What happened when a whole church ditched the digital?

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This year thousands more Christians will follow the lead of a US church that fasted from smartphones and found that relationships with each other and with God improved.

Social media and addiction to smartphones have been blamed for many of the societal ills that have steadily got worse over the past 15 years. The possible harmful effects include: mental health problems in adolescents, especially girls; political division and polarisation; fomenting riots; racism and antisemitism; isolation and singleness – and there are many more.

A leader in questioning and opposing the widespread use of smartphones has been researcher and author Jonathan Haidt. On his 'After Babel' Substack newsletter, he writes frequently of research that shows the harms of the technology revolution, and showcases initiatives that promote the wiser use of smartphones.

In October he encouraged churches to lead the way in turning away from phones and towards each other. Haidt published an article by Pastor Darren Whitehead of the multi-site Church of the City in Nashville, and author of the recent book: "The Digital Fast: 40 Days to Detox Your Mind and Reclaim What Matters Most."

Whitehead had led a fast from technology at the churches he oversees in Tennessee after observing some of the negative effects of phones on his 10,000-strong congregation.

"People were struggling to connect deeply with God, each other, and even themselves, as technology increasingly monopolized their attention," he wrote on After Babel.

Whitehead shared how he was inspired to start the fast because his three daughters had said they wished he would be on his phone less. Speaking on the "Couple Things" podcast, he said, "It was kind of a wake-up call for me, and as a pastor I was just feeling these devices have seeped their way into our lives.

"I feel like sometimes we're so overloaded with information we can know more about what's happening in the conflict in the Middle East than we know about what's going on in the hearts of our kids."

He told the Aro podcast that doing the fast together as a church had benefits.

"Doing it as a group, doing it as a neighbourhood, doing it as a family, doing it as a church, is so much easier because it's a shared experience," he said.

"You're almost gamifying the entire thing, and you're encouraging one another, and you know if anyone's cheating, you're kind of calling them out."

Writing on After Babel, he describes the positive effects on the church and its members: "What could have been a mere exercise in self-discipline turned into a shared transformative journey of spiritual renewal and collective freedom."

He argues that people often get on social media because they're afraid of missing out on something. This pressure can be relieved if people abstain as a group: "By engaging in the Digital Fast as a community, we collectively resisted the societal pressures of digital overuse and helped each other discover a healthier rhythm of life."

The congregation first pledged to remove all the apps from their phone and only use their device for calls and text. "Many rediscovered hobbies, rekindled relationships, and engaged in deeper prayer and meditation," he wrote.

Towards the end of the fast, he encouraged discernment about what technology would be allowed back into their lives. "Families reported having more meaningful meals together, small groups found themselves more engaged in discussions, and individuals shared how the practice of digital fasting had spilled over into other areas of their lives. The ultimate goal was to cultivate a deeper hunger for God's presence."

Their experience has now sparked a movement of churches following this lead. Already Whitehead says that "hundreds" of churches with more than "100,000" members have signed on for a Digital Fast across the US in 2025. Others are invited to join in during January or during the season of Lent. Those who pay for the programme through DigitalFast2025.com receive a workbook, access to sermons and an app to monitor digital usage – though it says that churches who cannot afford it might be able to be funded.

He gave a few tips to the Aro podcast for doing a digital fast: firstly to buy an alarm clock. If phones are used to wake us up, the notifications are the first thing that someone will look at in the morning. He also advised to avoid TV too, and to spend the new-found free time on meeting up with friends and spiritual reading.

"Ultimately, the Digital Fast was about more than technology; it was about reclaiming the sacredness of presence and attentiveness," concludes Whitehead.

"It was a modern-day spiritual pilgrimage through the wilderness of the digital age. And for Church of the City, it was a journey worth taking—a journey that led us not away from life, but into its fullest expression."

Haidt has been interviewed in a number of Christian media outlets about the effects smartphones might be having on children.

"As long as children have a phone-based childhood there is very little hope for their spiritual education," he told Terry Mattingly.

"An essential precondition is to delay the phone-based life until the age of 18, I would say. Don't let them fall off into cyberspace, because once they do, it's going to be so spiritually degrading for the rest of their lives ...

"There's not much you can do in church if they are spending 10 hours a day outside of church on their phones."

Heather Tomlinson is a freelance Christian writer. Find more of her work at https://heathertomlinson.substack.com/ or via X (twitter) @heathertomli