The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has issued guidance for Catholics to go beyond fasting from food this Lent by committing to a fast from social media.
“In our present time, fasting must also address the new realities shaping human life. One of the greatest influences today is digital media,” said the Feb. 13 pastoral message from Archbishop Gilbert A. Garcera of Lipa, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. “Thus, we invite the faithful to undertake a digital media fasting as a contemporary expression of conversion and renewal.”
The pastoral message delivered on behalf of the conference came before Ash Wednesday on Feb. 18, which will mark the start of Lent.
The message noted fasting has historically meant abstinence from food, “an act of repentance and spiritual focus.” However, the bishops pointed out that engagement with social media, and other forms of online entertainment, serves as a significant source of distraction in today’s context that “weakens our interior life.”
“True fasting, as Jesus teaches, is not an external performance but an interior conversion,” the bishops said. “Digital media fasting, therefore, invites a rediscovery of silence, prayer, contemplation, and authentic relationships. It is not meant to punish the body but to free the heart.”
The bishops offered practical ways to carry out a social media fast this Lent, such as avoiding phone use before waking up and going to sleep, limiting screen time, observing 24-hour and weekend fasts, and replacing screen time with prayer, service, reading, or conversation.
“Digital media fasting is not anti-technology,” the letter said. “Rather, it asks: How can Christ guide our use of media?”
The bishops stressed the need to approach Lent joyfully, and “not with gloomy faces,” noting the fruit of fasting from screen time is a closer relationship with God, greater mental clarity and focus, and renewed appreciation for creation at large.
“In stepping back from digital excess, we reclaim interior silence, deepen relationships, and rediscover God’s presence in daily life,” the letter concluded. “Entrusting this pastoral invitation to the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, we encourage all dioceses, parishes, families, and communities to promote media fasting during Lent and beyond.”
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