iPhones and Asceticism: Why Did You Give Up Facebook for Lent?

If you didn’t already know, one of the exciting things going on here at ACU is our mobile computing initiative. The overarching thrust of the initiative has been the exploration of the impact of mobile computing technology upon the 21st Century classroom. As a part of that exploration all ACU students have iPhones. ACU has also done a lot of research on Web 2.0 computing (e.g., blogging) in the support of the classroom. You can read a lot more about ACU’s initiative and the associated research at the Connected site at ACU.

Anyway, while I applaud all the exciting work and research being done at ACU about mobile computing (e.g., iPhones) and Web 2.0 (social computing: blogs, Twitter, Facebook) one of the things I wish we would spend more time investigating is the relationship between Christian spirituality and mobile connectivity. There are a lot of universities, companies, and publishers who are looking at the relationship between mobile computing and learning. And I’m excited that ACU is a part of that conversation. But I’d also like us, given our Christian commitments, to be a leader in thinking about the relationship between iPhones and Christian spirituality.

For example, I think my essay How Facebook Killed the Church has been the most cited piece about these issues that has been written by an ACU faculty member. And yet, while that essay has sparked a great deal of conversation online, in church newsletters (translated into multiple languages), on the radio, and in magazines, the questions I raised in that essay haven’t really gained any notice or traction on the ACU campus.

Still, I think these issues about iPhones and spirituality are really, really important. So I’d like to announce, today, the launch of the iPhone and Spirituality Research Project (iSRP). iSRP has only two members—me and my dog Bandit—and our research budget is zero. So we won’t be getting into anything exotic. No big clinical trials or longitudinal studies. Just me, the blog, this laptop and…you.

After consulting with Bandit, we’ve decided that our first project here at iSRP will be titled the “iPhone and Asceticism Project.” (You’ll have noticed that I like to add the word “Project” to make things sound more official and think tank-ish. Try it out yourself at your place of work. Other words to experiment with are “Center,” “Institute” and “Research Group”). Anyway, we here at iSRP would like to invite you to participate in our inaugural study.

Here’s the research issue:

I’ve seen and heard of a lot of people who have given up some part of Web 2.0 for Lent. On Ash Wednesday Christians all over the world signed off on Twitter, or blogging, or Facebook for the Lenten season. “Goodbye! See you after Easter.” And in a related way we are also seeing the rise of the "Facebook fast" in Christian circles.

We here at iSRP are curious about this. Why did you give up Web 2.0 for Lent (or for a fast)? What were your motivations? Your concerns? Your hopes?

And how has it gone?

And even if you haven't give up Web 2.0 for Lent or gone on a Facebook fast feel free to weigh in. Do you wish you would have given up Web 2.0 for Lent? Do you feel the need for a Facebook fast? Why or why not? How has Web 2.0 affected your spirituality? For good or ill?

Finally, if you simply know of someone who has given up Web 2.0 for Lent or who has gone on a Facebook fast please send them this link to see if they might share their insights and experiences about these novel ascetic practices.

And in all seriousness, I really do want to do some research on this topic. Any comments here will be valuable in helping me "ballpark" the phenomenon and guide me as I think about constructing surveys or formulating preliminary hypotheses.

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34 thoughts on “iPhones and Asceticism: Why Did You Give Up Facebook for Lent?”

  1. I'm sorry I can't help you...it didn't occur to me to "give up Facebook" for Lent. My spiritual director told me to remember that Lent is about joy so I keep Facebooking.

  2. PS Got 2 copies of your book in the mail today...one for me and one for our church library. Gotta sign off and start reading.

  3. I didn't give up Facebook for Lent, per se, but I have given up Facebook for about six weeks ending April 30.

    For me, it was a way to reset. Facebook is something of a monster, chewing up increasing amounts of time as the number of friends grows larger and larger and the need to post every thought, photo and comment feels greater and greater. Maybe it's just me and my journalistic background, but it became something of a priority for me to "report" what was going on and my thoughts about it. In short, it wasn't a healthy place for me.

    So this is a way for me to relearn how to live life outside the shadow of the social network, have a day in which my kids' funny comments are shared just between me and my wife, in which my (incredibly insightful yet pithy, of course) political opinions are kept to myself and in which I don't rush home from some outing and spend an hour selecting and uploading photos.

    I'll probably do a Facebook friends pruning on May 1, trying to get down to a group of people who are truly meaningful to me in at least some way (far be it from me to use the Jimmy Kimmel method of Facebooking, but his rule that you shouldn't be "friends" with someone to whom you wouldn't even say hello if you passed them on the street is a good one), before I rejoin the "world" in earnest.

    I think I expected to miss Facebook more than I have. The first day or two were dominated by the single sentence, "I need to post that on Facebook." After a few weeks, that's no longer my default setting. But I do miss it. I'm looking forward to coming back. There are a few healthy reasons for being on Facebook and keeping up with it fairly regularly: Namely, it allows me to keep up with the friends whom I care about deeply, and it serves as a repository for our family's most meaningful photos.

    Those are both unselfish reasons for being on Facebook, I think, whereas the constant need I felt to churn out "like"-worthy content was the manifestation of a selfish approach to life that I experienced during my time as a newspaper reporter — an approach I would like to some day leave behind entirely. I'm hoping this Facebook fast is a way to move forward with doing that.

  4. This is my first time giving up something for Lent and also my first time on an official facebook fast. I've done it before but ended up cheating pretty quickly once I started getting those notifications via my email box.

    For me, this was about my growing insecurity that was in a lot of ways fueled by the time I spent on Facebook. I obsessively compared myself to the other girls who kept popping up in my news feed. This one is engaged, this one has a gorgeous profile pic, this one is having a baby, oh and that one and that one and that one are also engaged...yay! I found a twisted sense of self worth from comments I would get on particularly witty status updates, or intelligent notes I wrote. I found myself commenting on people's walls just because I knew they would comment back. In short, I began to find my identity not in the fact that I was loved by God, but in how I could project myself on the internet. It became a lot about the idea that I could control how people viewed me, it was a way for me to put the very best parts of myself forward, sometimes even exaggerating or fabricating things.

    I'm aware of how crazy and insecure all that must make me sound. I promise I am a functioning human being. But as crazy as it is, I would venture to guess that it's not too far off from other people's experience with the site.

    Lent has been really good. The first weeks were hard. I found myself typing in F-A-C-E...before my mind even caught up to what my fingers were doing. But I've become really used to it now, hardly ever thinking about it unless I need to get a hold of someone who I can only reach via FB. I've been using the time to get a better idea of what my identity is in Christ. I've been preaching the Gospel to myself relentlessly, and slowly but surely I'm starting to understand how He views me. I'm beginning to put less emphasis on the little shreds of "affirmation" I get from my friends on the internet. Obviously this will be a never ending process but it's a good beginning. I look forward to Easter Sunday as a time to celebrate the lovely changes God is continually bringing about in me.

  5. Dr. Richard & Co,

    Reflecting on my own giving up on Facebook for Lent, I just posted yesterday a blog entitled "How Facebook Causes Depression." You can read it here: http://www.chrismorton.info/?p=2301

    Overall, it's been nothing but good. As Lent does in general, it has made me intensely aware of how much things other than the way of Jesus shapes how I spend my days.

    Count me in for your think tank.

    CM

  6. I haven't given up Facebook, Twitter or Internet forums for Lent because this is how I stay in contact with both my local Christian community and Christians I communicate with and fellowship with around the world. Personally, I want to study how Web 2.x is changing the nature and structure of Christian communities.

    I'm finding many communities that are only connected by the Internet but meet face-to-face once or twice a year. This is one of the few ways these very diverse communities are able to find support and fellowship since it is virtually unknown in their local context.

    Derek W.

  7. I always thought clicker or "personal response technology" would be interesting to use in a youth group or small bible study. It gives anonymity to the participants in my classroom and generates fairly good discussions (and that's in a chemistry classroom).

  8. I did not give up Facebook for lent... But I have fasted from it in the past. I would say that my reasons had to do with sensitivity vs. stimulation. Our culture is addicted to stimulation (Kurt Cobaine- "here we are now, entertain me"). However, the more stimulated one gets, on movies, gagets, music, etc. the less sensitive they become. When I first began taking prayer as a discipline seriously, I could make it 5 min if I white knuckled it. Because I so heavily relied upon stimulation, the state of my inner life was left unattended. The experts on prayer throughout the ages (mystics) have said that God moves in such small impulses that most do not notice because they are too distracted.
    So all in all, I have fasted Facebook for reasons of solitude and prayer. Not necessarily because it is evil, but another stimulant in an already over-stimulied society.

  9. I'm honored. I do hope you enjoy the book. I tried to pack a "Wow!" in every chapter. Please let me know what you think about it.

  10. I gave up Facebook for Lent for a couple of reasons...first, I feel like Facebook was allowing me to be "friends" without being actually friendly, a key tempatation for an introvert such as myself. Second, I found myself comparing my life to the exciting lives posted by others, and coming up lacking (in my mind)...but these two reasons weren't the true catalysts to the move - they simply created the thought. The catalyst was a line in a prayer from Thomas Merton..."Set me free from the laziness that goes aound as activity when activity is not required of me, and from the cowardice that does what is not demanded, in order to avoid sacrifice". That sealed the deal. I was using time on Facebook to fill time that could have been better used, even in simple listening for the voice of God.

  11. Rather than give up something general, like Facebook or Twitter, I chose to give up a specific part of the Web 2.0 world: for Lent, I gave up having online debates/discussions/arguments about politics and religion.

    At the very beginning, I think I did it as a bit of a lark - on the surface, that didn't seem like something that would be much of a sacrifice. However, it turned out to be far more of a sacrifice for me than previous fasts from Diet Coke or chocolate or anything else I've given up in the past.

    Apparently, I like to debate - and this Lent has been very difficult for me. The bulk of the global hue & cry about Rob Bell's newest book has happened during this season... and so much intentional and unintentional comic material has been flying around in the political arena. Donald Trump - really??

    One unforeseen aspect was the impact it would have on my blogging. My blog is generally a "this day in history" thing - where I discuss an event in the past, and make comments about it. And I haven't been able to blog since Lent started - every time I find an event I want to write about, it ends up turning into a religious or political commentary...

    So overall, this has been good for me, if only in the area of introspection. It seems arguing, pointing out mistakes, and being generally confrontational is too big a part of who I am. This is something I need to work on - and see if I can find a happy medium between milquetoast and Scrappy-Doo (who was always my least favorite cartoon character!).

    This has been the first Lent that has actually been more than a novelty to me. One of my prayers is that I won't greet Easter morning with a blistering online explosion of all the commentary that's been building up!

  12. You and bandit have inspired me. I'm thinking of buying a cell phone, just so I can give it up.

    Actually, I do use facebook way too much, but I don't feel the need to quit. As a former missionary kid, I have friends all over the world, and it's great for keeping up with them. And now, with all the writing I do and my maddeningly snail's-paced attempt to move towards a career as a creator of books, scripts, and anything else my mind veers towards, I find that facebook is a useful tool for business networking.

    It's a tool with the potential to suck out your soul, but it's still a tool.

  13. I gave up facebook for lent for a few reasons. First, it had become part of my habit to a degree I was uncomfortable with. Whenever I was bored I'd just click the icon on my bookmark bar or the app on my phone for a minute of mindless scrolling and reading about things that (for the most part) don't really matter. Second, I believe self-denial is healthy. That has been a major motivation whenever I've fasted from something. I like to the think that the things I do and enjoy and get into ruts over do not define me. I am (and Christ is) bigger than them, Lord over them. The third reason goes with the lent motivation I hear from some protestant circles: "Giving up something good in order to celebrate That which is Best." A little cheesy, perhaps. And I don't think facebook was ever really a huge time drain on my life, but I do try to say a prayer or read something enlightened in the time I might otherwise be looking at pictures of someone I have not seen since high school.

    How is my fast going? Just fine. I'm trying to resist the temptation to think my fast is "too easy." At the same time, I'm not sure it has provided the spiritual introspection I might have hoped for. Then again, I try not to put weird, self-righteous expectations on things like this.

    CE

  14. "...the questions I raised in that essay haven’t really gained any notice or traction on the ACU campus."

    I am using your "Facebook killed the church" piece in my Christianity in Culture class on Monday. They are reading that along with a chapter from Alone Together by Sherry Turkle (great read about cyborgs and the affect technology has on us). We will discuss mainly Facebook and texting and how it shapes how we communicate with each other and with God.

    I would love to join you in any research endeavors. x2802 or just facebook me. ;)

    P.S. I had an iphone but got rid of it at the end of 2010 - more of a distraction than helpful.

  15. I did not give up Facebook (or anything else) for Lent, but I have several friends who did. I am somewhat amazed at how much of an impact their fasts are having upon my own life.

    In the first couple weeks there were numerous instances when I would be talking to one of my fasting friends about going out for drinks or a movie with our classmates and their face would fall and they'd say "I never even knew that was happening. I just stayed at home that night." It seems I have relied almost exclusively upon facebook for my social planning, and when a few of my friends chose to remove themselves from facebook I was shocked to realize how ridiculously easy it was to completely overlook them.

  16. I, too, gave up facebook for Lent. My reason was to not get "sucked in" during work or free time, lost in the news feed of others. I realized that some people communicate with me only via facebook, so I wanted to still be reachable. I set my fb up to send notifications to my email (something I had previously disabled). I did allow myself one free day (my birthday) because I had 150 email messages. I hopped on facebook to send out a general, "Thank you for the birthday wishes" message. I realize now that doing so was not necessary.

    It's been an okay Lenten season. Tricky at times, especially when friends are having babies and I want to read about Spring Break trips. But overall, I haven't missed it too much. I have used the time to be more productive. I'm still trying to gauge whether it has brought me closer to God or not...not sure about that...still processing.

  17. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/091410-social-media-ban.html

    links to an article where Harrisburg College "banned" Facebook for a day, trying to measure this sort of thing. That you didn't mention this leads me to think you were not aware of it.
    Arguing from the "silence of the blogger" so to speak. ;)

  18. I gave up facebook because I felt that it was distracting me from God's primary callings on my life, and I realized that I was not being a good steward of my time. I am a college student at a very demanding college, and I would often procrastinate from my homework by going on facebook. I've prayed a lot about this, and I realized that being a good steward of my time and dedicating time to those things that are my callings is what I should be doing, and if facebook is getting in the way of that, then it's a sin.

    I'm not saying facebook is always a sin, but when it is disrupting my schoolwork and preventing me from being the best student I can be, then I am no longer glorifying God with my time. By procrastinating on facebook--even if some of the procrastination is legitimate, important contact with friends from home--I am showing my bad attitude about doing my homework, which is not honoring God.

    Furthermore, I often find myself saying "sorry, I don't have time!" or "I'm too busy!" When I step back and examine why I'm too busy or why I don't have time I find that yes, I am busy, but often, it is a matter of priorities. I have, in the past, prioritized facebook over God. I'll go to bed without having read my Bible because "I'm tired and too busy," but I'll have somehow had time to check my facebook three times that day. It's clear that I do have time for God -- I just haven't put Him first like I should have.

    These are just a few of the reasons that I gave up facebook for Lent.

  19. I am not fasting Facebook for one reason. As a pastor in my community I find that Facebook is one of the primary ways of connecting with our people through the week. It has become a means for ministry and giving it up for Lent might be the equivalent of not showing up in public. It is that public element that gives me the first reason I would not "fast" Facebook: it's too public. Fasting Facebook could be seen as self-righteous, for lack of a better term.
    I understand why many give up FB for Lent. It occupies an astounding amount of our time which would be excellent to spend on Scripture reading and prayer. Interesting topic.

  20. I don't see Facebook as an indulgence to be set aside -- I see it as a ministry -- to pray for people to offer encouragement, to bring a smile on a grey day. how I fb is an expression of my spirituality

  21. I gave up facebook primarily because of the posts of a couple of my "friends," one of whom is a name it-claim it pentecostal pastor. His religious postings would leave me angry. That made it impossible to simply log on for fun. The anger, I soon found, was not good for my soul. It was also a time-suck. I gave up lots of other things I miss much more.

  22. My husband would always pay me out about using Facebook so much - I was using it for about half an hour every couple of days, but I had increased over the years from checking it every few weeks. I gave it up for lent for a few reasons, my own little research project:

    Firstly to see whether I actually was addicted to Facebook. As it turns out, it has been very easy to give up, and I do have more time as a result.

    Secondly to see whether I'd still contact friends without the Book. Yes I do, but not my friends on Facebook, generally. Usually my other older (in terms of friendship) friends who don't use Facebook. It's rather nice.
    I haven't contacted any of the high level posters that I used to enjoy reading about so much pre-Lent. It has made me think about priorities.

    Thirdly I felt that God was asking me to give it up. Maybe this is for a resetting of my time priorities, maybe it is because the last month or so has been really hectic for my family and I needed the extra time. Not sure exactly why, but I have enjoyed the experience.

    Fourthly, so that I can spend more time with God. My time reading the scriptures hasn't increased, I can't say that I now have special quiet times with God that fill my pre-Lent Facebook time, but I have had time to read more, which generally means theology type books and blogs (like this). This has been good, as I am a very mind-oriented kind of learner.

    Fifthly, so that I stop thinking about real life experiences while trying to summarise them in 100 words or less. It has worked, but taken more than a month.

    Finally, for some mental 'space'. There are very special things that I learn about good friends on Facebook, like the birth of children. My mind does not have space to think about what type of grass my old school mate should plant, whether another friend should get her third coffee of the day, and how another friend wants to sell all of her business stock before going overseas. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d like to use Facebook as a kind of ongoing Christmas letter – only post things that are interesting enough for an end of year, two page summary, but I can’t restrict my friends to this too!

    The mental space has allowed me to explore what I am really meant to be giving up for Lent – the generationally inherited internalisation of the phrase ‘what do other people think’. My mum and grandmother lived by this manifesto, and it has travelled down the eldest daughter line like the sins of the father. This Lent, I want to give it up and replace it with ‘what does God think?’ I suspect that it will take many Lents. But now is the time to start.

    I will resume my use of Facebook at Easter, less frequently. But I might give it up for Lent again next year, to reassess and re-prioritise. I celebrate with the people for whom it is their primary means of communication and mission, but a Lenten giving up Facebook for me, has been a wonderful experience.

  23. My husband would always pay me out about using Facebook so much - I was using it for about half an hour every couple of days, but I had increased over the years from checking it every few weeks. I gave it up for lent for a few reasons, my own little research project:

    Firstly to see whether I actually was addicted to Facebook. As it turns out, it has been very easy to give up, and I do have more time as a result.

    Secondly to see whether I'd still contact friends without the Book. Yes I do, but not my friends on Facebook, generally. Usually my other older (in terms of friendship) friends who don't use Facebook. It's rather nice.
    I haven't contacted any of the high level posters that I used to enjoy reading about so much pre-Lent. It has made me think about priorities.

    Thirdly I felt that God was asking me to give it up. Maybe this is for a resetting of my time priorities, maybe it is because the last month or so has been really hectic for my family and I needed the extra time. Not sure exactly why, but I have enjoyed the experience.

    Fourthly, so that I can spend more time with God. My time reading the scriptures hasn't increased, I can't say that I now have special quiet times with God that fill my pre-Lent Facebook time, but I have had time to read more, which generally means theology type books and blogs (like this). This has been good, as I am a very mind-oriented kind of learner.

    Fifthly, so that I stop thinking about real life experiences while trying to summarise them in 100 words or less. It has worked, but taken more than a month.

    Finally, for some mental 'space'. There are very special things that I learn about good friends on Facebook, like the birth of children. My mind does not have space to think about what type of grass my old school mate should plant, whether another friend should get her third coffee of the day, and how another friend wants to sell all of her business stock before going overseas. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d like to use Facebook as a kind of ongoing Christmas letter – only post things that are interesting enough for an end of year, two page summary, but I can’t restrict my friends to this too!

    The mental space has allowed me to explore what I am really meant to be giving up for Lent – the generationally inherited internalisation of the phrase ‘what do other people think’. My mum and grandmother lived by this manifesto, and it has travelled down the eldest daughter line like the sins of the father. This Lent, I want to give it up and replace it with ‘what does God think?’ I suspect that it will take many Lents. But now is the time to start.

    I will resume my use of Facebook at Easter, less frequently. But I might give it up for Lent again next year, to reassess and re-prioritise. I celebrate with the people for whom it is their primary means of communication and mission, but a Lenten giving up of Facebook has for me, been a wonderful experience.

  24. Actually, I've just had a revelation. So much of what I posted on Facebook was worded in order to see how many people would ‘like’ my comments. It’s just another way in which I am programmed to worry about what other people think and addicted to their praise. Maybe I had to give up Facebook for this to become clear and start the healing process. God just works marvellously!

  25. 1. It's possible that I have an actual psychological addiction to Facebook. I am far from the only one who's said this. If you're ballparking this sort of thing, keep it in mind. The sort of thinking that leads me to perpetual page refreshing seems eerily akin to the behaviour of rats who want another seratonin shot and keep pumping that pedal (that doesn't actually control it anyway because it's random).
    What I want is attention from friends. That's worth noting: I want(ed) on Facebook the social interaction I wasn't (am not) getting because of geographic distance from friends. But the way in which I go about "trying" to get that, the way it reminds me of behavioural psychology experiments, is what's unnerving.

    2. For a while I would limit Facebook to three days a week rather than give it up entirely. (I would also cut out blogging, web comics, on-line games, Internet surfing... anything that wasn't school related or e-mail communication. I never use chat anyway, but if I did I'd have cut it out, too.) I did this to improve productivity. It taught me that I don't need to read everything on my blogroll.

  26. This is why my (current group of) friends and I use e-mail to plan. We have one friend who simply doesn't use Facebook. (It also means that people we don't invite won't catch wind of it as easily.)

  27. i gave up not just Facebook, but the internet completely (outside of work related things) last year for lent. my reasons for doing so, is because it consumed so much of my time. i thought it would be a good way to free up time to participate in things that may be healthier for me in a way. such as prayer, meditation, reading, thinking, etc. it actually went pretty well. whenever i had the urge to look something up or to kill time online, i was reminded of what i was giving up, and why and did something else instead. it was a good sacrifice for that particular year i thought.

  28. This article was sent to me by a reader who knew that I am one of those who has voluntarily logged off of Facebook until Easter. I'm not Catholic, but Lent seemed like the right time to go Facebook-less. At any rate, the idea to do so was one that had crept into my thoughts and prayers with greater frequency as the Holy Season approached. Perhaps, I felt guilty about all the times I disappeared from reality to converse with virtual friends. Those who know of my decision have asked if my Facebook Fast has opened up greater pockets of time. Not really. Instead I find that I am more, dare I say it, "present" in the time I've always had, but twittered away with mundane updates. These past few weeks whenever I have found myself momentarily wishing I could update my status, I am instead compelled to experience the moment in actuality, acutely aware of my surroundings and what it was that made them so seemingly post-worthy in the first time.

    I'll return to Facebook after Easter, but I hope it is with less distraction during the real-life moments that make up my life and, more importantly, with a greater awareness of the flesh and blood people in my immediate presence. Perhaps, I should make this Facebook Fast a weekly habit.

  29. I don't give things up for Lent, I take on something that I should already be doing, or doing more of. I've found that more helpful (6 weeks of doing something can get me in the habit of doing it rather than giving up something I like for 6 weeks with no further benefit)

    I think the whole social networking process depends on how one uses it. In reading these comments, it seems that a lot of people who give up FB are doing it because it seems to have taken over too much of their time.

    During a time when I was confined to home much of the time except for work (I had a very sick son) FB was a lifeline that kept me from feeling isolated and cut off from the world.

    Like the missionary kid who commented, I too have moved a great deal and FB keeps me connected with those people where I lived before.

    I work for a retreat center and we have a FB page (Transfiguration Spirituality Center) and we have even had bookings through FB.

    I love your research team!! I await your results!!

    faith

  30. Is anyone talking anywhere about the money Christians are spending on monthly phone bills for their smart phones--convinced that we *need* them--while whole villages waste away? It seems indulgently selfish.

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