This year for Lent, I decided to give up my multi-screen habit. One of my favorite, yet unhealthy, pastimes is sitting in front of the TV while doomscrolling, playing games, or messing around on my phone. I’ve known for a while that this was a terrible habit, but I never mustered up the energy to stop. That is, until Lent began and I had no idea what to give up. It came to me while sitting at a basketball game, half watching the game in front of me, and half watching TikToks on my phone. “My attention span is really rotted to #$!&. That’s what I’m giving up for Lent.”

The first week or so of my Lenten promise was difficult. I was simply not enthralled with whatever I was watching to be satisfied with it being my only stimulation. I doodled and made friendship bracelets to occupy that part of my brain, being satisfied with that. But slowly, I no longer needed that stimulation. My average screen time went down about two hours per day, which was both impressive and a bit alarming to learn. In just six short weeks, I have transformed the way I consume media: singularly.

This has translated outside of screentime, as well. In class, I’m able to focus for longer stretches of time. My 80-minute classes seem to feel more like my 50-minute classes. And my 50-minute classes? They go by in the blink of an eye. I had no idea that this small change I made in my life would have such cascading effects. So as Lent comes to a close, I ask myself, “Were they right about those darn phones?”

I mean, DUH! I don’t need to bore you with the science regarding what technology is doing to our brains. And most of those studies are looking at those occupied with just one screen at a time. I can’t imagine what a regular dual-screen viewing experience is doing to our eyes, let alone our attention spans. I truly cannot stress how much I indulged in the two-screen watching routine, yet how easy it was to change. The first week was difficult. The second was a little less difficult. By the third, I was completely chill with my new routine. If you’ve been feeling like I did before Lent started, consider trying what I did, and just biting the bullet to better your attention span. And if you give it the ol’ college try and really hate it, that phone isn’t going anywhere, and you are more than welcome to catalyze the deterioration of your attention span and eyesight to your heart’s desire.