Notification Overload: Handling a Barrage of Information with the Imago Dei in Mind
I’m guilty of a lot of screwups, mistakes, and the like. Regardless of how pretty my Instagram feed might look, it doesn’t do a good job of reflecting the messiness of my own life, be it present-day or the threads of the past. It can’t be an accurate reflection: no amount of pixels could capture the depth and breadth of a life ongoing.
But do you know the one thing that causes me the most guilt and stress in life?
The backup of messages I’ve got.
It’s at least a year’s worth. I’m not joking. I wish I were. I’ve often told myself I’ll get back to them today, tomorrow, or I’ll set aside some time this weekend to respond. But deep down, I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to responding to all of them. I don’t know if it’s possible to do that. It’s an overwhelming task and I’ve historically struggled to mentally handle the enormity of it. Thankfully, I’ve begun implementing some habits to help me work through this, but dear goodness. It’s been a really difficult struggle.
For the longest time, I genuinely thought that this was a side effect of social anxiety. I know I have a touch of it. I’ve been dealing with it for years now: sometimes by facing it head on, sometimes by avoiding it, and sometimes somewhere in between (which is not the way to go, but here I currently reside). And then I read this piece that gave me a whole different perspective on it entirely.
It’s not necessarily social anxiety. More likely, it’s probably overwhelm from the idea of being constantly available that so permeates our culture today.
I highly recommend reading the full article because, in my opinion, the author does a great job in naming why this idea of being available always is so overwhelming to the human psyche, and gives concrete examples of how this plays out – and even leads to a degree of pettiness in our interactions online. Her analysis of Snapchat in particular? I could’ve written it. The way Snapchat functions in showing you who’s read your message and not responded (but also just posted on their story), or who’s left you on delivered (and also posted on their story) is exactly why Snapchat caused me an increase in anxiety that was unhealthy for me and my friendships, and precisely why I deleted Snapchat my sophomore year of college. I did go back once more to see if I could handle it, but it was still an unhealthy platform for me; and so I said goodbye to Snapchat forever during my junior year. I will never, ever go back.
While the article is fantastic in the way of naming the problems at hand and giving a sense of clarity in why it’s okay to not always be available, it got me thinking: how do we as Christians go about doing so in a way that honors others as the Imago Dei?
By no means do I have any of this perfected, but here are my thoughts – my very incomplete thoughts, but the beginnings of my thoughts nonetheless.
Seeing Myself as the Imago Dei
If this starting point makes you a little uncomfortable in a “Couldn’t this be seen as rather narcissistic?” way, I promise you that it is not. If you and I do not have the ability and recognition that we are each made in God’s image and likeness and that we are totally, completely, and unconditionally loved by Him, then we have no place to begin. Jesus tells us that, after loving God with all ours hearts and souls and minds and strengths, the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31). If we cannot recognize the Imago Dei in ourselves, we will not be able to recognize it in our neighbors because, as a Christian, to authentically love someone necessitates seeing Jesus reflected in them.
So with that in mind, the question becomes this: “How do we honor the God Whose image we’ve been created in through the way we use our time online?” I propose that the answer lies hand in hand with this question: “how do we honor the God Whose image we’ve been created in through the way we use our time in general?”
In my own initial thoughts, I would like to suggest three points in particular that might help to answer this.
Root our days in prayer and, when possible, the sacraments. We must root ourselves in our Creator and grow in relationship and love with Him if we are to ever honor the Imago Dei. Prayer is, at its heart, conversation and communication with God; and thus, in prayer we meet the One whose image we’ve been created in. He greets us whenever we speak to Him. He meets us where we are at and hears what we tell Him, taking seriously every word. Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking God does not always hear us when we pray, but this could not be further from the truth. When we pray, God does not withhold Himself or become aloof. We may not be able to feel His presence and response every time we pray, but that does not mean prayer without immediate emotional experiences, spiritual consolations, or obvious effects is worthless. On the contrary, we receive grace each time we pray. God responds when we pray. We cannot always see the effects prayer has on our souls, but there is always an effect, however small. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed,” Jesus tells us, going on to describe this as the smallest seed that grows into a tree (Matthew 13:31-32). This, of course, is a symbol for the Church; but it, too, applies to our prayer. The smallest seed planted in our heart by God has the capacity to grow in tremendous – and even unexpected – ways over time. We receive grace when we pray. We also receive grace through the sacraments. If you have the capacity to receive the sacraments frequently, I encourage you to do so. Not all of us are able to do so outside of Sunday Mass and the occasional Saturday visit to confession, and I recognize that. But if you are able to – even if it’s just adding in daily Mass once a week in addition to your Sunday Mass obligation – I encourage you to take the steps to go. In the Eucharist, we meet our Creator Flesh-to-flesh, soul-to-soul. The Imago Dei receives the One whose image he or she has been made in.
Evaluate our habits and the way we treat ourselves. From a classical perspective, a la Aristotle and Aquinas, the virtues are actually good habits. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a habit is “a settled tendency or usual manner of behavior.” Some habits have a positive impact on our lives and thus can be called good; other habits have a negative impact on our lives and thus can be named as bad habits. When we engage in good habits, we treat ourselves as possessing the dignity that God has bestowed upon us. However, when we engage in bad habits, we actually ignore – and even mock – the dignity and worth we have. To truly know where we stand when it comes to our habits requires some self-reflection. Take some time to put your phone across the room and sit down, maybe with a notebook or journal. Invite God in, and take an honest look at your life. In what areas of your life are you displaying good habits? In what areas are you finding some negative habits instead? You’ll probably find that you have a mix of both, and if that’s the case, don’t despair – you’re only human, after all. With God’s grace, it’s entirely possible to root out the negative habits and replace them with good ones. In prayer, ask the Lord to help you choose a habit to focus on rooting out and replacing first. Step by step, little by little, you will grow in virtue and holiness.
Set boundaries on screen time. Your brain was not wired to interact with a screen for hours a day, and study after study backs this up. However, we can’t always avoid screens, either – especially if we’re working jobs where we’re required to use screens! The virtues of temperance (“the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods” CCC 1809) and prudence (“the virtue that disposes practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it,” CCC 1806) play a key role here. Setting specific boundaries such as “I will not use screens during the hour before I go to bed” or “I will be phone-free every Sunday morning” can be really helpful in creating tangible – and manageable – guidelines for ourselves. If you (like me!) struggle with sticking to the boundaries you set with the screens you use, consider downloading an app blocker like Opal. I’ve also heard wonderful things about Brick as well. Both require a little investment upfront, but it may be well worth it for you. A hint for Opal: after you download the app, you can change how much you pay for an Opal subscription if you go to the App Store, look at your subscriptions, tap on Opal, and then tap on “see all plans.” A wide variety of prices come up at this point. I don’t know of any workarounds for Android phones, but I’m guessing they probably exist if they exist for iOS! I do the $8.99/month plan and it is well worth it, especially for its Deep Focus feature, where you cannot access in any way the apps you choose to block during a set time period.
Seeing others as the Imago Dei
Once we’ve considered the way we do or do not recognize the Imago Dei in ourselves, we can go on to consider how we do or do not recognize the Imago Dei in others. These are my initial thoughts for suggestions on ways we can go about doing this.
Consider our lives and evaluate our priorities. Does the way we use our time reflect the duties we have been given in our particular state of life? God entrusts to each of us particular duties and responsibilities – and even people – according to the lives He has called each of us to, and it is through these responsibilities that we are sanctified. Do our priorities reflect these responsibilities, or are we allowing other things to take priority instead? Do we apply ourselves diligently at work, or do we waste time when there are tasks to be completed? Do we steward our homes, money, and belongings well, or do we misuse or neglect them? Do we take the time to see the person in front of us, or are we too preoccupied with other things – like our phones or the stress of deadlines or a headline from the news that’s left us unsettled all day – to notice the gift that’s there? These are questions we must ask ourselves. If you find that you’re failing at any or all of these, don’t lose hope and beat yourself up. Take heart and ask God for His graces to try again. He will help you. He wants to help you! Our ability to reflect Him becomes muddied or cloudy with sin, but He has the power to clean the streaks off the mirror and help you reflect Him better, ever more and more.
Make a conscious decision to see the person on the other side of the screen as the Imago Dei. It’s not so difficult to see Jesus in the person standing right in front of you, but it can be harder to remember that the person texting you, emailing you, or even commenting on your social media is also made in God’s Image and Likeness. Seeing the person on the other side of the screen as made in God’s image is a good habit to develop. Generally, a good guideline to keep in mind is to respond with timeliness, respect, and courtesy while keeping the relationship you have with this person in mind. It’s also worth noting that some texts require more than a text response, especially if the topic is difficult or sensitive. Prudence is necessary in these cases. If you’ve been struggling to respond to texts from friends, set aside some time in your schedule to evaluate if the text needs to be responded to or not, and then take the time to respond. You do not have to do this all in one setting, especially if you (like me) have a backlog! However, setting some concrete time aside to do this can be significantly helpful in motivating you to act instead of just thinking that you’ll do it at some point. Voice notes and phone calls might be a helpful response tool instead of a text, but that entirely depends on the person – and the person on the receiving end, too! You know yourself and you know your friends & family, so use your judgement here.
See boundaries as a way to love those on the other side of the screen (and honestly, in general!). Seeing the person on the other side of a screen doesn’t mean that boundaries cannot be set. Boundaries are necessary for healthy relationships! We are human beings with free will, and we can use that free will to love or to hurt. We also have limitations. We cannot be everything for everyone. Only Jesus can do that, and we’re not Him. When used properly, boundaries are a tool that allow us to recognize our limitations and love others better! Here’s a few examples of boundaries at play in regards with screens:
If you choose to set screen time boundaries, kindly let the important people in your life know that you won’t be available to reach unless it’s an emergency during certain hours. You can set screen time boundaries and still have your phone ringer on in case of emergencies!
If someone leaves a rude comment on your social media post, say a prayer for them – and maybe delete the comment so the visible reminder of it doesn’t fester.
Evaluate the texts you receive. If they require a response right away or relatively soon, take the time to respond before you put it aside and forget. For texts that don’t require an immediate response, set a concrete time in your schedule to respond so that it doesn’t distract you in the present moment from something else that’s of a higher priority, but that it still will be done in a respectful timeframe for the other person.
Decide that your speech and actions online will match your speech and actions offline, and act on this decision. It’s easy to let our speech and actions denigrate into something lesser online, but this only hurts ourselves and others. Making a commitment to act the same online as you do offline is a good starting point to loving others better online.
If someone is genuinely harassing you and you’ve brought this to their attention and they refuse to back down, by all means do the prudent thing and block that person. More action may need to be taken depending on the situation, particularly if you know the person outside of a screen.
Some final thoughts
As I’ve mentioned, these are just my initial thoughts on the topic. However, I hope that you might find them as a helpful starting point for your own life. Screens are tricky to navigate in our world today, and it’s important that we allow ourselves to set boundaries with them while still keeping in mind that the person on the other side of the screen is made in God’s image and likeness, and thus deserving of being treated with dignity and respect.
To bring up a point from toward the beginning, honoring the God Whose image we’ve been created in – as well as every other person on this earth – does involve a holistic look at our lives. We can’t treat others one way in person and a different way online and call ourselves authentic. Many of the suggestions I brought up in this post specifically have to do with treating others with dignity online, but there are also additional ways to honor the dignity of others off screen that I began to consider more deeply while writing this post. We find many of these in the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, terms that can seem inaccessible but are fundamental to living an authentic Christian life and seeing Jesus in others. To that end, I will be writing a follow-up post to this one in the future.
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