Bible study. My desire to pull away is also fighting my desire to check in on accts like yours that draw me closer to God. Finding a balance. Praying through all this! Love the idea of using pen and paper again like one of the other comments suggested.
So I’m of two minds. Do I spend too much time on social media. Yes. 100%, yes. And I got worse about it this Fall with morning sickness (turns out I am really bad at bearing sufferings and will do just about anything to block them out….) BUT!! And this is pretty important. Being in digital community with people like you, Bridget, has made such a huge impact on my faith life. Simply praying the Impossible Novena with you and the others in our group was an incredible experience. And having the accountability of the group definitely did help me to continue it for all nine months. So I think what I’ll be looking to do is spending more time creating for social media and less time just consuming. I realize to meet this goal I’ll need to outline a bit more of exactly what that looks like, but I think that’s what I’d like.
It's such a broad topic, I'm not sure I can give an overall view in a comment but I will say this. I see a lot of Catholic content that focuses on avoiding technology/social media and emphasising real life interactions both socially and in terms of parishes. I can definitely see why that's something people think is a good idea but to give a different perspective, in many places in the world, being Catholic is extremely lonely. I'm a convert living in Scotland, one of the most secular countries in the world. If I didn't have access to things like Facebook groups for Catholic mothers or Instagram creators like yourself, I would be pretty alone. Our parishes don't have nearly the same type of opportunities for involvement as many in the US either, and there are only so many things one mother can organise while having small children and a job. So I just think it's worth keeping that in mind - it's actually a lifeline for people. I converted in 2009 and didn't make any Catholic friends until 2017 despite going to mass every week and trying to befriend people. The UK is notoriously reserved. If I didn't have social media, I'd have gone mad.
I think this is a great point. I think it’s also important to recognize that if you can move your relationship off of social media, that’s a good goal. For example, if you meet someone via social media and make a connection try to either text, call, or write to one another if you can’t get together physically. So that you have a connection outside of an app.
Happy New Year!
Idk what exactly the trend is, but I think it’s important to have a balance. The internet can be good and useful for growing in faith, like this group, for example, but reading good Catholic books, on paper, really can’t be beat.
I’m back and forth. Social media has certainly saved my sanity while on pregnancy bedrest, and when isolated far from family, and in connecting with others over parenting, and our Faith. BUT… even though I feel I was present, some of my kids only remember a mom who was busy texting on screen and not responding to their first or second “mom?” and then they gave up trying.
I have regrets.
Could I have done something differently? Maybe I could have stayed connected with family and faraway friends with letters and phone calls. Pioneers survived without churches nearby or talking friends several times a day… and I have a church nearby. I’m not as isolated as they were.
So yes, I am going to make changes, and I hope I can stick to them. I’m going to keep my phone out of the bedroom (analog alarm clock). I’m going to set time limits. I am going to implement apps that limit doom scrolling.
I wish I could make my phone shock me every time I picked it up outside of four 15-minute pockets in my day. 🫣😂
I think a balance of both worlds is a good idea. Everything in moderation...I've been able to connect with likeminded people over social media, so I wouldn't want to leave that. However, proper discernment as to how I engage with it is a must, always. I'm a sinful, prideful creature, and through prayer and experience, and in understanding the nature of sin and suffering, I applaud those who constantly continue this discernment for themselves, as well. Here's to enjoying paper and pen, actual books, and these phone contraptions as useful tools to help us to Heaven!
Before even seeing this chat I actually wrote a blog post about this as my “2025 Recap” in relation with my art business. I feel this pull to be on social media so much less that I didn’t even want to advertise those thoughts HAHA! Since the fall I had set 1-hour limits on all of my social media apps and made it not allowed at all on Sundays (with the exception of sharing the Impossible Novena by ignoring the limit for one minute 😂). I found this change in my routine to be extremely helpful to focus on what’s actually important in my life (my kids primarily). I don’t want them growing up just seeing us “doom scroll” instead of picking up a physical book and reading.
However, as others mentioned, in today’s world that does mean giving up some communication and connection with others. I did notice that I’ve been missing out on a lot of what people share so I learned to be more intentional about who I follow so in my limited time that I go on socials that I’m only seeing what’s going to give me what’s good for my mind and soul. Bridget being one of them (and I think I even chatted with you about this a little a while ago).
The advancements in AI honestly made it easier to stay off of anything digital lately too because it’s getting so ridiculous that it makes everything seem fake. And if I want to live my life in Truth, it can’t be filled with all the nonsense.
I did consider going back to a non-smartphone too, but realistically there’s more pros to having a smart phone (work convenience, transportation, visual communication, etc) that it would be too drastic of a change. So I utilize my app limits instead.
If the world can’t change what I need it to change, then I’ll change my own behaviors.
Has anyone read Paul Kingsnorth's "Against the Machine". I think Kingsnorth is very provocative. One key thesis of his is that we can't avoid "the machine" but we can be intentional about our relationship to it...in fact we must be intentional about it because otherwise the machine will define the terms of the relationship.
Important? Yes! Necessary, no I dont think so. A return to analog promises less distraction, but there are plenty of analog things that still distract (my own personal distraction is reading. A great hobby to have, but not so great when I'm ignoring taking care of my home or spending one on one time with my kids). I also think a return to analog will help retrain our brains for the slow dopamine instead of the crash of dopamine we receive when using our phones. I have also moved away from more Internet usage when AI started to get big. I don't trust it and feel like people are using it to replace whats meant for human relationships and that worries me. Instagram helped me have a great reversion to the faith, but I've noticed i start to compare myself more instead of the "take it or leave it" mentality i had when i cultivated my Instagram following to those living lives i looked up to. I've started a slow return to analog over the last 2 or so years by writing down recipes, my analog watch, an alarm clock, using a paper planner, and printing pictures and putting them in an album to enjoy.