We’ve all been there. There’s a momentary lull in your day. At a stoplight. As you wait in line at the store. In between activities.

By force of habit, you reach for your phone, open up an app and start scrolling. It’s not just you and me who do that. Researchers estimate that the average American spends a staggering 7 hours per day of screen time, totaling more than 2,400 hours per year.

Videos, memes, articles, and other content are constantly begging for our attention span. Someone once observed that undivided attention is the single rarest commodity today.

We are sometimes quick to bemoan the habits of young people and their social media habits. We are also quick to see the problem in others, but it’s harder to see it in ourselves.

What can we do about these digital habits that rob us of time, lead us down paths of temptation and fracture our attention away from good things, like prayer and Bible study? Here are some practical tips, using the acronym W-A-T-C-H.

W-ATCH FOR THE CUE

That moment you feel the impulse to check your Smartphone, learn to recognize it for what it is. When that impulse to reach for your phone or digital devices hits, use that as your cue to pray or to do a chore or other activity.

A-SK FOR HELP

Your spouse or friends probably notice if phone time is intruding too much in life. Perhaps it’s at the dinner table that your phone has become a distraction. Or perhaps during conversations or even while watching television shows together, the phone always comes out. Ask someone to keep you accountable, and you’re more likely to see change.

T-AKE AWSAY APPS
Consider if your tablet or phone has too many apps. If it’s games that tempt you, delete those apps. If it’s social media, delete those apps and force yourself to have to really go out of the way to access them.

C-HANGE IT OUT

The best way to replace bad habits is with good habits. If you are tempted toward too much screen time, such as before bedtime, take up reading books. Or if you subconsciously reach for your phone when driving or just at your house, learn to put your phone down.

H-AVE A PLAN

Sometimes screen time is not just a waste of time. Sometimes it’s where sin is. I do not need to quote statistics to prove that addictive sinful behavior like pornography or gambling are widespread online. Jesus said, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?” (Mark 8:36). What does it help for you to have access to the whole World Wide Web but lose your soul? If screentime is leading you to sin, it could be time to move to a non-smartphone and seek further help.

These are just a few ideas for better screen and phone use, as we seek to live all of life for Jesus.

“Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong!” (1 Cor. 16:13).