Jul 14, 2026 · 15 min · 10 segments
What if the moments slipping by unnoticed are the ones that matter most? This episode takes an honest look at what phone distraction is quietly costing you, not just in hours, but in the relationships…
Julianne AugustHost
This one's a little different because it's less about tactics and more about vision, because I think sometimes before we talk about what to change, we need to become aware and think about what we might be missing or even losing out on.
We need to let the gap between the life on our screen and the life waiting for us when we look up become real to us.
When it comes to screens, I think there is a cost that we are not always calculating.
Research puts the average person somewhere between four and seven hours a day on a phone, and I think that number is relative to our age, what we use our devices for, but either way, those are big numbers.
And I think sometimes we hear four to seven hours and, you know, we feel vaguely unsettled, but we don't really assess it for our own lives, and then many of us just move on.
Now, that is close to 1,500 hours over the course of a year, more than 60 full days.
And remember, that is the minimum screen time for many of us, and for many, it is significantly more.
It's what's happening around you during those hours that I want you to consider.
What your child was telling you while you were half listening and your eyes were drifting back to the screen.
What your spouse said at dinner when your phone was, you know, face up on the table, lighting up, pulling your eyes away mid-sentence.
It's what m- It's what God might have been whispering to you in a quiet moment before you picked up your phone out of habit, and then the quiet was gone.
It's that missed conversation that started in the next room while you were watching just one more video.
What if we didn't just think about that as time? Rather, we thought about it in moments, life moments that we can't always get back.
Now, as a caveat to this conversation, um, and someone whose intention is not to provoke shame or guilt around digital consumption, I want to acknowledge that not every minute on your phone and screen time is a waste.
If you have been around the podcast for any length of time, you'll know that I am not anti-phone or even anti-screen time.
You use it for work, for directions, for staying in touch, for really good things.
This one's a little different because it's less about tactics and more about vision, because I think sometimes before we talk about what to change, we need to become aware and think about what we might be missing or even losing out on.
We need to let the gap between the life on our screen and the life waiting for us when we look up become real to us.
When it comes to screens, I think there is a cost that we are not always calculating.
Research puts the average person somewhere between four and seven hours a day on a phone, and I think that number is relative to our age, what we use our devices for, but either way, those are big numbers.
And I think sometimes we hear four to seven hours and, you know, we feel vaguely unsettled, but we don't really assess it for our own lives, and then many of us just move on.
Now, that is close to 1,500 hours over the course of a year, more than 60 full days.
And remember, that is the minimum screen time for many of us, and for many, it is significantly more.
It's what's happening around you during those hours that I want you to consider.
What your child was telling you while you were half listening and your eyes were drifting back to the screen.
What your spouse said at dinner when your phone was, you know, face up on the table, lighting up, pulling your eyes away mid-sentence.
It's what m- It's what God might have been whispering to you in a quiet moment before you picked up your phone out of habit, and then the quiet was gone.
It's that missed conversation that started in the next room while you were watching just one more video.
What if we didn't just think about that as time? Rather, we thought about it in moments, life moments that we can't always get back.
Now, as a caveat to this conversation, um, and someone whose intention is not to provoke shame or guilt around digital consumption, I want to acknowledge that not every minute on your phone and screen time is a waste.
If you have been around the podcast for any length of time, you'll know that I am not anti-phone or even anti-screen time.
You use it for work, for directions, for staying in touch, for really good things.
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