According to a 2018 study, the average person spends over four hours a day on his or her smartphone. Over the course of one year, that adds up to a whopping 1,460 hours, or a total of about 61 days a year!
Can you believe it? Right now, I’m imagining myself staring at and scrolling my screen for two months straight. Yikes.
A City Broken Into
I know when I’m seduced by my smartphone, it feels like what’s described in Proverbs 25:28:
“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.”
When I’m spending too much time on my phone, my brain and spirit feel flooded with information, ads, stimulation, images… really like a “city broken into and left without walls” of protection or boundaries.
It’s consuming. And it’s because I’m lacking self-control to turn it off (or to just not turn it on to begin with).
Now, I know what you might say…
You might tell me how many useful things a mom can do on her smartphone. And I agree. There are many helpful apps for banking, budgeting, list-making, reading, managing work and connecting with others. Our phones can–and do in some ways–make life more efficient.
But if many of us are honest, we’re not always using our smartphone time for specific purposes that build up our families or ourselves. After all, if our phones really ARE making life more efficient, I’d think we’d have about 4+ hours more to spend with those we love, face-to-face!
Friends, fellow moms, never let your smartphone get more eye contact than your daughter. God has given us the gifts of time and motherhood. And, as women filled with the Holy Spirit, we have power and are called to exercise self-control:
“…for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7
Now, I won’t go into all the psychology behind WHY we turn on or phones or why we don’t turn them off. And I won’t talk about how apps are actually designed to keep you engaged and addicted. We could talk about the surge of temporary joy we get when we see a “like”… among other things, but that’s a discussion for another day.
However, there are some important, quick questions you can ask yourself BEFORE checking your smartphone, that will help you think twice before getting sucked in and missing what’s right in front of you.
Question #1: What is the specific reason I’m getting on my phone?
This question will help you evaluate your purpose for turning your smartphone on in the first place and to decide if it’s important and necessary.
Do you need to check your bank account? Were you supposed to respond to a text from your husband? Was there a budget item you needed to account for? Are you hoping to connect with an old friend? Or were you just getting on to check your email for the 12th time today?
Do you see how stopping to ask this simple question helps you evaluate your purpose and can make you think twice before logging in?
Question #2: Can I use my phone for this later?
So you’ve decided your reason is valid. What now? This question will help you evaluate if your timing is right. Maybe you’re on for a very good reason and you do need to accomplish this task on your phone today.
But is this something you can do at a later time when nobody needs your attention? Are there people in your life, right in front of you, who desire to be with you (minus your phone)? What could you accomplish today if the specific tasks you need to do on your phone were saved for the last hour of the day only?
(BEWARE: the enemy will try and convince you that EVERYTHING you’re “notified” of on your smartphone is urgent and that NOW is always the time. It’s not.)
Question #3: Is my time valuable to me and others?
Of course, the answer is YES! This question will help you think about the value of your time. When we take for granted that each minute of time in our lives is a gift from God, then we’re more likely to think how we spend those minutes doesn’t matter.
But they do. Time is a gift for us to use in glorifying God through how we parent, how we work, how we serve, how we love, and how we give.
The little old ladies aren’t joking when they say, “The days are long, but the years are short.” So before you turn to your smartphone, remember that your time is valuable, not just to you, but to your daughter, your family, your neighbor, and to God.
Question #4: What time will I be off my phone?
So far, each of the questions has been asked to make you stop, think, and reduce the impulse you feel to just “hop on real quick”.
Don’t get me wrong, if your reason for getting on is for a bit of good, clean entertainment or sharing a funny meme, I’m not condemning that! In fact, I’m a self-proclaimed curator of quality memes. 🙂
So this last question is for anyone, regardless of your reason for getting on. Asking “What time will I be off my phone” forces you to look at the time, make a firm, self-controlled decision for how long you plan to be on, and then to get off when that time is up.
I recommend setting limits through timers, “do not disturb” settings, and airplane settings. It’s just one more layer to add that will help you exercise God-honoring self-control with your device.
And here are some FREE smartphone wallpapers to help you!
Speaking of layers to help with self-control, I’ve created 4 smartphone wallpapers to help you ask these questions before checking your phone!
Each attractive, eye-catching, attention-grabbing wallpaper features one of the four questions from this article. Download all four! Pick the one you think will help you the most in this season. Pray that God will equip you, by the power of his Holy Spirit, to be in charge of your phone instead of it being in charge of YOU. Switch up the wallpapers to keep the questions fresh and in front of you each time you press “on”.
I hope these “4 Questions a Mom Should Ask Before Checking Her Smartphone” have been beneficial to you! What questions have I missed? Comment below! To download the smartphone wallpapers, click on each gallery image. Save it, then set it to your home screen. Be sure to share them with a friend!
