Mental/emotional wellbeing and spiritual formation are not two separate things. Our sin problem is deeper than simply wrong acts that we do; our brain pathways, our natural tendencies, our trauma, our very “DNA” so to speak require deep transformation. This is the battle for your brain. And in our technology-saturated world, how do we manage all that?

Maintaining one’s mental wellbeing may have always been a struggle, but today it can seem nearly impossible. The 24/7 news cycle of “trauma and drama” bad news, the social media algorithms fostering addiction and disassociation, and the increasingly rapid rate of change do not naturally lead to mature sanity.

The immature brains/nervous systems of young people are especially vulnerable to these pressures. You may be aware of the dramatic rise in mental health diagnoses, including suicide, among teens who were the first to get smart phones with unlimited internet access. And more recently, of those who have chatted intimately with an AI, approximately one in five preferred the AI over relationship with a real person. Very sobering.

You are being formed. The only question is, into who or what are you being formed? Do we really want to outsource our formation to the algorithms?

I’m by no means against technology! I use technology for a significant portion of every day. Technology makes the ministry God has given me to do possible.

But I’ve also been challenged to look at what is happening in my own inner world as a result.

Mental Health and Spiritual Formation

You know people, as I do, who have been Christians for years, perhaps decades, but are miserable to be around. They are prickly, bitter, brittle, and deeply unhappy. There is no love, joy, and peace emanating from their soul. There’s nothing in them that’s attractive. One way to describe this outcome in a person is that their internal world has never been healed and transformed.

It’s possible to do all the “right” things but never have your soul made whole. That’s sadly a common outcome of focusing on the externals without ever dealing with the matters of the heart. It’s what Jesus was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount, when he repeatedly brought things back to the matters of the heart.

One of the most enlightening ways to think about what Jesus wants to do in us is in terms of integration. Because of evil, our beings are fractured. You’ve said to yourself, “part of me wants to, but part of me doesn’t.” Look at Paul’s distressed description of his own inner world in Romans 7. We are a “a double-minded man, unstable in all [our] ways” (James 1:8).

The new heart God promises to give us is not fractured. The split-off parts of us – the wounded inner child, the angry self-protective adolescent, the grasping and empty man or woman, the fearful or addicted or traumatized soul – all become healed, whole, integrated. No unhealthy immature part is in charge. Nothing in our past holds us.

That’s wholeness. That’s becoming like Jesus, where the fruit of the Spirit characterizes our very being (Galatians 5:22-23).

So, if that’s where we’re headed, is the technology you engage with helping you get there?

Technology and Spiritual Formation

As my conversation with Dr. John. Dyer pointed out, the tools we use always affect us. Regardless of whether you use a shovel to destroy things or to dig in your garden, it will form callouses on your hands. What is our use of technology, the internet, and AI doing to us? Again, do you want the algorithms in charge of your formation?

The content you allow into your mind is super important. What you read, the music you listen to, the TV shows you watch, the apps you use, the people you follow on social media – all that makes an enormous difference. You can use your phone to read the Bible or to join a raging conspiracy based on half-truths.

But more than that, are the callouses on your mental hands after an hour or ten hours of doing whatever you do online leading you to have a more whole and integrated inner world? Or do you find yourself more bored, distracted, lonely, afraid, angry, bitter, shallow, or envious?

If we don’t intentionally and almost “violently” steward our use of technology, the algorithms will do it for us. And the algorithms do not have your best interest at heart. Their goal for you is to become addicted to their worldview, to capture you in whatever silo of rage fits your tendencies, to keep you hooked as long as possible so you part with more of your money, to numb you and render you incapable of deep connection with others or with God.

Don’t let the world squeeze you into its own mold. (See Romans 12:1-2)

Toward Using Technology for Good

I have no plans to ditch my laptop or my smartphone. But I have had to become much more alert and intentional about how I steward my time with and use of technology – for both my own mental wellbeing and my spiritual formation.

The limits you choose to put in place will be unique to you, your vulnerabilities, and the role God has given you to do in this world. A few questions to help in sorting that out:

• Is the digital content you bring into your mind helping you are hurting you? Is it helping you become more like Jesus?
• Where during the day do you find yourself hijacked by the algorithms? Be honest about whether “cutting back” is realistic, or whether you’re addicted. An addiction may require a hard “NO” to certain technologies.
• How much mental/emotional real estate are you allowing technologies – both their content and their use – to occupy?
• What time limits are you holding to when it comes to media, TV, internet, any screens? I encourage you to incorporate a hard-stop to your screen time in the evening, and to hold to a digital sabbath weekly.
• In what ways are you devoting your first and best energies to relationships with God and a few real-life others?

Following Jesus in our technological AI-saturated world is challenging – but perhaps no more so than it’s ever been. Ask Jesus what changes in stewarding your technological/digital world He would have you make.

Your mental health and your spiritual formation depend on it.

Your turn: What do you notice about how your mental health and spiritual formation are connected? And how is technology affecting that for you? Are there any changes you need to make?  Leave a comment below.

Want more? On this week’s podcast I talk with Christian therapist and coach Jason VanRuler about loneliness and connection in a digital world. Listen or Watch.

Tweetables: why not share this post?

• Your mental/emotional wellbeing and your spiritual formation are deeply connected. And technology and AI deeply impact both. Are you letting the algorithms decide for you?  Tweet that.

Getting to the Matters of the Heart

The wounds, the unhealthy beliefs, the behavior patterns, the internal struggles, the spiritual oppression especially around intimacy, sex, and relationships – we can help with that.

Join us at an upcoming intensive – a beautiful 3-4 day premium experience that can change so much. Bring the hard places of your story into the light, and experience Jesus coming right into the middle of your story with healing, freedom, and transformation.