Which Activities Make You Lose Track of Time?

Sloth, Screens, and the Silent Soul Killers

We often ask ourselves where the time has gone. Hours pass unnoticed. Days blur into weeks. One moment we’re sipping coffee in the morning, and the next, it’s past midnight and we’re five episodes deep into a Netflix binge, three hours into doom-scrolling Instagram, or absorbed in yet another Twitter/X war with strangers we’ll never meet.

The answer to the question—“Which activities make you lose track of time?”—may seem harmless. But the Christian must look deeper. The real answer, spiritually speaking, is sloth. And sloth has many modern disguises: entertainment, distraction, and a constant diet of self-indulgence.

Sloth Is a Sin, Not a Mood

Sloth isn’t just laziness. It is a deadly sin. Historically, the Church called it acedia—a spiritual apathy, a refusal to do what one ought for their soul or neighbor. It’s not just about being still; it’s about being still when there is good to do.

The Apostle Paul didn’t mince words when he said, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10, ESV). Sloth dulls our sense of purpose, our awareness of God’s presence, and ultimately our desire for holiness.

The writer of Proverbs echoes this danger:

“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” (Prov. 13:4, ESV)

But in modern times, sloth doesn’t always look like laziness. It often looks like passivity in the face of endless, mindless consumption.

When Entertainment Becomes Entrapment

Television and film were once occasional forms of entertainment. Now, they are daily rituals. Streaming platforms deliver dopamine on demand. But the content is no longer just vapid—it is corrosively pornographic. Hollywood has all but discarded storytelling in favor of shock, sex, and sin. Scenes that once would’ve been rated X are now considered “mature content.”

Jesus warned plainly:

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” (Matt. 6:22, ESV)

If our eyes are filled daily with scenes of lust, rage, envy, and perversion, how can we expect our souls to remain clean?

A study from the American Psychological Association found that excessive screen time correlates with higher rates of depression and lower satisfaction with life.¹ Another study from the Journal of Media Psychology concluded that binge-watching TV is linked to higher rates of fatigue, anxiety, and poor sleep.²

In other words: what you’re watching might be stealing more than just your time—it’s quietly starving your soul.

Social Media: The Engine of Envy

While television slowly sedates the soul, social media fuels its darker passions: envy, comparison, outrage, and tribal hatred. We lose time scrolling not because we’re fascinated, but because we’re entranced—hooked by algorithms designed to spark jealousy, trigger comparison, and provoke outrage.

Paul warned against this kind of inner decay:

“Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.” (Gal. 5:26, ESV)

Envy is no small sin. It kills joy and poisons relationships. It leads us to resent what others have instead of being grateful for God’s provision.

Social media exploits that instinct. Platforms profit when we compare our lives to others, when we argue endlessly about politics, when we feed off of rage like wolves tearing flesh.

A 2021 study published in Computers in Human Behavior found that “increased use of social media was associated with higher levels of social comparison and depressive symptoms.”³ In short: scrolling makes us sick, spiritually and psychologically.

What Sloth Steals—and What God Gives

Sloth, whether through television or scrolling, slowly numbs the soul. It may feel passive, but it is an active retreat from God.

We were created to worship, to build, to work, to pray, to commune. The great theologian Thomas Aquinas wrote that sloth is “an oppressive sorrow, which so weighs upon man’s mind, that he wants to do nothing.”⁴ It is not rest. It is rot.

But there is hope. Scripture doesn’t just warn us about wasting time—it gives us the purpose to redeem it.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” (Eph. 5:15–16, ESV)

The time you spend matters. The soul is shaped by what it watches, reads, scrolls, and meditates upon. Don’t give your soul to corporations that despise your values. Don’t give your eyes to images that degrade the body. Don’t give your heart to scrolling envy and endless outrage.

Give your time back to God. And He will give your soul back to you.

A Final Word: Reclaiming the Clock

You don’t need to go off-grid or smash your phone. But you do need to examine what costs you the most time and soul.

Ask yourself:

After watching that show, do I feel edified or empty?
After scrolling social media, do I feel content or comparison?
After wasting hours, do I feel closer to God or further away?

If sloth is the thief, then intentionality is the weapon. Fast from screens. Fill your time with prayer, reading Scripture, helping others, building things that last.

A Prayer to Redeem Time

Heavenly Father, Giver of time and Lord of eternity,
Forgive me for the hours I have wasted, the moments lost in meaningless things.
Open my eyes to the value of each breath, each heartbeat, each day.
Rescue me from sloth, cleanse me from envy, and fill me with purpose.
Let me use every minute for Your glory and my soul’s good.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Footnotes

American Psychological Association. “Screen Time and Mental Health: How Much Is Too Much?” APA Monitor on Psychology, 2020. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2020/04/nurtured-screen-time
Sung, Y., Kang, E., & Lee, W. “Why Do We Binge-Watch? The Role of Coping, Attachment, and Social Connections.” Journal of Media Psychology, vol. 30, no. 2, 2018, pp. 65–72. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000222
Tandoc Jr, E. C., Ferrucci, P., & Duffy, M. “Facebook Use, Envy, and Depression Among College Students: Is Facebook Depressing?” Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 43, 2015, pp. 139–146.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q. 35, Art. 1.