Our Attention Span Is Hurting Our Homes & Church. Distracted in the Pew, Distant at Home

The average attention span of the typical American is 8.25 seconds. That statistic honestly blows my mind. And if I’m being transparent, I’m not standing outside that number looking in. I’m guilty too.

A few weeks ago, a member of our church came to me and said, “Pastor, something really bothered me during the worship service today.” My heart sank. I immediately thought, Man, I hope I didn’t offend them.Thankfully, they reassured me that I hadn’t. But then they said something that troubled me even more.

They told me they looked around during the sermon and were deeply discouraged by how many people were on their phones, clearly disengaged from the preaching of God’s Word. I tried to give the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they were using Bible apps. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. They said they saw people scrolling social media instead of listening, instead of engaging, instead of worshiping.

And this isn’t an isolated incident. It’s happening in churches everywhere.

When smartphones first appeared in the early 2000s, they were sold as a gift to humanity. We were told they would connect us, empower us, and make life better. And while I’m thankful for some of the conveniences, we need to be honest. The greatest impact the smartphone has had on us has largely been negative.

If you doubt that, take a child’s phone away for a day. What follows looks a lot like withdrawal. Ask people to surrender their phones before a meeting and watch grown adults panic. I once suggested on social media that people leave their phones in the car when they go to church. The backlash was so intense that I had to turn the comments off.

That should tell us something.

Our phones are not strengthening our communities of faith. They are fracturing them. We have built a culture that thinks it is connecting, while in reality we are more isolated, distracted, and disengaged than ever. And make no mistake, this is exactly what the enemy wants. If he can keep us distracted, he can keep us dull. If he can keep our eyes down, he can keep us from seeing Christ clearly.

And this does not stop at the church doors.

The same phones that distract us from worship are quietly eroding our marriages.

Husbands and wives sit on the same couch, in the same bed, at the same table, physically close but relationally distant. Screens steal our attention, distort our priorities, and slowly replace real intimacy with digital noise. What we allow to interrupt our worship will eventually interrupt our marriages. What pulls our eyes away from God will eventually pull our eyes away from one another.

Scripture calls husbands and wives to oneness. That kind of unity requires presence, attentiveness, and intentional focus. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth.” Phones constantly pull our minds downward, away from God, away from our spouse, and away from what actually matters.

I’ve been carrying this burden for weeks now because many in the church do not realize we are in the middle of a war. We are sitting in foxholes, scrolling, while the enemy advances. We are mesmerized by shiny distractions while our eyes should be fixed on the horizon.

Leonard Ravenhill said it best in Why Revival Tarries:

“Oh that believers would become eternity-conscious! If we could live every moment of every day under the eye of God… then we would have a Holy Ghost revival that would shake this earth and liberate millions of precious souls.”

As a follower of Christ, I am burdened for the lost. As a pastor, I am burdened for the saved. I long for believers to know Jesus more deeply and to grow in their love for God and for one another. That means we must guard sacred spaces, our worship services and our marriages, against distraction.

The enemy wants us unfocused. He wants us numb. He wants us half-present. While he cannot steal our salvation, he would love to rob us of joy, intimacy, fruitfulness, and power.

So here is my challenge.

When you come to worship, go all in.Pray on the way to church. Pray for your pastor, your teachers, your musicians, and your fellow believers. Leave your phone in the car. Bring a real Bible. Bring a notebook. When Scripture is opened, expect God to speak. Engage. Sing, even if you cannot sing. Pray like it matters, because it does.

And take that same intentionality home.

Put the phone down. Look your spouse in the eyes. Listen. Talk. Pray together. Choose presence over pixels. Choose devotion over distraction. Choose God and one another again and again.

If we will do that, if we will refuse to let distractions rule us, we just might experience what Ravenhill dreamed of. A revival that shakes the earth and liberates souls.

And maybe it starts with turning the phone off.