“Excitement is not the same as fulfillment.” I came across that line in a book about how online stimulation can leave us overstimulated—zapping our attention span, weakening our self-control, and making us less capable of pursuing the slower, more meaningful work that leads to fulfillment.
If you are like me, you have had the following experience.
You begin your daily routine by picking up your phone while you are still in bed. Notifications alert you to messages and social media updates to check, so you click each app. The next thing you know, your time is gone, and you are rushing to eat and get ready for work. Any sense of calm you had when you woke up has disappeared.
By the time you get to work or school, you are already over-stimulated. This means the things that matter—things that will lead to fulfillment—are dull by comparison. Only more high-level stimulation will work, so you head back to your phone, hoping to find something thrilling to get you through the dullness of your day.
Scrolling social media, watching clips, and checking other apps can be exciting. If they were not, you wouldn’t do so much of it. The problem is that kind of consumption does not lead to fulfillment. Instead, it drains you of the very thing you are hoping to find.
I am sure some of you reading this are exceptions to what I am about to say, but not many. Your willpower is not stronger than your phone. The very tool you carry in your pocket, meant to serve you, is now your master. It drains you and then tells you the only way to be filled is to follow more of its promptings.
Stimulation is not satisfaction, distraction is not peace, and consumption is not contentment. Stop being duped.
What have you been missing?
“In God’s presence, there is fullness of joy; at his right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). When was the last time this truth was more enticing to you than your favorite app on your phone? Instead of gazing at your phone, perhaps it is time to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord (Psalm 24:4).
Have you forgotten that the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eye are passing away, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:16-17). Living a life of digital overstimulation is vanity. It is striving after the wind. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And set your mind on things above.
Excitement is not the same as fulfillment. Regardless of how you feel, your life is not lacking stimulation—you are drowning in it. What you lack is focus, stillness, and devotion.
Stop feeding what empties you.
Turn your attention to Christ. Abide in Him. And recover the life you have been too distracted to live.
-D. Eaton
The Fight of Faith 