Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Technology and Religion
Should You Give Up the Internet for Lent?

Should You Give Up the Internet for Lent?

Last updated on: March 4, 2025 at 5:39 pm by Jennifer Fitz

Should You Give Up the Internet for Lent? 2025-03-04T17:39:56-05:00 Jennifer Fitz

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m thinking of taking up blogging for Lent. I know! It’s been ages.

Nothing overly dramatic going on, other than since August I can’t seem to make it three weeks without catching some new, usually minor virus, but which lays me out hard due the dread disease. But Lord willing, I will be picking back up with blogging here and over at the evangelization newsletter.

Today I want to hit a few essential Lenten notes, and also talk about the question of giving up social media or other habit-forming distractions for Lent.

First some essential Lenten links, and then my commentary after.

Yes, non-Catholics may receive ashes!

Reminder that anyone at all is free to receive Ashes on Ash Wednesday. It’s a sign of repentance and remembrance of your mortality. If you would like to resolve to live your life a little better from here on out, this is for you!

Artwork by A.Fitz, photo by me. T-shirt I commissioned some years ago, now worn out and hanging behind my desk.

Some tips if you are going to a Catholic service as a non-Catholic:

Follow along as best you can (there may be some kind of program of the service, but there might not be), but don’t panic if you’re not always sure which end is up.
The service you attend might or might not be a Mass.
If it is a Mass, there will be a distribution of Holy Communion at a different time in the service from the distribution of ashes.
For ashes, go on up, just follow the person ahead of you in line.
For Communion, you aren’t receiving Communion! (Among other things, it is a public proclamation that you believe all that the Catholic Church believes. Do you? If so, speak with the priest afterwards and ask about getting yourself prepared to enter the Church!)
Therefore you can stay in your pew (hop up to let anyone in/out, people are used to this) and pray quietly.
In many parishes (but not all), people not receiving Communion can go up with arms crossed over the chest (like ASL for “love” but with your hands unclenched) to receive a blessing. There will usually be an announcement about it if your parish has this practice, since they’ll know lots of non-Catholics come for ashes, but you can also ask an usher before Mass.

You’re welcome to keep coming to Mass any time you like. Also, grab a bulletin on your way out, your local parish probably has some Lenten services like Stations of the Cross outside of Mass, service opportunities such as feeding the homeless, and fun stuff like fish fries or soup suppers. It is AOK to get involved in your local parish while you are still just exploring the Catholic faith and learning more.

Catholic and struggling with fasting?

Here are my notes on How Strict is the Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday?

Yes, it’s a fast. No, it shouldn’t destroy you.

Catholic and not struggling with fasting?

If you want to get deeper into the spirituality of Lent, here are Amy Welborn’s collection of writings on Lent. I find her work consistently interested in “What does the Catholic faith actually teach” in an intellectually rigorous way.

Is God calling you to turn off your phone?

And now onto today’s topic. Here are three essays I found helpful:

Entering the Digital Desert by Deacon Tom McDonald
Factory Reset: 49 Days to Restore Your Human Default from School of the Unconformed
Meditations for Phone Addicts from Dostoevsky’s Blog.

Now getting personal . . .

One of the things about being sick all the time is that it can wreck your social life. That’s not true for every chronically-ill person, and not necessarily true all the time if your disease relapses and remits (as mine tends to do), but it’s definitely a thing.

Something about just the right level of fatigue is that you can both be completely unable to do any of the things you want to do, but also bored out of your mind.

Enter the world of social media and video streaming. If you want human contact but are struggling to hold a conversation? There’s an algorithm for that.

Digital’s been good to me in so many ways, but these are my three biggest challenges:

#1 My situation is constantly shifting.

I never know what my energy level is going to be, or how much exertion is the right amount — not too much, not too little. This makes it impossible to set out a balanced “rule” of life, and even a flow chart of if/then rules is doubtful.

This physical chaos feeds into the kinds of mental traps that promote digital addiction.

#2 Is it “engaging” or just toxic?

Something I’m asking myself about my use of the internet is: What am I getting out of this?

I love the news and commentary from people I respect and enjoy. But I find that the negativity, even within my carefully curated follow list, wears me down.

By way of example:

I’m a person who hasn’t made it three full weeks without getting sick in the last six months. Per my internist’s instructions, I wear an N95 in crowded places (and still get sick, but presumably it’s a milder infection than it would be with a higher viral load). By being on social media, I’m unavoidably aware there are two opinions concerning mask-wearing:

Only self-righteous virtue-signaling fascist hypochondriacs do such a thing;
If you don’t wear a mask, it’s because you’re a hating hater who wants everyone to die, miserably.

Knowing about these two incredibly stupid reigning opinions is not helping me. Sure, forewarned is forearmed. But wow some ignorant bliss would be a lot more comfortable.

This negativity is emotionally toxic. So I think for Lent I’m transitioning to getting my news and commentary from e-mail based blog subscriptions from select non-toxic sources, and letting go of the interesting but sometimes-poisonous feed of snippet-commentary.

(But I will probably keep following hockey Twitter? Because that is good for me, for now? I think?)

–> By the way, if you haven’t already done so, you can subscribe to this blog via e-mail on the sidebar, so that you can unplug from social media but still know when a post goes up.

#3 But sometimes I’m just bored.

And so we complete the circle. Disease-life is inherently depressing, and it takes a lot of mental discipline to not let it trigger actual depression. I’m the queen of pivoting.

I would rather play hockey than watch hockey, but if I can’t play, I’ll watch. I’d rather than watch a good game than just scroll commentary and highlight snippets, but watching a game takes far more mental focus and energy, and games run late at night on bright screens, not great for sleep.

–> Ideally you pivot towards the highest level of engagement in the thing that you can, but sometimes that’s not very high.

The same applies to prayer, to gardening, to chores, to social life, to reading, and so on.

The digital solution is very bottom of the barrel, but sometimes you’re laid out and you’re exhausted and it’s depressing doing absolutely nothing, and at least a nice movie or cute dogs on Twitter is better than that?

Except social media and streaming services are designed to be addictive. Opioids for your intellectual pain.

Sometimes fasting is the worst thing.

So that’s where I am this Lent. Discerning.

Media consumption won’t be my thing I “give up” for Lent, because that can lead, for me, to binging when the fast is over. My Lenten penance will be focused slightly differently.

But discernment and discipline with the internet thing will be interconnected, for sure.

More Voices

Technology and Religion

Religious Events

Stick that Corner

About Jennifer Fitz

Jennifer Fitz isn't doing a whole lot lately, but maybe that will change soon. It's a surprise. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

November 8, 2024

Should the Catholic Church Be Involved in Politics?

Next Post

March 27, 2025 Are You Trapped in a Catholic Clique?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Books Catechesis Catholic Q&A Chastity Church Craziness Come See Me Talk Disability & Chronic Illness Economics Evangelization Facepalm Forgiveness Good Things History Homeschooling Human Rights It's All Catholic Listen to Me Survey Series Liturgical Living Marriage Modesty Not Satire. But almost. Rant-o-Rama Sacred Art & Music Satire South Carolina Spark Clutter Stick that Corner Suffering Thinking Topics Writing Stuff

Select a Month September 2026 July 2026 June 2026 January 2026 December 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 November 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the name of the disciple in Damascus who was sent to pray for Saul after his conversion?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Philip Barnabas Silas Ananias