Smartphone Resolutions: When Less Is More

Laura Range shares how she spent Advent without a cell phone and offers four ways to decrease smartphone use in the new year. 

An Advent fast 

I gave up my smartphone for Advent last month. As in, I turned it off December 1st and didn’t turn it back on until Christmas! I used our landline for making appointments or calling family and close friends. I printed out directions from the computer before I drove to a new place. I read from my Bible and devotionals instead of using online resources for those things.

It was a drastic experiment, but one that yielded incredible results. My mind was clearer and less ‘cluttered’, my heart became more present to my family, and my soul felt a deeper peace in the silence and simplicity. What started out as a fast and sacrifice — a gift to the Lord in the Advent season — became a gift to myself and to those in my home.  

New-Year ponderings 

I’m back on my phone in the new year and while it has its conveniences, I miss the peace and simplicity I had with the absence of it. What is a Catholic mom to do in this technological age? Multiple studies and books have been published showing that the smartphone can be detrimental to our health, our relationships and families, and even our spiritual lives. How do we use this tool for the good without allowing its addictive tendencies, its time-wasting capabilities, and the way it often prioritizes the urgent or novel over the truly important? These are questions I have been pondering.  

We are the first generation of mothers to have smartphones while raising our children. I can’t help but wonder, if we couldn’t reach for our phones in moments of stress, anxiety, or boredom, what would we reach for instead? Would we spend more time praying or reading Scripture and reaching out to the Lord? Would we spend more intentional and focused time with our children? Would we make a coffee date with a friend in person instead of a quick scroll through Facebook?

As author Sarah Clarkson says in her new book, Reclaiming Quiet: Cultivating a Life of Holy Attention, perhaps at times we allow the smartphone to be “a replacement for the Holy Spirit, the ever-present comforter” we turn to instead of the true Comforter. We allow online interactions to replace in-person relationships with other women in our churches and communities. 

Courageous resolutions 

Though I enjoyed my Advent phone fast and highly recommend fasting from your phone for any length of time, it isn’t feasible for many of us in the long term. Yet we can, and should, discern ways to decrease our use of technology so we can increase our quality time with the Lord and those in our families and communities. Perhaps you could ask your husband or a close friend to join you for mutual encouragement and accountability.

Here are four different ideas to create boundaries for your smartphone in the new year (and of course, Lent is right around the corner, too!). I would love to hear your own ideas in the comments! 

Keep your smartphone in the same place at all times.

Sometimes “tethering” your phone to a certain place like a desk or kitchen counter can keep you from mindlessly browsing. My husband and I have found success with this by keeping our cell phones in a basket in our laundry room —  who wants to sit on the floor beside the washer and dryer scrolling on your phone for a long period of time?! 

Delete unnecessary or particularly addictive apps.

Can you delete social media apps and only go on those on your computer or laptop? You could also do the same for your email account. Are there games that pull you from the tasks of your vocation? Try deleting those apps for a month. 

Turn your phone off for one day a week.

Sunday would be a great day to try this as you instead seek true rest, leisure with your family, and worship the Lord. If you try this, you may want to let friends and family know ahead of time how to contact you for emergencies: a landline or your spouse’s cell phone. 

Make morning and evening time boundaries for your smartphone.

This might look like not checking your phone until after you have had some coffee and prayer time in the morning. A friend of mine chose to stop using her phone after 8 PM. This would give you space to let your mind wind down for bed, read a book or pray, and spend some face-to-face time with your spouse. 

When we choose to fast from or decrease our use of technology, we might initially feel more emptiness, that nagging “fear of missing out.” Yet God is always ready to fill those spaces we create with His loving presence and His gift of the peace the world (and technology!) cannot give. I’d love to hear from you in the comments your own ideas for ways to unplug more in the new year! 

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Copyright 2025 Laura Range
Images: Canva