Chained to the Rhythm
The title track for this piece is “Chained to the Rhythm” by Katy Perry. A song my Dad and I loved when I was younger. Catchy, poppy, deceptively fun - much like the topic I’m writing about today. Our phones. Your phone. My phone. That tiny rectangle you’re probably reading this on right now.
The music video for Katy’s song is set in a dystopian theme park called “Oblivia,” where everyone is smiling, dancing, numbing out - all while being completely unaware they’re part of the machine. Sound familiar? That’s because it is.
We are the most connected generation in history, and yet we’re lonelier, angrier, more medicated, more anxious, and less fulfilled than anyone before us.
And if you’re reading this and thinking, not me, I’m sorry, but yes you.
If you have a phone, you most likely have an addiction. If you don’t think you’re addicted, try putting it down for a full day and see what withdrawals come crawling out of your skin.
Your Time is Not Yours Anymore
What if I told you every second you spend on your phone - every scroll, swipe, double-tap, and doom spiral - is making someone else rich? Not you. Not your future self. Not your creativity or your calling. Them. Humbling, isn’t it?
Apps are not tools anymore. They are slot machines programmed to steal your attention, your rest, your real life. You are no longer the customer - you are the product. And every moment you give away is a moment you don’t get back. Think about that.
You could be journaling. You could be learning how to cook. You could be sitting on the front porch in silence, remembering how to hear yourself again. You could read your bible or listen to a podcast. You could be with your people, really with them. But instead, you’re hypnotized by the glow of someone else’s carefully curated chaos.
You’re not just wasting time - you’re being robbed of it. And time is the most precious, non-refundable currency you will ever have.
You’re Feeling Too Much, Too Fast
You open TikTok. In ten minutes, you’ve seen a girl sobbing over her ex, a cooking tutorial, someone’s relative dying, a fashion haul, a thirst trap, a meme, a war, a wedding, a joke that’s a little too real, and a trauma dump in a comment section.
Your brain wasn’t designed to feel that much in that short of a time. It’s no wonder we’re numb. It’s no wonder we can’t feel God’s presence, or peace, or even our own intuition. Studies show emotional processing takes time and presence - both of which your phone steals. When you move from grief to laughter to rage to envy in seconds, it creates emotional whiplash and desensitization.
The cost? You stop knowing what you feel at all.
We think we’re escaping boredom. But we’re actually escaping intimacy - with ourselves and with life.
Your Phone is Stealing Your Future
Let’s go deeper. The average person spends about 3.5 hours a day on their phone. That’s over 1,200 hours a year. Now imagine if you invested just half of that into the thing you claim you “don’t have time for.” Your art. Your dream job. Your healing. That book you said you’d read or hell, write. The business you pretend you’re not good enough to start.
You could be building something. You could be breaking a generational curse. But instead, you’re scrolling past it - again. And more than likely also watching someone else do the very thing you should be doing.
You’re not lazy. You’re not broken. You’re not unmotivated.
You’re distracted. On purpose.
And the longer you stay distracted, the easier you are to control - politically, spiritually, emotionally, economically. Your phone keeps you stuck in a loop of craving and comparison, numbing and needing, so that you never get still enough to remember what you were actually made for.
Love is Dying
We can’t talk about phones without talking about relationships. Hookup culture didn’t just appear out of nowhere. It was engineered. Dating apps gamified people. Algorithms told us we could always upgrade. Constant access to people made commitment feel suffocating. Emotional cheating got easier. Ghosting became normal.
We are terrified of being bored in love - so we date like we scroll. Fast, shallow, and always one notification away from moving on.
We’ve confused attention with affection, intimacy with interaction, lust with love. And don’t worry — I’ll go way deeper into dating apps in a future article, because what I’ve witnessed on Hinge alone could fuel an entire psychological thriller. I mean, purely for research purposes, of course. You’re welcome in advance.
But for now, let me just say this: the death of romance is not because people stopped caring. It’s because people started consuming. And we forgot that real love isn’t content - it’s covenant.
So What Do We Do?
I don’t have all the answers. But I do know this: I switched to a flip phone during the day, I am being so serious. It has changed my life. I journal. I go outside. I sit in silence. I make eye contact. I grieve slowly. I laugh louder. I listen better.
It’s uncomfortable at first. But then it’s like… oh.
This is what life is supposed to feel like.
You don’t have to go full off-the-grid hippie, not that there is anything wrong with that. But you do need to get honest about what you’re losing. Because it’s not just time. It’s not just your attention. It’s YOU. So, consider this your wake-up call. You’ve been chained to the rhythm. You can break the rhythm or let the rhythm break you.
