I’ve turned off the e-mail notifications on my phone, set text notifications to silent (unless they are from Lydia my wife), and I set a crazily complicated password on my Facebook account so that it’s far too frustrating to login from my phone.

My detoxing began over a year ago when I read “The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains” by Nicholas Carr upon the endorsement of a pastor friend. I have found that since restricting digital technology I can concentrate better, think more clearly, and read longer and more attentively. What precious treasures that ability has brought forth in my spiritual, home and work life!

There is not only the problem that technology constantly bombards us, but the developers know how to program everything on the internet to grab attention and hold it. Maybe you’ve noticed that now on Facebook videos will automatically play once they appear on the screen. There is the habit of checking Facebook or Twitter frequently, and then being absorbed by whatever caught your attention. That equals mounds of lost time.

I found for myself that if I watch something on YouTube (typically musical) the piece will get stuck in a vicious loop inside my head, and some days it’s almost been a miracle if I could get it out in order to fully give my attention to something else. Media developers go beyond just getting your attention, but they lock it in, and our minds are always subconsciously going back to the distraction even after the video or song is long over. After getting and holding our attention the effect of distracting technology lingers.

Thank you Dr. Murray! I look forward to reading further.