Reflection & Prayer Prompts
Boundaries with Technology
For individual use during a session, after a session, or as a standalone devotional practice.
Introduction
Technology is woven so deeply into our lives that it often feels invisible — like the water a fish swims in. We don't think about our phone habits because they've become automatic. They don't feel like choices anymore.
But they are choices. Every time you reach for your phone, every notification you respond to, every scroll through social media — these are decisions about where your attention goes. And attention is one of the most precious things you have.
These prompts are designed to help you slow down and look honestly at your relationship with technology. Not to shame you. Not to make you feel bad about your phone. But to help you see clearly so you can choose wisely.
Take your time. Be honest. Let yourself sit with discomfort if it comes. Growth often starts there.
Personal Reflection Questions
1. When you wake up in the morning, how soon do you reach for your phone? What are you looking for? What are you hoping to find — or avoid?
2. Who in your life has felt the cost of your divided attention? Your spouse? Children? Friends? Colleagues? What have they said, or what have you noticed in them, that you've perhaps dismissed or minimized?
3. Dr. Cloud says you are now "findable by anybody, anywhere, at any time, for any reason." How does that statement land in your body? Does it feel like freedom or intrusion? What does your reaction tell you?
4. Where is technology helping you build the life you want? Where is it consuming the life you want? Be specific.
5. "Find the misery and make a rule." Where is the misery for you? What would a rule to address it look like? What's keeping you from making it?
6. What would it feel like to be fully present — truly, completely present — with the people who matter most to you? When was the last time that happened? What got in the way?
7. If you were to go 24 hours without your phone, what do you imagine you'd feel? Boredom? Anxiety? Relief? Peace? What does your anticipated reaction reveal?
8. What are you trying to find in the endless scroll? Connection? Distraction? Escape? Information? Comparison? What would it mean to pursue that need in a different way?
Guided Prayer Language
These prayers are meant to be starting points — honest words to offer before God. Adapt them or let them prompt your own conversation.
A Prayer of Honest Seeing
God, I've been looking at a screen more than I've been looking at the life you've given me. Help me see what I've been doing. Not with shame — I know you don't deal in shame — but with honest eyes. Show me where my attention has wandered. Show me what I've been avoiding. Show me who has felt the absence of my presence even when I was in the room.
I don't want to numb. I don't want to escape. I want to be here — present to my life, present to the people I love, present to you. Give me the courage to look at my habits honestly. And the grace to start again.
A Prayer for Self-Control
Lord, I confess I've felt controlled by something that was supposed to be a tool. I've reached for my phone when I should have been paying attention. I've scrolled when I should have been resting. I've checked and refreshed and compared when I could have been present and grateful.
Self-control is a fruit of your Spirit. I'm asking for it now. Not a harsh discipline that shames me, but a settled freedom that knows what matters and protects it. Help me choose what I value over what I crave. Help me be present where I am, instead of always somewhere else.
A Prayer for Those I've Neglected
God, I'm thinking of the people who've felt my absence — even when I was sitting next to them. My spouse who wanted my attention. My kids who wanted my eyes. My friends who got what was left over. I can't get that time back. But I can choose differently starting now.
Give me the wisdom to protect my presence as a gift I give to others. Remind me that the people in front of me matter more than whatever is on my screen. And when I fail — because I will — give me the humility to name it and try again.
Optional Journaling Prompts
Use these in a journal, on your phone's notes app (the irony noted), or simply as thinking prompts when you have quiet time.
1. Write about a moment recently when you were with someone you love but not fully present. What were you doing on your phone? What did the other person's face look like? What might they have been feeling that you didn't notice?
2. Describe the version of yourself who uses technology well. What does that person do differently in the morning? At the dinner table? Before bed? In the middle of a workday? Be specific.
3. "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." What rules could you create for yourself that would serve you — protect your presence, your relationships, your peace — rather than control you? Write 3-5 rules you'd be willing to try.
4. Think about the last hour you spent scrolling. Where were you? What were you feeling before you started? What were you feeling after? What were you actually looking for — and did you find it?
5. Write a letter to someone who has been affected by your divided attention — your spouse, child, friend, or even yourself. You don't have to send it. But be honest about what they may have experienced and what you want to do differently.
Closing Thought
Your attention is your life. Where you put it determines what you build, who you become, and how connected you are to the people who matter most.
Technology wants your attention — it's designed to capture it. But you don't have to give it. You can choose. You can set boundaries. You can protect what matters.
Start small. One rule. One phone-free dinner. One morning without the scroll. See what you notice. See what opens up.
God made the Sabbath for you — rest, boundaries, and intentionality are gifts, not punishments. Receive the gift. Protect your treasures. Be present to your life.
It's still your life to live.