Does anyone else think the internet harms their spiritual health?

[kikiki32]

Hi:

I’ve been observing that the internet, as good as it can be for many things, is being detrimental to my spiritual health.

Although it’s been good for learning things about my own faith and growing into a more mature understanding of it, the main problem I observe is that it completely kills any kind of inner silence or recollection. It has also made my concentration diminish, which affects my prayer life. It robs me time I could use for God, and it provides many occasions of sin, specially against purity.

I need the internet for my job, and use a smartphone. But I want to kick most of the ‘leisure internet’ out of my life. But so far every attempt of doing so has been a failure after almost two decades of forming a habit of intensive internet use.

I feel that this is one of the things that I’ve put between God and me, and that I must work on getting detached from it. The day of my death and judgment, at the moment of examining my life, I wouldn’t like to find I’ve been completely unable to put a colorful screen away.

Does anyone feel something similar regarding the internet? What have you done to tackle it?

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

Haha yes it does.
It’s all too easy to sit back ad be passively entertained and spirituality to fall by the wayside.

Or people in comboxes tick me off.
(Actually I think comboxes was are the closest approximation to Hell we can get on Earth)

 

[dscath]

Absolutely not.

Social media may, but the internet does not.

 

[Bithynian]

It’s a blessing most of the time. Sometimes it’s a curse.

For me, the issue is not so much the internet itself but the overwhelming distractions that can come with it. Because of that, where I find it helpful or necessary to use internet-compatible devices, I try to use those that are single function only.

An internet radio for listening to classical and jazz, a Kindle for non-devotional reading, etc. It helps to minimise opportunities for when I’m tempted to look at my messages and emails.

I also recently relegated my smartphone to work use only, and instead use - outside of work - a cheap, flip phone. It’s capable of accessing the internet for emergency use, but it’s so delightfully slow that it never delivers any instant gratification, helping me to avoid using it.

 

[Beryllos]

Almost anything could harm your spiritual health if you let it.

What have you done to tackle it?

Probably the best thing that anyone can do is to stay away from anything that is designed to stir outrage. An awful lot of social media, mainstream media, and the internet are fallen into outrage.

 

[EricF]

I think spiritually it is neutral. What we get out of it will be roughly what we put into it. What I have observed is that in this age of instant information, we have become intellectually fat, lazy, and stupid. We gravitate to the outlets that agree with what we believe, and shout down those that believe differently. We behave with other people very differently behind the anonymity of the Internet than we would behave sitting across a table from someone with an opposing view. Our humility has taken a big hit.

 

[Bluebright]

It’s not the internet that does this, it’s your misuse of it. It’s all about moderation. Set limits on it. You have to use it for work fine, but work ends. Set limits on social media, ie. 2hrs a day, once a day, alternate days or take certain days off like Sunday you choose what suits you according to the problem , give up certain websites entirely (definitely any of the impure ones) and steer clear of anything tempting, ditch friends on Facebook or other social media sites that tempt you. Be ruthless. It’s your soul that at stake, take it seriously as seriously as you would walking into; say a room where someone might have this virus. Protect yourself with the armour God gives you, his graces, moderation humility faith, diligence, patience etc.

 

[Peeps]

I also recently relegated my smartphone to work use only, and instead use - outside of work - a cheap, flip phone. It’s capable of accessing the internet for emergency use, but it’s so delightfully slow that it never delivers any instant gratification, helping me to avoid using it.

This is the suggestion that Jean M. Twenge, PhD, makes in her wonderful book iGen Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy–and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood, and What That Means for the Rest of Us.

She believes that children and younger teens should never have a smart phone, but instead, a simple flip phone. You can still text, take pictures (really bad ones!) and access the internet, but it’s much slower and a pain–definitely not addictive.

I use a flip phone.

And I’m not on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or any other social media other than a few internet forums like this one. I gravitate towards CAF when I have a little spare time, but I don’t spend several hours at a stretch here or on any forum. It’s interesting to read what others think about various issues.

Try the flip phone. And I’m not talking about that expensive flip phone ($1500!)–mine cost around $60, and the first flip phone I had lasted 15 years. Kids would ask me what it was! So sad that it finally died, but my current flip phone is around 5 years old and still going strong (but awful pictures!).

 

[Bithynian]

She believes that children and younger teens should never have a smart phone, but instead, a simple flip phone. You can still text, take pictures (really bad ones!) and access the internet, but it’s much slower and a pain–definitely not addictive.

I don’t consider myself particularly old (30), but I only started using the internet when I was 12-13 (dial up was truly horrible), and got my first flip phone at 16 or so. Likewise, social media was somewhat popular when I was a teenager, but not socially mandatory.

I can’t imagine what it’s like to grow up with iPhones, the constant pressure to maintain five social media presences and high-speed internet that doesn’t cut out when someone makes a call.

 

[NoelFitz]

I find Catholic Answers Forum a great support.
Congratulations to the WWW for allowing us to keep in contact with fellow Catholics all over the world.

 

[phil19034]

It can, yes.

Catholic Answers doesn’t really harm me, but Twitter sure can.

 

[Limoncello4021]

People do get addicted to the internet the same way they get addicted to other substances and things. If that is true for you, as you state, you need to take some measures to stop it. The best way is to give yourself a strict limit of internet use for leisure. Since you are on the internet (as you said) for work all day, for example, give yourself no more than 1 hour or less for leisure after work. Start to form new habits of exercise, work around the house, interacting with family, cooking, hobbies, reading books. There is no magic bullet except self-discipline. The sooner you break an addictive habit, the easier it is to do so.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

For me, it’s had some negative effect on my concentration and also can have some bad effects on me physically if I don’t take breaks. Many years ago it was prone to lead me into sin, but I overcame that and don’t blame the Internet. I was heading that way before the Internet.

It’s also had many blessings and good fruits. I have a huge list of prayers and devotions bookmarked, have been able to join prayer groups as well as have fun with my friends, and lately of course we can watch Mass to a much greater extent than we could simply relying on television. On a practical note, it also allowed me to keep my job through a lot of bad personal situations where I often had to physically be elsewhere dealing with a family member’s illness or death or other issues. It has also made it much, much easier for me to travel, book hotels, see where things are, etc.

It’s like everything else, you can use it for good or for bad, you can use it too much, and I imagine people don’t all get the same level of benefit out of it. Part of being an adult is to understand that something that’s negative for you personally might be a positive for someone else, and adjust your own habits accordingly without needing others to agree with your view.

 

[Dan_Defender]

The internet compared to what? Real people can be toxic and I would argue can truly harm you, even physically. The internet in that sense is harmless, because I am in control of my ‘virtual’ interactions.