Hi. My name is Mike and I’m addicted to distraction.
I’m not sure when I first noticed the problem. Perhaps it was when…wait, I just got an email…perhaps it was when my little boy jolted me from my blank stare. I could hear the hurt in his voice. He was sharing his heart, telling me all about…wait, I need to update my Twitter feed…Where was I? Oh yeah, my son jolted me out of my blank stare and asked me if I was…wait, sorry, I just got a notification from Facebook….Anyways, my son was asking me…oh my goodness, I’m so sorry, my phone is ringing and I need to answer it.
I’m going to have to finish this later.
My name is Mike and I’m addicted to distraction.
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If that was frustrating to read, let me assure you it is even more frustrating to live. Even when I’m not doing all of those attention grabbing things (responding to email, updating Twitter, checking Feedly, etc.) I’m wondering about them in my mind. I know that the entire online world can change within moments. And you never know what’s going on unless you check. I will go hours without physically clocking in to the online world. I will ignore the beeps and buzzes coming from my iPad and tend to the real world. But in truth my heart is already there. I’m a distracted man. I can be physically unplugged but my mind and my heart haven’t unplugged. I’m thinking about the next article. The next tweet. The next book. The next email. And my family (especially my wife) knows that glassy look when I’m there but not really there.
I’m confident that the Lord knows that empty look as well. He knows when I’m opening His Word for the sake of being fed so that I can write an article. He knows when my prayer time is interrupted by a beep from Tweetdeck. And he is aware of when my heart is writing an email instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus.
I’m reading through David Wells book God in the Whirlwind. This quote floored me:
Would we prefer the illusion of a relationship via the virtual world, or do we want the real thing, which is face-to-face and flesh-and-blood? Would we prefer merely to have the pose of being Christian, living only with our appearances, or do we want the real thing, God himself?
The Heart of the Matter
The painful truth that I’m faced with is that social media is not the problem. My heart is. I’d distract myself with a box of Cheerios if that is all that I had. I’ve grown terrified of solitude. Of silence. I’m not even sure what I am running from anymore. I just know that my heart has an intense longing for distraction and it’s massively hindering my relationship with the Lord.
I wrote awhile back that some things require the gospel’s root work and axe work. Here’s what I’m considering as I attempt to see this idol topple in light of His glory. In order to uproot this dastardly idol I need to be honest with what is really going on in my heart. Why am I so distracted? Why can I not have a moment alone just savoring something in God’s good creation? What am I trying to avoid? What is it that I am pursuing by constantly being plugged in? Am I constantly “on” because I’m trying to please Jesus or prove something to my rebellious heart?
In one sense I doubt that I really want to know the answers to these questions. (Maybe that is why I am—in a terrible irony—writing this as a blog post). In another sense I’m encouraged by Richard Sibbes. “Conceal not your wounds, open all before him.” Jesus is a kind surgeon. And he’s rooting out these idols for my good and His glory. There is joy on the other side of a heart distracted.
Axe Work
Along with the root work there are disciplines that I want to put into place to start chopping at this idol. Here are a couple of ideas that I have:
- 15 minutes of intentional silence and solitude every day from 9:45-10:00.
- Specific times of shutting off email and all forms of social media throughout the day.
- Schedule time for checking email instead of leaving it on all day. Actually apply this: 8 Email Mistakes You Make.
- Schedule a lengthy period of detox. No email. No twitter. No blogging. Nothing.
That’s what I’ve got so far. Any other distraction addicts out there? How are you doing battle?
Great word. Even if I did read this article as a distraction from my sermon prep!
An article I easily could have written myself 🙂 I especially appreciate the point that good practices (shutting off email, disabling notifications, etc.) help but don’t address the distracted mind & heart. That part I’m still working on.
Practically, though, I have fallen in love with a few tools from Baydin: The Email Game, Boomerang for Gmail, and Boomerang Calendar.
The Email Game helps you sort and power through a big load of email very efficiently. And it’s fun!
Boomerang is useful for both returning items to your inbox when they are needed, and for scheduling emails to send at a later time. You know those email convos you get into that are rapid back and forth, dominating chunks of your day? You’d be amazed ho much time you can save if you type your reply and schedule it to send 10, 60, 90 minutes later. That’s buying you time before the next reply comes in!
Beyond that, remove the temptations to be distracted. In part it’s a learned behaviour, so re-education and rehabilitation are required.
PS: This comment took ~30 minutes, in between 3-4 emails, an IM chat with a co-worker, and a conversation with my wife. #WorkInProgress
I love the suggestion for Boomerang. I hadn’t thought of doing that. Super idea! Thanks!