A few weeks ago, a good friend told me about the digital fast she and her husband were doing. They were loving it. She highly recommended it. I asked for more information and she sent me links to some resources, including the book by Dr. Darren Whitehead. I’ve been doing three things since then:
studying the resources she sent me and more that my curiosity discovered
paying attention to the way the digital world overwhelms me, informs my emotions and thoughts about how to feel and think, and dominates my time, often distracting me from the people I love and the ways I want to live my life
watching how the digital world has devolved from a potentially useful tool to a world dominated by hate. It turns out that “hate sells.” Some of the biggest digital earners, including our favorite news/talk shows, use hate as clickbait to drive up their profits.
Kudos to my friend and her husband for catching on to this and spreading the news! As a result, I’m planning to lead my church in a digital fast the first 21 days of 2025 in order to push back against hate, anxiety, discouragement, and depression. As I prepare for this, the decision might be made to do the entire 40 days of digital fasting recommended by Dr. Whitehead. Right now, today, I’m planning for 21 days of digital fasting. But I’m open to good judgment by friends, church members, and paid subscribers of Substack. In the meantime, check out the podcast, learn more about the ancient Christian spiritual practice of fasting, find out the meaning of doomscrolling, and discover a new digital world inspired OCD condition, and begin wondering if a digital fast might be an important practice for the good of your soul, emotions, mental health, and relationships.
The Digital Fast