You’ve decluttered your closet. You’ve cleaned out your car. Maybe you even tackled that one kitchen drawer where batteries and rubber bands go to die. But if your screen time is still averaging six hours a day and your desktop looks like a digital junkyard, it might be time to turn your attention elsewhere.
Spring cleaning your physical space is a great start. But your digital life—the apps, the noise, the endless alerts—is probably doing more damage to your mental health than a dusty windowsill ever could.
We live in a world where distraction is constant and information overload is considered normal. But just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it’s good. And if you’re serious about creating space for what matters—your spiritual health included—it might be time to reassess what’s taking up all your mental bandwidth.
Digital clutter is still clutter
The average American checks their phone nearly 100 times a day. That’s not productivity. That’s addiction. And we’ve normalized it.
“Our devices have become a default response to boredom, discomfort and even loneliness,” says Cal Newport, author of Digital Minimalism. “But most of what we consume doesn’t serve us. It distracts us from the life we’re meant to live.”
This isn’t just about screen time guilt. It’s about attention—and how we’re losing it. Whether it’s doomscrolling through your newsfeed or flipping between group chats and emails, the constant digital friction is training our brains to expect interruption. Which might explain why prayer feels harder lately. Or why you haven’t finished a book in two years.
Unfollow. Unsubscribe. Undo.
Start small. Audit your inbox. If you haven’t opened the last ten emails from a brand, you don’t need to see the next ten. Unsubscribe.
Then look at your apps. How many are actually adding value to your life? If you can’t remember the last time you opened it—or if it makes you feel worse every time you do—it can go. Your phone isn’t a museum for outdated platforms and forgotten productivity hacks. It’s a tool. And like any tool, it should serve a purpose.
Tiffany Shlain, who coined the idea of a weekly “Tech Sabbath,” argues that taking regular breaks from screens isn’t just good for your health—it’s essential for clarity. “Unplugging is an act of resistance,” she writes in 24/6. “It’s a way of saying my attention is valuable. My time is sacred.”
It’s also, frankly, a way to stop letting your phone make all your decisions for you.
Your soul needs silence
There’s a reason Jesus withdrew to quiet places. Spiritual clarity doesn’t tend to arrive via push notification.
When every spare moment is filled with content—Reels, memes, texts, Spotify autoplay—it’s no wonder so many of us feel disconnected. We want to hear from God but we’re drowning in noise. And not the kind He tends to speak through.
Try this: one hour a day without your phone. No music, no texts, no scrolling. Just silence. The first ten minutes will feel unbearable. Then it will feel like breathing again.
Make room for what matters
Digital spring cleaning isn’t about going off the grid. It’s about creating enough margin in your life to think, to feel, to actually be present. You weren’t designed to be available 24/7. You were designed for rest, reflection and real connection.
Maybe that looks like a screen-free Sabbath. Maybe it’s curating your feeds to include less noise and more meaning. Maybe it’s finally turning off the notifications for apps you don’t even like.
But whatever it is, know this: your attention is a finite resource. Steward it well.
After all, you can’t hear a still small voice if you’re always refreshing your feed.
