Get Off Your Phones

09-22-2024Pastor's CornerFr. Bob Deehan

Have you ever heard of the Humanality Movement?

In 2018, after finding himself constantly on social media, Andrew Laubacher decided to give up social media and go back to using a flip phone. Six years later, he helps lead a movement dedicated to encouraging others to break their own tech addictions. He was not happy with how all the platforms were just becoming so all-consuming, and he felt that God was calling him to change.

As a result, he has experienced many “amazing things” in regards to his relationships, his mental health, and his spiritual health. It started when Luabacher met Hope and Justin Schneir, who had a similar mindset about tech and founded Humanality, a movement dedicated to “helping people discover freedom through an intentional relationship with technology.” Laubacher is now executive director of Humanality and works alongside the Schneirs who have established the “Unplugged Scholarship” at Franciscan University of Steubenville, which awards students with funding for agreeing to give up their phones for a year.

Laubacher notes the great increase in anxiety and depression, loneliness, and widespread addiction to pornography happening in the United States, which has coincided with the launch of the iPhone and social media platforms. Self-harm and suicide, especially among teenage girls, have been correlated with the use of Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. “Humanality really is the solution,” Laubacher explains. “We’re a movement that’s trying to cultivate more human interaction, and what we’re calling ‘human flourishing.’” Laubacher points out that many young people want to move toward a more unplugged lifestyle, but they are afraid to do it alone. This situation applies to many adults as well. Our Catholic tradition has promoted fasting as a very valuable spiritual practice, often associated with Lent. However, fasting can be applied to many other areas of life as well. It is a deliberate “giving up” of what might be considered a good thing in itself, but can turn into a bad, and sometimes sinful, habit that has become inordinate. Disciplining oneself is necessary. Not unlike the need for people addicted to alcohol to abstain completely from drinking, so too, with other addictions, abstinence from technology may be the only way to a more healthy and peaceful lifestyle. Portions of this piece have come from the article, The Humanality Movement: ’Creating new rituals to use technology ‘with intention,’ Catholic News Service, June 9, 2024 by Kate Quinones.

To learn more about the Humanality Movement, visit: www.humanality.org.