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Overstressed by devices and newsfeeds, Cassidy Van Slyke Blenke decided to detach from the online world and spend the summer in nature with her children. 


Scrolling online and seeing shiny, perfectly posed pictures stopped aligning with my core and started draining my heart song instead of helping it beat louder.  

Newsfeeds and email inbox subject lines with notifications screaming “BREAKING NEWS,” where every post is pushing a true sense of emergency — we must click now and do something immediately or else — has increased my anxiety.  

Every business appears consumed with broadcasting its tailored message to a physically disconnected audience seeking to snag a profit in our currently congested and confusing attention-seeking economy.  

At times, I choose to be a fellow participant and business owner in this economy, yet in the past month, I noticed a willing detachment from the online world and a heartfelt call back to the freedom to just BE and connect with God. I have found myself unconsciously looking to find ways to detach from devices and embrace the fulfillment of turning it over to my higher power instead of turning to technology, which leaves me filled with emptiness and the tendency toward comparison. 

 

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Planning a summer with limited screens  

Identifying this feeling of emptiness within myself, I have decided to plan & prepare for a summer of detachment from the online world and focus on teaching my children the important values I learned growing up from being out in the wild without a screen. As I am already making plans for summer camp and arranging my children’s schedules, I am consciously making an effort to construct a summer of moments of detachment in nature so that they can experience quiet connections with God and begin to create an independent sense of resourcefulness.  

When I reframe, reprogram, and let go of the compulsion to capture, share, and broadcast every moment for the world to see, I can instead decline, leave my phone at home, and experience the moments with my children on their level. 

 

4 ways I’m planning to do this myself and with my children:  

  • Create a “sit spot” in the backyard among the trees to be quiet, observe sounds, and thank God. 
  • Share biblical stories, such as Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and the story of Creation in the Book of Genesis, while strolling through nature or local gardens
  • Lean in to curiosity, wonder, and questions, which the inner drive of the Holy Spirit provides, while immersing our senses in nature.  
  • Walk barefoot in the grass, sand, and dirt; wiggle our toes; allow nature's smells, sounds, and feelings to calm our being. 

 

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I need to recognize that these are all things that can be done without a guidebook and built as small, creative, beautiful, and impulsive outlets that work for any type of schedule. I understand that parenthood requires some amount of digital connection. Still, for me, it's finding a way to unplug from outside influences, leaning into what matters most — my children — and helping them grow in their faith by getting them out into the world, into nature, to partake in the movement of human connection and good deeds. 

 

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; 
let the sea and what fills it resound; 
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them. 
Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice 
before the LORD who comes, 
who comes to govern the earth, 
To govern the world with justice 
and the peoples with faithfulness. (Psalm 96:11-16) 

 

 

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Copyright 2025 Cassidy Van Slyke Blenke
Images: Canva