ONE hundred young people and their youth leaders gathered at Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday for a digital-detox event, as a reminder to “log off and look up”.
The event, which was open to people aged 11 to 18, began with sung worship, led by a youth band from Maidstone deanery, followed by workshops and food.
“She’d like us to be role models, not scroll models”
The Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, led a prayer-and-discussion table before celebrating the tenth anniversary of the global ecumenical prayer movement Thy Kingdom Come (TKC).
Speaking before the event, Bishop Hudson-Wilkin said: “We join our sisters and brothers all over the world as we set aside the nine days between Ascension and Pentecost to pray.”
The TKC Youth Lead, the Revd Tom Clark, spoke about the benefits of taking a digital detox within the context of a church or youth group. He described it as “a chance for us to have a breather from the relentlessness that is the digital world.
“Trying to be focused on spending time with God and the Bible each day requires us to intentionally reduce these distractions.”
Other activities included creating prayer cubes and origami chatterboxes which concentrated on key areas of prayer.
Canterbury diocese referred to research from the British Standards Institute, which revealed that nearly half (47 per cent) of 1293 British people surveyed, aged 16 to 21, would “prefer to be young in a world without the internet”. Fifty per cent of respondents also said that “a social-media curfew would improve their lives”. Some (26 per cent) felt that they had an “addiction”, spending four hours on more on social media.
The diocesan lead officer for children and youth ministry, Jen Tobin, who organised the event, said that adolescents and young adults are “highlighting their desire to be more detached from digital technology.
“In a world where life is becoming increasingly digitalised, we owe it to our young people to provide them with the spaces and opportunities to switch off their screens and embrace stillness and peace.”