Our Digital Fasting Journey

Disconnecting to Reconnect

Brittany and I have been attending Athens Church since we moved to Athens in May 2020. This past spring, they did a series around the idea of digital fasting and the impact screens have on our lives. The series started with Joey Odom, founder of the app Aro, telling his origin story. His young son had been playing soccer and had been the only kid on the team without a goal. He was practicing every week in between games and working really hard. In the last game of the season, his son got a breakaway, and while all the parents held their breath, knowing he hadn’t scored yet, he ran down the field and scored. With the smile of pure innocent joy, he looked up to make sure his parents saw what happened. Joey had missed the whole thing because he had his face buried in his phone

I fully understand how someone who runs a Social Media company talking about the importance of screen time awareness sounds. Our business is dependent on screen time, both from our community of followers and from our employees who are working to help us create and post content. But after hearing this story, and Joey talk about the disappointment on his child’s face and not even remembering what he was looking at on his phone, Brittany and I decided we needed to create boundaries.

The first step we agreed to was leaving our phones in the car when we took the girls to soccer. I know leaving a phone behind can be scary, because we are all so used to being available 24/7, but at the end of the day, the only three people that need me for immediate attention are with me. Doom scrolling or reading emails can wait; the girls deserve my attention more.

The second thing we did was agree to no phones between dinner time and when the girls go down to bed. Leaving the phones away from the table and downstairs during bedtime allows us to be fully present with the girls. We are also planting the seed for when the girls get older (and I mean much older) that phones are not at the dinner table, and they are not in their bedrooms.

Are we perfect? Absolutely not!!

There are times when I will pick it up when I see a notification or check a quick email. But we are trying our best and trying to create boundaries that our girls can emulate later. Joey’s interview closed with this quote.

“This generation of kids could be the very first generation to die with more of other people’s memories than their own.”

I fully acknowledge that I am going to still use my phone, and I am not going to leave social media anytime soon, but I am also going to work to keep these boundaries, so hopefully one day, when the girls are older, they will have something they can model.

RESOURCES

If you’re looking for a guide to help you start your digital fasting journey, whatever the reason may be, the book The Digital Fast: 40 Days to Detox Your Mind and Reclaim What Matters Most by: Dr. Darren Whitehead is a great starting point. Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed by screen time or just craving more clarity and connection, taking a step back from the digital noise can be incredibly grounding. Remember—it’s not about perfection, but about being present. Here’s to creating more space for what really matters.