I have been healthier in the last four months than almost any period of the same length in the last twenty years. It is odd to say that my daily health and wellness has been measurably improved during a global pandemic, but it is true. I don’t get very sick very often, but I usually have a minor cold or runny nose or sore throat on a fairly regular basis. Twice in the last four months I thought I was getting sick, and on both occasions the feeling passed within 24 hours. I still have seasonal allergies, but I simply have not been sick, not even a cold, and that is quite remarkable.
What might have caused this unexpected season of wellness? I think it is almost entirely attributable to the social distancing and health precautions we are observing due to COVID-19. Before the virus altered our social interaction, I would shake hundreds of hands every week, hug dozens of people, visit nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals, and hold hands and pray with people with all kinds of contagious illness. I tried to remember to wash my hands regularly and use hand sanitizer when I could, but I lived and worked inside a petri dish seven days a week, and contracting minor illnesses and infections was unavoidable.
This experience prompted me to think lately about how often our mental, emotional, and spiritual environment also produces a sort of inner illness and unease. We live in a world of 24-hour news, ubiquitous social media, podcasts, blogs, video games, and the ever-present despot who rules our daily lives: the smartphone. Is it any surprise that anxiety, depression, and anger have risen exponentially in the modern world? With all of our time-saving devices, you might expect we would have more time to relax. But we have less. With near constant access to a wealth of information, you might expect we would be better informed, more articulate, and able to intelligently understand and live responsibly in the world. But we are less informed, more often misinformed, increasingly inarticulate, and less able to exist in and preserve civil society.
Technology is a tremendous blessing, but it is sickening us inside in profound and undeniable ways. Technology is a tool, and like any tool it serves a purpose. But when used contrary to that purpose, it has the potential to cause great harm. We are constantly bombarded by information that is making us unwell: mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The noise can drown out the peace and comfort and joy which God’s Word and Spirit speaks to us.
Sometimes it is not enough simply to wash our hands when we come home at the end of the day. We may need a more radical separation. That’s what we experienced in the last four months in our social relationships, but in many ways the digital media and worldly inputs we have relied on lately may pose an even greater risk to our inner and spiritual well-being. I cannot tell you what boundaries you ought to have in your life and family, but I can tell you that you need healthy boundaries. Consider postponing digital and online interaction until later in the day after you have spent time in Scripture and prayer. Consider putting time limits on how much television, Internet, video gaming, or social media you use. Consider taking digital fasts on a regular basis, whether that be several hours in a day, one or more days a week, or one or more weeks in order to unplug, re-sensitize yourself to quiet contemplation, and strengthen your inner immune system against the fears, frustrations, and fury excited by this world.
I look forward to the day I can once again shake hands, hug friends, visit hospitals, and hold hands with the sick and dying as I pray for them. Some level of risk and exposure to illness is necessary in my line of work, and it is worth it to offer pastoral care to weak and wounded souls. But I hope the lessons of these four months are not forgotten, including the value of spiritual immunity against spiritual and cognitive contamination. May God give us wisdom to know how to navigate the sources of inner disquiet that we constantly encounter in this world. -JME
