Lift up your eyes on high and see:
   Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
   calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
   mighty in power,
   not one is missing. (Isa 40:26, NRSV)

How often do “we lift up our eyes”? What if there were a force that kept us from looking up?

A new year is a time of renewal, and many will set personal resolutions—less screen time, better sleep, more prayer, more peace. But what if parishes and their parishioners also made a resolution? What if we helped our communities step into more intentional, Christ-centered relationships by “lifting up our eyes” and resisting social media?

Many today understandably encourage a strong parish presence on social media. The familiar reasons are compelling:

All of that contains truth and potential. Social media can be fun, creative, and a real doorway for first encounters.

Yet increasingly, parishioners are sharing that their online habits—especially on social media—are affecting their spiritual lives in harmful ways. Personally, many report that it:

• Increases depression and anxiety
• Decreases focus and critical thinking
• Fuels comparison and jealousy
• Increases consumerism
• Pulls time and attention away from real relationships
• Creates “echo chambers”
• Results in less surety of what is true and what is not

In short, we stopped looking up.

All these points have been abundantly proven (if you want new reading for 2026, read Haidt’s The Anxious Generation and Hari’s Stolen Focus). There is a major court case against Meta, Tiktok, and Youtube for deliberate and delinquent mental health harm against its users (“Is Social Media the New Big Tobacco?”). Finally, for some the problem is immediately serious: social media has become an addiction, with spiritual and personal consequences similar to other addictive behaviors. One data source indicates that 40% of Americans aged 18–22 and 37% of those aged 23–38 struggle with social media addiction.*

The Shift We Overlooked: From “Social” to “Interest-Exploiting” Media

Something has changed in this new digital world: what we still call “social media”–digital connections based on relationships–s often no longer truly social. It has evolved into interest-exploiting media that leverages personal attention for profit. Many Catholics have not fully realized this shift.

Younger adults may find online spaces where they can discuss faith when they cannot find those relationships “IRL,” and that can be a blessing. But for many others, scrolling has become more like watching than relating—being drawn into curated feeds, targeted advertising, and reactions shaped by algorithms rather than the Holy Spirit. The comic of the exhausted spouse insisting, “I can’t go to bed—someone is wrong on the internet!” is funny mostly because it is true.

Johann Hari, in Stolen Focus (2022), argues convincingly that these platforms are intentionally designed to seize and hold our attention for potential profit—often at the expense of relationships, prayer, creativity, presence, and peace of heart.

Are We Using Social Media… or Is It Using Us?

We all know that the social fabric of American culture has shifted significantly in recent decades—and not for the better. We are seeing more division, more fear, and less trust. Which raises pastoral questions:

–Has social media merely revealed those fractures, or has it widened them?
–Are we using social media, or is social media using us?

While systemic changes are needed (ending infinite scroll, reducing rage-based engagement, reforming polarization-driven algorithms), the pastoral need is present right now. When parishioners say social media is harming their discipleship: We must respond as shepherds and leaders.

Parishes exist to help souls follow Jesus.
When a barrier is clearly named, we do not ignore it.
We accompany people through it.

A Pastoral New Year’s Approach

Here are practical steps any parish can adopt as a meaningful and mission-aligned new year resolution:

1. Begin With Listening

Small group conversations allow safe, honest sharing:
• How has social media helped your life?
• How has it harmed it?
• How has it influenced your prayer, your family, your thought life?

Collect anonymous ratings on the personal and societal impact of social media (1 = disastrous; 10 = incredibly positive). A printable handout is available at Gracewatch Media and can be adapted to be collected digitally.

2. Discern Prayerfully

If your discipleship team sees many parishioners in the “harm” range (1–4), consider that a pastoral fire—not to induce panic, but attentive care.

3. Offer Real Support

• Provide guidance and practical tools for those trying to limit or break addictive use
• Make sure parish communications are readily available outside of social media (website, MyParish app, email newsletters, printed bulletins)
• Use social media strategically—but not as the primary parish communication channel

4. Reinforce Community Without Screens

Make parish life a place of presence: youth ministry nights, service projects, and formation gatherings where phones take a rest.

5. Encourage and Equip Parents

Parents are often quietly overwhelmed by digital pressures. They need pastoral solidarity and practical advice.

6. Consider Phone-Free Parish Schools

Schools that have taken this step report improved learning, better behavior, and re-found joy.

7. Preach the Gospel Invitation to Freedom

A homily recognizing both the good and the harm of social media can touch a deep spiritual nerve.
A parish mission on resisting digital distraction could be a gift to many who long for quiet, clarity, and communion.

Let This Be the Year We Choose Presence

We are a people made for encounter: for eye contact and compassion, silence and sacrament, discipleship and authentic joy.

So as this new year begins, one question becomes a genuine invitation:

What if our parishes helped people mindlessly scroll less—and seek Christ more?

That is a resolution worth making.

*These numbers are difficult to track, in part because there is not a formal clinical diagnosis. However, these numbers are self-reported, and come from this website: https://www.addictionhelp.com/social-media-addiction/statistics . Additionally, a number of formal meta-analyses based on reporting addictive behavior back up that this is a serious and widespread problem worldwide, especially with younger generations. One of the largest meta-analyses is here: Shannon H, Bush K, Villeneuve P, Hellemans K, Guimond S; Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents and Young Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis; JMIR Ment Health 2022;9(4):e33450; URL: https://mental.jmir.org/2022/4/e33450

If you would like to learn more about this initiative, go to Gracewatch Media to acquire the “Breaking Free Together”: a digital download to run a parish diagnosis and parish-supported social media fast for the new year, Lent, or any time.

This screen adjustment and digital detox process is an extension of our forthcoming Mission Ignite Toolkit to help parishes discern the Lord’s vision for their parish, assessment their mission field and discipleship strength, and implement the most fitting evangelization process for their people.