When Your Phone Has More of You Than God Does

Have you ever picked up your phone for “just a second”… and somehow 45 minutes disappeared?

I’ve been there! At church recently, we were talking about how our phones compete for our attention and our hearts. My husband who is the pastor encouraged us to get our phones out and just see how many hours a day we are using them. Most people are on their phone about 5 or 6 hours a day.

Imagine my delight when I pulled up my screen time and it was only an hour and a half! Woohoo! I felt like I had passed some sort of spiritual test.

It was only then that I noticed, Sunday mornings start a new week for our screen time. So an hour and a half was NOT my daily average from the week before but how long I was on my phone just before church that day! Needless to say…it was the wake up call I needed.

If something consistently distracts us from God, disrupts our peace, and demands our attention—it’s worth examining.

If you also want to make sure your phone doesn’t have more of you than God does, let’s start here:

Step 1: Figure Out How Bad It Is

Before you can change a habit, you have to face it.

Not guess. Not estimate. Actually look.

Open your screen time report. Check your daily average. (I hope it won’t be an intense for you as it was for me) Notice what apps are eating most of your attention.

And don’t rush past it.

Sit with it for a second.

The information helped me see that the days I am mostly home with my kids and feel more isolated, I picked up my phone twice as much. The days I’m with my kids, I want to be the most present and yet my phone shared the reality.

Awareness isn’t about shame—it’s about clarity. You can’t surrender something to God if you won’t first admit it’s there.

Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do… is tell the truth.

Step 2: Redeem It

Your phone isn’t the enemy.

It’s a tool. And like anything else, it can either pull you away from God—or point you toward Him.

So instead of only asking, “How do I use this less?”
Ask, “How can I use this better?”

I simply sat with my phone in my hands and prayed over it. As strange as that sounds, it was POWERFUL.

Make an agreement with yourself and God about what your phone is for.

Maybe it looks like:

Listening to worship music while you drive
Reading your Bible on an app before opening social media
Sending encouragement texts instead of mindless scrolling
Following voices that build your faith instead of feed comparison

Redemption is about intention.

You’re not just removing something—you’re replacing it with something that gives life.

Because when you invite God into your habits, even ordinary things become sacred.

Step 3: Put Parameters in Place

Good intentions are great but they don’t help me when the rubber meets the road. I have learned that I have to put boundaries on my phone.

If your phone is always within reach, always buzzing, always offering distraction—it will win more often than you’d like to admit.

So give yourself guardrails.

Not to restrict your life—but to protect what matters most.

That might look like:

No phone during your quiet time
Charging it outside your bedroom at night
Setting time limits on certain apps
Turning notifications off

Boundaries create space for what you actually want more of—peace, presence, and connection with God.

You don’t have to throw your phone away to follow Jesus. I’m not!

But you may need to loosen its grip on your life. I am learning to be aware of the impact of my phone, invite God into it, and then put up healthy boundaries that align with how I WANT to use my phone.

Because at the end of the day, this isn’t really about screen time.

It’s about our hearts.

Who—or what—gets your attention?
Who shapes your thoughts?

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”