Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast
Join us for an exciting Season 2 of our podcast, which garnered over 7000 downloads last year! Your hosts, Rachel and Israel Campbell, are back to take you on an incredible journey. In this podcast, we invite you into the ongoing dialogues about life, love, parenting, relationships, spirituality, and whatever else sparks our interest!
Our motivation for creating this podcast remains unchanged: we believe that discipleship should encompass more than just a classroom experience; it should be a way of life. Drawing inspiration from Jesus' interactions with his disciples, we see that it was far from a traditional classroom setup. Instead, it was a continuous exchange of teachings and discussions encompassing all facets of life.
Imagine savoring a delicious bowl of soup – that's what our podcast is like. We're here to engage in honest and unfiltered conversations, covering a wide spectrum of topics. And now, we invite you to share this podcast with your friends, family members, or coworkers, just as you'd share a great meal. Just like Jesus and his disciples, we're here to explore the richness of life together!
So, come join us for another season of candid conversations as we dive into a little bit of everything – from the profound to the lighthearted!
Israel & Rachel Campbell "SOUP" Podcast
"Exploring Digital Hygiene: Managing Screen Time and Fostering Real-World Connections" Israel & Rachel Campbell SOUP | Season 2 Episode 10
Digital screens may be an essential part of our lives, but have you ever stopped to ponder the toll they're taking? We're here to open your eyes to the concept of digital hygiene. Join us on this journey as we share our personal battles with digital dependency, and how it can shatter relationships, amplify anxiety, and steal away precious life moments. Together, we'll explore the value of setting guidelines and rules to foster healthier digital habits for ourselves and for the younger generations who look to us for guidance.
Brace yourselves as we dive into the refreshing idea of digital detox and its powerful impact on our interpersonal communications. We share practical strategies for disconnecting from the digital world to foster real-world connections with loved ones. Furthermore, we delve into the importance of setting boundaries in our digital lives, a crucial step to investing in our future selves. We'll provide you an array of tips to help you go 'old school,' such as using traditional alarm clocks, deleting apps post-use, and setting clear digital boundaries. We encourage you to join in the conversation, sharing your own experiences and ideas on practicing good digital hygiene. We're excited to embark on this journey with you toward a healthier digital lifestyle.
Welcome back to the Campbell soup podcast. We have an awesome episode for you guys today. I say awesome because this is even good for me to talk through every once in a while. Today, we are going to be talking about digital hygiene. What a good title. I'm excited to dig into it.
Speaker 2:Well, let's get into it. I love what you said is we are not experts at this, but I think everywhere you go and when you read, I think people are starting to talk about little things like digital detox or getting the addiction of their phones. Amazon sells a block of plastic that is the same size as an iPhone, weighs the same as an iPhone, that you can carry around to help break the habit of you.
Speaker 2:That's how horrible we are as humans, that's where we are is we're so used to holding that phone that we can do it. I love that, rachel, because I think there are different ways people can do it. They can just go on a show and talk about how bad it is, and social media and all these different things Then really kind of not be real. Because it's not realistic, because my driver's license now is actually on my phone. Mark of the Beast Opening my car, I can do it on my phone. Checking the house to make sure it's safe is on my phone.
Speaker 2:Just getting rid of digital is probably not going to work in your world. In fact, we go and preach in Pennsylvania, in an Amish land, and when you go there they have completely are Amish. They don't do all this stuff, except for when it comes to credit cards. They do take the credit card machine, which is digital. Come on, you can't get away from it is what I'm trying to say Exactly. You can become very addicted to it and it can ruin marriages, it can increase anxiety and depression, it can cause you to be stressed out and it can cause you to miss out on moments.
Speaker 1:Our heart is to maybe open up the conversation for your family, for you personally, on how to have good hygiene with your phone and with your computers and all of those things. Just because our armpits smell bad when we work out doesn't mean that we get rid of them. It means okay. How do we deal with this? How do we keep clean? How do we do things before we begin to sweat with the odorant? How do we prepare for it? How do we acknowledge that it's a bit of a problem? Then how do we deal with it in a healthy way, where we kill disease, we kill the bacteria, but we still utilize it. I think that that's the season that we're coming into. You told me a statistic today about our computers and stuff where. How many years has it been that we've just had a free-for-all? Since phones became our computers and our cameras and then social media was birthed, how many years has that been of just no rules, no guidelines, just this free-for-all on the internet?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think Brady Shear brought up the difference between when automobiles first came out, it was crazy because there was no rules. In fact, there were only two cars in the state of in Philadelphia. There were only two cars at the time and they both hit each other. So it's like there's only two and they hit each other. Since then, we've come up with traffic laws, we've come up with stop signs, we've come up with all these things to make these vehicles safe. The same thing needs to happen when it comes to our social media, our digital life. What are the roadblocks, what are the stop signs? What are the pathways in and out that you and I are creating to do it? I felt like it was an oxymoronic for us to be on a digital podcast talking about digital hygiene and here we are digitally coming to you.
Speaker 2:Here we are digitally telling you that in your car, on your treadmill, wherever you are. But I think it's good to just talk about some of these things. That might be really good things. And so obviously we've had to teach our kids hygiene, especially our youngest, our son. He's right at the age 14. His socks sometimes stink and because you'll wear the same socks and deodorant, all these different things. But we're just teaching digital hygiene because he couldn't go a week without a shower, because he likes his showers, but he could go a week without brushing his teeth. He could go a week without putting on deodorant.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. He could go a week. He would just put on the same underwear, and so we're trying to teach hygiene now, all of us whether it's my mom who could be listening she may even need to start practicing some digital hygiene. So it's not at just only youngsters, it's kind of all of us, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and my prayer is that I can help regulate it better in my life. So I can, because you know they all say and I don't know who that they is, but they say this they say that our kids don't learn from what we say. They learn from what we're doing, and so you know I'm saying to Silas that I want him to have digital hygiene and I'm not exercising it in my own life. Then it's just a good option but it's not actually a practice. And so we want Silas to go through, go back up and brush your teeth and rebrush your hair and next time you shower, use this shampoo to wash your hair, not just your hands and water. You know those kind of things. But then all of a sudden in their teens it clicks and they start actually craving hygiene and they want to have clean clothes on and they want to have their hair nice and they want to have good breath and all of those things, because it's become that pattern and it's a model and it's something that their parents do. Hopefully, hopefully.
Speaker 2:Uh-oh, I hope I'm not the bad example of that.
Speaker 1:But you're not. You're squeaky clean.
Speaker 2:But there was a time I wasn't, so I can relate, you know. So let's just jump into that. Some of the digital hygiene, maybe some hacks, maybe some just new points of view that could help us. And again, I really like, Rachel, your transparency. My transparency on this Isn't that is that a weird thing to say. I like my transparency, but we have not mastered this. There are some times where man, it is dead scroll, we are zoned out. You have asked me to help with dinner or do something, and I am zoning and it's like Israel or Israel. There's something going on with the family and I'm missing it because I'm looking at my phone, and so there are both of those times that have happened and the same thing I could. I'm not going to go tell your faults.
Speaker 1:But you can tell on me, I don't care. I can't spare it for these people.
Speaker 2:No, there are some times, too, that you could like just find yourself zoning, zoning out, or one of the things that we'll maybe we'll bring up first, is you getting irritated because you're an emotional feeler. You feel things, and so if somebody posts something that is inaccurate or naughty, you, you take it personal sometimes and you are like I can't believe it. And I've actually point number one I've actually told you would you please just stop following them. They are ticking you off, they are frustrating you. Your, your, your neck is getting tense. Just stop following them. So you want to talk about that?
Speaker 1:Mike drop, drop the drop the podcast, mike. Um, you know, usually it's not non-Christians, usually it's a Christian. That is making me angry and that's not God's plan. I'm supposed to have unity in the kingdom of God and I'm supposed to love other Christians, and if what they're saying on social media is putting my heart in a wrong place toward them or towards anything, I have to see that as poison and go. I can love this person better if I don't hear this nonsense and maybe somebody says that about me and it's okay.
Speaker 1:I think that we go through different seasons where we're sensitive to certain things and it doesn't make that person bad.
Speaker 1:It just might not be what you need in your diet right now while you're walking through what you're walking through, and I think you know the church has never been more divided and the world has never been more divided, and so we need to do everything in our power to be unified, and if that means we're just not hearing certain things so that we can keep our hearts pure before them and God, then let's do it, let's pay that price, and so Israel has really held me accountable to um, just yeah, not you don't have to follow everyone and you don't also have to agree with everyone.
Speaker 1:And then there's also times when there's things on the news that I am. I guess they would call me an empath. I carry the weight of the world literally on my shoulders. I, when somebody's hurting, I'm hurting, and so I'm even having to learn how to have emotional boundaries online, where just because it's really hard season for someone doesn't mean God wants me to take on the hard season, because then I'm no good to being a help either, and so we're just learning that that's bigger than social media. But for me that would be the biggest thing is that I emotionally connect in an unhealthy way, and so I have to guard my heart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that that was such a good way of saying it is we want to keep loving people and people are in different stages, so people are sometimes at different stages in life. Sometimes people are doing certain things. Sometimes people are extreme because they're battling something, and so you could be maybe. I know old school. These people are so mad at prosperity preachers prosperity preachers but sometimes you don't know what they were battling. They were battling a poverty spirit at one point, and so it was such an extreme just to try to move it to like you don't have to be this, you don't have to be broke to be holy, and so why I'm saying that is there could be somebody that is actually saying something very extreme, and it's not to try to hurt you, but it's trying to move something. But if it's too extreme for you, there's nothing wrong with just going. Yeah, that's not my battle right now.
Speaker 2:The Bible says that King Josiah died early. He was a great king. He was a king that, in an early age, heard the voice of God and ruled and did better than the kings before him. He served God like David did. So the Bible says he was a great king, but he died early on because and Jeremiah limits some of the prophets limit because he got in a battle he wasn't supposed to fight in.
Speaker 2:And I think digital hygiene, sometimes we can do that, and then we can do like my thing is then I'm just there for the comments. I just want to go through the comments and go like, oh, can you believe they said this? Oh, my gosh, and that's not good for my spirit, that's not good for it, and so I really like what you said is it's OK to put somebody. You know, and I know that it's weird, I've had a family member before get mad at another family because they deleted them from a friend, but it was like they were just going off all the time and so be wise in it, maybe hide it. You know you could do some things Snooze, is it snooze on a person or something like that, so that you don't see them as often, you know. So there's something that's some good digital hygiene.
Speaker 1:Any other digital hygiene things.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, I just want to say that thought of being drawn into a battle that we weren't called the fight.
Speaker 1:That's what social media does every day, and it's unfiltered, and it's unfiltered for our kids too, and so there's things even if I can be honest like there's things we'd have We've had to walk through with our kids because of social media that were battles they weren't called to fight in, especially in the age, like you know, their innocence can be robbed from them just through having their phones on them, and we need to be aware that, as much as phones are a gift like I can get ahold of my kids any time I want to they're also a massive way for the enemy to get to their heart and steal their purity, and so we have to be careful with all of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so another thing for me with digital hygiene is boundaries having boundaries. So in our household, this is just ours, and it would be great for you to hear it, and then maybe even just go on that journey of what's our family's convictions. You don't have to have the Campbell family's convictions, but I'm sure, thankful for ours. So we have dinner together almost every night at 5 pm, really super early, because Israel wakes up really super early.
Speaker 2:So five o'clock is a good time You're trying to say, because Israel really goes to bed early or just to sleep early.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you go to you, just your schedules a little different. It's not bad, it's actually probably healthier.
Speaker 2:That's old school, was like five o'clock I think so.
Speaker 1:It's like you have farmers hours. Yes, yes, you're just telling spiritual grounded.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:So anyway. So because of that it actually works out good, because it's when the girls are getting home before they go out again and all that stuff. Five is great, we do five o'clock, but the one thing is there are no phones, ever, even in proximity to the kid, to the kitchen table, and so we look each other in the eyes and we have conversations, and it's really good for our kids to be able to look people you know, even if it's their family members. Usually we're talking about hot topics that are going on and sharing each other's heart and listening and laughing and all of those things. And so dinner time we don't. And then the other thing that we're still trying to aren't we really still trying to to implement is just digital detoxes. And so we have talked about and we haven't started it, and I really do want to do this Israel.
Speaker 1:We already talked about Fasting one day a week from phones. So when we have Sabbath where we're resting and it's our day off, it's also our day off away from the phone. And that's almost impossible in today's world. Like there's too much happening, you're gonna miss a lot in 24 hours, and maybe that's a good thing. And so digital detox is we put our phones to bed and our kids with they. They put their phones to bed before they go to bed. Now our daughters are adults and they really don't do that and I hope someday they do, but we don't control that in their life. But you know, for our family, putting our phones away, looking each other in the eyes, making sure we're good and connected to this world, even going and doing outdoor things like Going on a hike without your phone and, yep, you're not gonna get a picture of the pretty sunrise, but you're gonna connect to nature and I think that we're missing that.
Speaker 2:So so much well, we Me, you and Phoebe, I think it was last year went to a Christmas comedy concert, whatever it was, and they would not allow Phones into the plate and you had to check in your phone and they gave it to you, but they gave it to you in a locked bag and so you could not access your phone. And we were there 45 minutes beforehand and it was weird because we weren't taking pictures of the event. We weren't taking selfies there, we weren't. We weren't on our phone, me looking up a sports center game or whatever. You know what. I mean, you weren't scrolling through Instagram and it was like, but it was so at the end we were like that was really cool, like that three hour block of not having it, and so that's when we started talking a little bit about, you know that, digital detox and doing some things, and so I think most people would say that. But like, like I have and I can do it. Like you said, rachel, getting better at it is.
Speaker 2:I went and bought the family some alarms, like old-school alarm clocks, so that your phone Doesn't have to be your alarm. You can put your phone to bed. Downstairs we have a little charging station, we can do that and of course you get into habit again If sneaking it back and all those things. But it's so good to just put away your phone and it's not available in the middle of the night or it's Not available. The first thing that you, when you wake up, it's the alarm clock that you're turning off Anymore. I've got a couple more. Do you have any more rage?
Speaker 1:Well, I think about when Jesus says lift up your eyes, behold the fields they're white for harvest. Somebody was asking me like how do you reach the lost? And honestly, the first thing I said was Putting down your phone. There have been times when my phone is broken or I lost it or I forgot it at home, and every single time I have God moments because I finally look up and we live in a world of people that aren't looking up and because of it they're depressed, they're suicidal, they're comparing their lives to everybody else. They're, you know, going through this thing.
Speaker 1:Life is slower when you're not looking at it online. It goes slower in real life and so sometimes that can get boring. But when we look up and see the lost and the hurting and we see what's going on around our world without being distracted by the phone, it actually helps us be witnesses and Be the answer and being available, just being available for God to even use. Like can God even use us when we're so distracted? I don't know. And one thing I think is, like you know, we're not saying throw away the phones, in that the phones are evil, but I think that it's really important to have some hygiene moments. Where you go. I'm going out today and I'm just gonna be natural. I'm gonna go out, I'm gonna be natural, I'm not gonna have anything technical attached to me and my hands are gonna be free, my eyes are gonna be free, my heart's gonna be open and I'm gonna experience the world. And we don't do that and I think we're being ripped off.
Speaker 2:Oh man, that was brilliant right there. We could end the podcast there, but we still have a couple more. So practical things. I really love that.
Speaker 2:You know, for me I have done this before and I read this or listened to this somewhere is I will delete an app. So there are some times where I go and I would say like for Instagram, so I want to be on Instagram, I'm posting for the church, I'm posting for whatever, and so I see it, and then immediately when I'm done, I delete the app for the day and just go. Okay, I did it, I did Instagram, and then I deleted the app. Then the next day I just reinstall. It only takes a few seconds to reinstall. It's not that big of a deal. Already has my account, but, man, is it so much easier to not go to? I'm digitally hygiene because I'm deleting those apps that sometimes take my time, sometimes take my attention.
Speaker 2:And you know, I heard another person say Sports Center, facebook, instagram have never watched make somebody successful, make their goals come to accomplishment. They've never made somebody's marriage better, it's like, and all of those things suck our time, suck our attention and things like that. And so one of the things that you can do is just a practical use. The have a schedule of when you use the app and then delete it whenever you're done and then reinstall it the next day. Some of the big tech guys that are in tech I'm selling tech do that. You know, some of the people that work in the tech industry actually for their own brand have a moment where they go into it, delete it and then reinstall it the next day. So I like yours, rachel, you were telling me about the sandwich method Talk about that.
Speaker 1:So something that I do because I really do like my Instagram. I have a lot of family that lives out of town and you know we're connected to so many different people from back when we were in North Carolina and people across the world in Australia, new Zealand, all those things and Singapore and Jakarta, indonesia and all of you don't want to forget any, but, but I just find that if I wake up and I first do God, so I'll read.
Speaker 1:I have a really great devotional that I'm reading right now. That's really great every every day. It's just beautiful and I'm enjoying it. So I'll have my coffee, I'll do that, and then I'll look on social media, maybe update the news a little bit, and then I end with the word, because the Bible says that the word washes us and it renews our mind. And so for me there's it's not practical to say don't do social media, or it's not practical to say don't ever watch the news or don't ever know what's going on in our world, because we do.
Speaker 1:We have to know what's going on, what to pray, what the heart of God is, all of those things. But for me, what really does help me stay confident and sane and not bitter and not feeling like I'm comparing my life to somebody else and all those things that come with and fear that come with digital media, but Just washing myself with the word Okay, god, this is where we're at, this is where you know, this is where we stand, this is what's going on. But, god, I want to read your word and just remind myself of who you are, that you're on the throne, you're in control, that my race is run toward you and nothing else. You know all those things and just kind of resetting my life. I think sandwiching is a huge part of having hygiene with digital things. It's just making sure to do it, but also do the word, spend time and prayer, be around uplifting people, all of those things more than I'm doing that.
Speaker 2:I love that and I mine would kind of go along with that I got. One of mine would be you know, the time limit deal just got really kind of Forehand pray about it, ask the Holy Spirit what's a good amount of time, and then really be hard on those time limits, like, okay, you know 10 minute, you know if it's throughout the day because you're doing it, but I'm I'm only gonna do it in these increments because if you don't put a time limit on, it's scary to then go look at your on your phone how much time you spent on something. You're like, oh my goodness, this. I spent last year days on my phone. You know what I mean when it you add up the hours.
Speaker 2:And I had a friend who worked at Facebook and he said they, as a company, loved it, especially when the Christians would get mad and say I'm gonna be off Facebook for the next 30 days. They they didn't like get worried with their shares. They didn't get worried about anything that anybody that came across and was like I'm gonna quit cold turkey and never came back. They always came back and it says that his stats said they came back and spent more time on Facebook. So they actually liked it when people were so like whatever.
Speaker 2:But people that just say, no, I'm gonna be on it, but I'm gonna put some time limits Then can decrease that amount of screen time and really digital hygiene is just kind of like, yeah, I'm gonna still do it, but maybe I'm only gonna do a little bit in the morning, a little bit at night and just have some time limits, or you can just end up I don't know about you, rachel, just scrolling through and I can me. My weakness is I can be a. I will be sending Rachel, phoebe and Chloe inside. Less I am so ridiculous.
Speaker 2:I am a real Sender is real, is real. Real cuz I like to send the real parenting.
Speaker 1:I think that Parents, we need to be more courageous on how we are leading this with our kids. We cannot Just because Jimmy's allowed to bring his phone to school every day doesn't mean that my kids do, and that is the bottom line. And there are Silas is not bring his phone to school every single day and we're still figuring out boundaries on all of that. But he told me a couple months ago but he was really upset because we started taking his phone, like you're not gonna be on your phone in class, like you're not getting your homework done and you're coming home with stuff to do and you shouldn't be. You have free time and you know All that stuff. So we just would talk through it. And he told me he's like I really like not having my phone, and they are. They cannot regulate themselves at this age.
Speaker 1:And so you know, there's conversations that we have with our kids, and this goes further than just the hygiene of media, but it really does go with. That too is like we help them regulate, because they're learning boundaries and they have to feel the safety and the good parts of what boundaries do for us In order to set their own boundaries later. And so a conversation that we have and maybe you could adopt this if this works for you. But we've always said to our kids hey, I know this isn't fun right now what we're asking of you, but we're loving your future, you, I. We're loving the future Silas, because we're teaching you how to not just have no boundaries with this, and so this is for your future, this is for you to be a great man of God.
Speaker 1:Or to the girls like hey, I don't really really want you to have that much time with this girl anymore and I'm gonna put some boundaries up where you're not gonna go over to their house every day after school, because I love the future you and Right now it's okay, but it's not a good investment into what, who you're called to become, and I think that that's a really good conversation to have and I think it helps Our kids understand why we put boundaries up isn't just for today, it's also for future and it's it goes for us.
Speaker 1:I, when I put boundaries up on social media and digital things, it, I'm loving the future Rachel Enough to not let her become a spaghetti brain that, just you know, begins to compare her life to everyone else and gets mad at everybody and Becomes like a fighter on Instagram all these crazy things that can happen. We need to invest in our future more than that, and sometimes we think, oh, this isn't gonna affect my right, this isn't gonna affect me that much. But if we really think about the seeds we're sowing towards the future, what plant is going to grow out of this?
Speaker 2:I love that Again because I'm the practical. Rachel is the such a well, that was practical, but it was also just so inspiring.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you're also the one that goes okay, here's some steps we can take towards that.
Speaker 2:One of my last ones that I wrote is that I said just old school, and so there are some times it's just like everything vintage is really cool, like it's. You know, we've got a vintage record player, get a vintage fax machine just for fun, or don't, or don't. But I think vintage, like I do all of my devotions. Rachel's trying to grab it.
Speaker 1:Look how vintage it is. Right here on his he has a vintage cool Spanish style desk. And then this is his journal.
Speaker 2:Look at it so cool.
Speaker 1:That looks like a Raven fluid over.
Speaker 2:So old school paper and pen, is that weird. And you know, digitally it might be easier to be easier to save on Evernote and then I could look up my. Does that make you just cringe, rachel? And I'm like I have a program that it could go under. But you could put it in a program and then I could do. You know, whenever I wanted to search a word that I had wrote before, any how, it's just old school, it's paper. And then old school Bibles. Man, come on, bring back the dates. Old school concordance I can't. I bought a dates and I have to say I actually can't read it because it's such my eyesight is kidding so that I can't see that small.
Speaker 1:I have granny glasses and it's so fun. I have my coffee and I put my glasses on and read my real Bible. It's the best.
Speaker 2:And she is sexy and silence is like I hate it.
Speaker 1:You look like an old lady. And I'm like, oh, I like big Bibles and I cannot lie, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:So digital hygiene, anything else, rachel, we should close with that. We're all on the journey of this. I don't think any of us have it done well. I do believe that when we get to heaven, we'll never go gosh. I sure wished I would have spent more time on my phone. I mean, if I have any regrets, I just wish, I think, something to in ending this.
Speaker 1:Something that we could do to help each other is to not be mad when somebody doesn't text you back right away, because maybe they're detoxing and maybe we should give them some space to be healthier people.
Speaker 1:And I've had actual people mad at me because I didn't respond in a text right away. And it's like my personality style does not do well with that, because I hate feeling owned by something Like if people demand me to hug them, I don't want to hug them, but I'm a hugger. If I can give you my hugs, I'm so happy, but when you're taking my hugs, it doesn't work. And same with social media and everything is like my response is really genuine, but it can become disingenuous If I, if you're like, why don't you text me back? I texted you half an hour ago. I'm like because I have a life and it's bigger than my phone. That is why. So I think, just having grace and not putting the demands of this society on each other and just like let's free each other up not to have to be on their phone all the time as well.
Speaker 2:I love that. Why didn't you comment on my Instagram Like oh my gosh? Because I don't have time for that sometimes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And a comment on Instagram doesn't mean or a non comment doesn't mean that I don't love you. It just means there's a lot of stuff happening.
Speaker 2:So good. Maybe this would be a good time to let us know in the comments section.
Speaker 1:We want to hear your ideas.
Speaker 2:Maybe you've got some great ideas and we would love to hear them Because, like we said, we have not arrived or we can share them with the other listeners Until next week. Love you guys, love you.
