Session 3 · Psalm 90:10-12
Chapter 2: A brief history of speed
Clocks, screens, and attention-for-sale shaped your pace, and one boundary can give time back.
Book reading: Chapter 2: A brief history of speed (pp. 29-44)
This psalm is blunt about how short life is. "The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty," and then "they are soon gone, and we fly away." The writer does not stop at the sadness. He prays, "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." Wisdom starts with counting. Time is limited, and a wise person treats it that way.
Comer's second chapter asks how we ended up so rushed, and it takes a long view. The book traces how artificial clock time, the printing press, electricity, and the smartphone of 2007 each sped life up. It also points out that busyness has replaced leisure as a sign of status. Being busy now says you matter. The chapter passes along an ancient playwright's complaint about the sundial, which suggests people have grumbled about time-keeping for a very long time. It also passes along the claim that people once slept far longer each night than we do now. The point is not to blame every invention. Comer argues for a healthy suspicion of technology, a habit of asking what a tool is doing to us.
One observation sticks. The phone in your pocket works for a corporation that sells attention, not for you. That does not make it evil. It does mean someone is paid to keep you scrolling, and your minutes are the product.
Now put that next to Psalm 90. If we are asked to "number our days," we should do some honest math. Say your phone takes 90 minutes a day. That is about 548 hours a year, which is about a month of waking time, counting 16 waking hours a day. A whole month, every year, handed to a screen. You may decide those hours are worth it. But the psalm asks you to decide, not drift.
Notice, too, that the psalm links number-counting to a heart. The goal is not a more efficient schedule. The goal is a wiser person. A small boundary with your phone is a way of practicing that wisdom. It says, "My days are a gift with an end, and I want to choose where they go."
You do not need to throw your phone in a lake. One clear line is enough: no phone in the bedroom, no screens during meals, or one app moved off your home screen. Pick the line that would hand you the most time back, and hold it for a week.
Key idea
Clocks, screens, and attention-for-sale shaped the pace you live at, and one clear boundary with your phone is a small way to number your days with wisdom.
Questions to consider
- Comer says busyness has become a status symbol. Where do you feel pressure to look busy, and who are you trying to impress?
- If a company profits from your attention, which of your habits with your phone do you most want to question?
Journal prompt
Estimate how many minutes a day you spend on screens. What would you do with a month of waking hours each year if you got even part of it back?
Practice
1. Check your phone's screen-time report today and write down the daily average. 2. Choose one boundary, such as charging the phone outside the bedroom or no phone at meals. 3. Keep it for seven days. 4. Spend the time you gain on one thing you value, and note how it felt.