The Importance of Limiting Computer Time

{Written by Bethany Ann}

What has the Lord been teaching me lately? It can all be summed up in 3 simple words: limiting computer time. You might think this an odd subject for an article, and I did too at first but when I started to think of it, limiting computer time can be very important in a Christian girl’s life!

Lately I've been spending a lot of time on the computer. My Mom has always told me of the importance of limiting screen time, but I never truly realized the desperate importance of it until a few days back.

My computer time is limited to one hour a day. This is the necessary time to work on RDOTK things as well as manage and keep up my two other blogs {our family blog HERE and my new giveaway blog HERE}. But I found myself often going to my blog list of updates before the articles I was supposed to write. I seemed to enter all the giveaways before I did that product review post. And though I'm not saying that giveaways and following blogs on wrong, I am saying that there needs to be a set balance-and if you don't set that balance it will set you!

I soon realized many things that changed when I was on the computer, one of which is that when you are on the compeer, it's like you in your own little "bubble" as my Mom calls it. Basically, you shut yourself down to other humans and focus on only yourself. I found that when I can on the computer, whenever a sibling came asking how to spell a word I was not as eager to answer and sometimes ignored them without knowing it since I was so caught up in getting that giveaway entry up that I "blocked" them out. Although, this isn't always a bad thing, {for when writing an article I must be able to concentrate :D} but we must be careful not to let it get a firm hold of us. So many times I found myself more irritable when I was in front of the screen than when I wasn't on the computer. I wondered why and realized that when I'm in front of the computer, I can do anything I want {within reason of course}. If I want to enter a giveaway, I can. If I want to read a blog, it’s only a click away. So I'm used to getting what I wanted. So when I had little siblings playing nosily in the background it irritated me and frustrated me because I wasn't getting what I wanted.

Please understand that I am not saying that computers are bad, because they are wonderful resources given to us and with them we can do a lot of good-but also a lot of harm.   But like with all things there must be moderation. And I believe that America has gone over that boundary-by a lot!

I remember once going to a restaurant with my family, and as we sat down to dinner I noticed that there was a family sitting a few tables away. I instantly recognized that both parents were on their i-phones and that the other family member was eating alone. They hardly said anything the whole time they ate and were constantly glued to the screen. I thought later how sad this is that families can't even eat together because they do not have enough self-control to set the phone down during family events.

Think about this: I calculated that if I have an hour of computer time every day then that totals to 365 hours a year. This equals to 15 whole days a year! In 60 years that adds up to 900 days! This is time you could have spent reading, spending time with family or with the Lord - but no we chose to spend it in solitude and to zone yourself out of the real world for a time. So often I find myself saying "Oh it'll only be a minute, I just need to check my email" but it ends up being so much more time since there is that email that I won a giveaway and then I have to go to their blog to give them my information and then they say to go enter this other giveaway...see were I'm going? I once had someone tell me that once they got on the computer after they put their kids to bed, and all the sudden they noticed that the sun was coming up! They had spent the whole night on the computer and didn't even realize it!

There have been times were I have gotten on the computer before doing my devotions. This is wrong! When I do this I am setting the computer as an idol because it is more important to me than spending time with God - because I value it more than the Lord. This is sad! I have since them purposed to never get on the computer before I do my devotions as a way of showing the Lord that I value it more than anything on the computer.

So dear Daughter of the King, are you feeling like the Lord is nudging at your heart and telling you to spend less time on the computer and more time with Him? Sometimes it's hard and required to stop following so many blogs, not enter as many giveaways, do less blog posts, get away from the Facebook page, and chose to do the important things first. I would like to challenge each of you to spend less time on the computer this week. Please do it for the Lord and for your family. Use that time to memorize Scripture, read a good book or spend time with your family. Right now chose the amount of time you will allow yourself to spend on the computer each day and pray that the Lord would help you to keep that resolution for one week. At first it may sound horrid and impossible, but remember that with the Lord all things ARE possible! :D Plus, wouldn't you rather that at the end of your life that instead of a total of 900 days spent on the computer it only be more like 100 days and that the other 800 were spent doing something productive such as spending time with the Lord and doing something of eternal value? For when we see Jesus on Judgment day the amount of days spent on the computer will mean nothing to Him - what He is interested in is how much time we spent getting to know Him better.

Have God bless you dear sisters!

Blessings,

Bethany Ann

{P.S. For those of you who haven't yet heard, I just opened a giveaway blog called Giveaways of Blessing! I plan on posting frequent giveaways and product reviews and currently I have two giveaways going on! One for some lovely tea-time cards and one for a lovely sewing e-pattern for a adorable purse of the winners choice. Check those out over HERE! ~Bethany}