Entertainment
Can I watch a movie during my screen-fast?
…and other FAQs answered
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1. Can I still do the screen-fast if my work requires I be on a computer?
Some didn’t participate in last year’s screen-fast because they figured their job just didn’t allow for it – they had to answer texts and calls, or type away on a keyboard most of the day.
But everyone can join in on the fun! For kids an entirely screen-free fast is probably best, just to help them reset. For mom and dad, it’d be about stretching ourselves as much as we realistically can. To paraphrase Andy Crouch, the screen-fast isn’t about becoming Amish; it’s just about becoming a lot more Amish than we might be comfortable with. Go without Instagram, Facebook, or checking the sports scores… because that can so easily go from the seconds you intended to the minutes you didn’t. It’s about drawing a line. So sign up, note your exceptions, and then stick to them.
2. Can I still Facetime with Oma during the screen fast?
If your children do regular Sunday Facetime or Messenger video calls with their grandma, should they skip those for RP’s 10-day screen-fast challenge? No siree, for at least a couple of reasons.
First, the you from the future wants you to call. A good way to evaluate decisions is to consider what the you from ten years hence might have wished you’d have done now. We know that the us from then would really appreciate it if we’d kick our screen-addiction… which is a reason to get at it now. But that same future you would love it if you’d call your mom more often (and more importantly God does too – Ex. 20:12). Even during a screen-fast. So you should.
Second, not all screen usage is the same. Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, has spoken to how face-to-face communication, even over a smartphone, is entirely different from a kid swiping through a video roll. One destroys our ability to focus, and the other helps stretch it. One involves interaction and intention, while the other is simply consumption and the abdication of deliberate decision-making. One harms us, and the other builds us up. And we all know which is which.
3. Can I watch a movie during my screen-fast?
The screen-fast shouldn’t be just another time to watch the latest that Hollywood offers.
But as mentioned, not all screen usage is the same, and Haidt also speaks to how watching a long-form movie – not a half-hour sitcom but one single story told over a couple of hours – is very different from viewing TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. Those mediums’ seconds-long clips erode attention spans, making us unable to deal with moments or minutes of boredom. But even the best movies aren’t going to be one long action scene, and sticking with the story through the lulls will actually help build up our ability to focus.
So, for some families captivated by YouTube shorts, watching a film could be part of taking back control. The key is intentionality. Don’t fall onto the couch and see what’s on. Watching “just something” is like eating “just something” – God gave us a brain, and we need to use it to meal plan. If you’re going to do it, deliberate so that you, and not the algorithm, decides. Pick a challenging film that will spark conversation, and get you and your family thinking and then watch it with the pause button at the ready so you can make this interactive and not simply consumptive. A movie could be an exception in your screen-fast… if it’s a movie (and not ten) and a certain sort (and not just any). I’ve offered one nominee, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which will stretch young viewers’ attention-spans, but will certainly reward all who make it to the end.
4. What is the screen-fast actually for?
First off, this isn’t about legalism and creating some 11th commandment that must be woodenly followed. It really isn’t even about screens so much as it is about regaining self-control.
What we’re doing now is damaging ourselves and our kids in ways that are both obvious, and not so. When every ding has our hand flinching toward our phones, we’re never fully present – we’re always distractible and we can all feel our attention span frittering away. And it doesn’t take a genius to know screens are impacting our kids all the more so, and will cripple their ability to buckle down and just learn.
But our out-of-control screen usage is also impacting us in ways we might not have even considered. In Ps. 63:6, King David spoke of how:
“…I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on You in the watches of the night...”
Do any of us use our insomnia like that anymore? We leave no room for long unhurried conversations with God when we fall asleep staring at our devices instead.
The problem isn’t our deliberate, intentional usage, but our loss of self-control, and with it the loss of minutes going on hours, with nothing to show for it. The screen-fast is about a reset to put our screens in their place, as our tools and not our masters. And more so, it is about reorienting our lives to properly recognize God’s place as the Lord of our lives, our time and our priorities.
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Join us for our 2026 screen fast from July 13-22! Sign up here.
News
Nearly 60% of violent crime cases now being stayed or withdrawn
“Justice delayed has become justice denied,” concluded a recent report from The Hub about the amount of time it is taking for criminal justice cases to be completed.
Digging into the most recent data available across Canada, the report found that the median amount of time it takes to complete a case – from first appearance to a final decision – has increased 60 percent increase in just eight years. It’s gone from averaging around 4 months – varying from 121 to 124 days – for the 8 years preceding 2016, to now being well over 6 months, or 198 days for 2023/24.
There are many costs to delaying justice with a big one being guilty people set free because they haven’t been offered a trial within the “reasonable time” promised in the Charter of Rights. The same report found that over the same time period, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of cases that have been stayed or withdrawn. That means no finding of guilt or innocence has been reached. As The Hub’s David Snow reports:
“Focusing on Canada outside Quebec , the proportion of criminal cases that were stayed or withdrawn increased from just under 35 percent in 2007/08 to 40 percent by 2019/20. The increase accelerated sharply after the pandemic, to the extent that more than 50 percent of criminal cases outside Quebec now end without a determination of guilt or innocence.”
This is particularly the case for violent crimes, where now nearly three in five cases are stayed or withdrawn.
As a result, fewer people are being found guilty, dropping from 63 percent to 46 percent. This isn’t because there are more acquittals. In fact, of the 228,425 adult court cases in 2023/2024:
• 105,371 were found guilty
• 118,265 were stayed or withdrawn
• only 2,442 were acquitted
God, who is perfectly just, calls us to image His justice. “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act" we are instructed in Proverbs 3:27-28. And as we read in Jeremiah 21:12, it must be done promptly. “Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed.” So the Charter of Rights’ call for trials in a “reasonable time” is good – we don’t want people who’ve never been convicted, languishing in jail for years on end before they even have a trial. Imagine if you are innocent, and you’re made to wait in jail for even “just” 4 months. This needs to be fixed.
Today's Devotional
July 8 - Surprise! Another return
“… and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of Moab.” - Ruth 1:22b
Scripture reading: Ephesians 1:1-10
Interesting, isn’t it? This summary verse says more about Ruth than it does about Naomi. In her bitterness, Naomi hadn’t even mentioned Ruth in her little speech to the town’s people of Bethlehem. She talks about being empty even though she >
Today's Manna Podcast
Why are you downcast
Serving #1257 of Manna, prepared by Winston Bosch, is called "Why are you downcast".
