--- title: This 1 Question Will Change How You Use Your Phone description: "Curate your digital space like a sacred space," writes Michael Becka, an author and former Zen monk. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/06/04/michael-becka-essay/ author: Michael Becka article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-06-04T12:00:03.642Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-04T12:00:04.294Z article:section: Health og:title: This 1 Question Will Change How You Use Your Phone og:description: "Curate your digital space like a sacred space," writes Michael Becka, an author and former Zen monk. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/06/04/michael-becka-essay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab30abb7b3e37f71/6a1ddde870c5a924f327b7dd/GettyImages-1488125525.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GettyImages-1488125525.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This 1 Question Will Change How You Use Your Phone twitter:description: "Curate your digital space like a sacred space," writes Michael Becka, an author and former Zen monk. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltab30abb7b3e37f71/6a1ddde870c5a924f327b7dd/GettyImages-1488125525.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  IDEASTime ideas # This 1 Question Will Change How You Use Your Phone by [Michael Becka](https://time.com/author/michael-becka/) ## Michael Becka Michael Becka is a former Buddhist monk, mindfulness teacher, and neuroscience coach based in Mainz, Germany Jun 4, 2026 12:00 PM UTC  Oleg Breslavtsev—Getty Images by [Michael Becka](https://time.com/author/michael-becka/) ## Michael Becka Michael Becka is a former Buddhist monk, mindfulness teacher, and neuroscience coach based in Mainz, Germany Jun 4, 2026 12:00 PM UTC Every morning, before your feet touch the floor, before [coffee](https://time.com/7290877/coffee-health-women-aging-benefits/), before a single word to the person beside you, you probably have already [checked your phone](https://time.com/7023739/how-to-stop-checking-your-phone/). One scroll. Then another. A headline about a crisis. Someone's highlight reel. An outrage you didn't ask for but now can't put down. By the time breakfast is over, you have already paid attention to dozens of things that have nothing to do with your actual life. We talk endlessly about [what we eat](https://time.com/7309345/what-food-to-eat-energy/). We read labels, track macros, and [debate seed oils](https://time.com/7269715/are-seed-oils-unhealthy/). But we rarely apply the same scrutiny to what we feed our minds every single day—and that diet, it turns out, may matter just as much. Here is a reframe that changed how I relate to my phone: _Every scroll is a prayer_. Not in a religious sense, but in the most literal one. A prayer is an act of directed attention; you turn toward something and say, _this matters_. Every time you open an app, swipe down a feed, or tap a notification, you perform that action. You are saying to the universe, _show me what is real. Show me what I should care about_. The algorithm answers. And it doesn't have your well-being in mind. I spent 14 years as a Zen monk, first in France and later as abbot of Deer Park Monastery in California, in the tradition of [Thich Nhat Hanh](https://time.com/5511729/monk-mindfulness-art-of-dying/). One of the central practices we returned to, again and again, was this: _What are you feeding your consciousness?_ The mind, like the body, becomes what it regularly takes in. Feed it fear, and it learns to expect danger. Feed it [comparison](https://time.com/article/2026/05/29/jealousy-is-not-a-moral-failure/), and it forgets what it already has. Feed it outrage, and it loses the ability to sit quietly with what is. This isn't a call to delete your apps or move to a monastery. It's something simpler and more radical: curate your digital space like a sacred space. **Read More**: [_Is AI Making Our Brains Weaker?_](https://time.com/article/2026/05/19/is-ai-making-our-brains-weaker/) Think about how you arrange a room you love. You choose what goes on the walls. You remove what drains the energy. You keep what reminds you of who you want to be. Your phone's home screen, your followed accounts, your notification settings—these are the walls of a room you live in for several hours every day. Most people have never once deliberately designed that room. They've just let it fill up. The neuroscience here is not subtle. Research consistently shows that heavy social media use is correlated with [increased anxiety](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12459768/), [disrupted sleep](https://www.jmir.org/2024/1/e48356/), and a [reduced ability to sustain focused](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11272698/) [attention](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11272698/)—the very capacity you need to do meaningful work, [have real conversations](https://time.com/tag/time-to-talk/), and feel present in your own life. [Attention is not infinite](https://time.com/6302294/why-you-cant-focus-anymore-and-what-to-do-about-it/). It is a resource. And, like any resource, how you spend it determines what you have left for everything else. The good news is that this is entirely reversible, and it doesn't require a digital detox retreat: Just 10 minutes and a little honesty. **Read More**: [_The 1 Small Change That Can Reset Your Sleep_](https://time.com/7382327/sleep-consistency-wake-up-time/) Open your most-used social-media app. Ask yourself one question about six of the accounts you follow: _Does this expand me or shrink me?_ Not: _Is it entertaining?_ Not: _Do I agree with it?_ But: _After I engage with this, do I feel more curious, more grounded, more kind—or do I feel smaller, more anxious, more numb_? Unfollow the ones that shrink you. Bookmark the ones that genuinely expand your clarity, kindness, or courage. Then, go one step further: [make space for silence](https://time.com/7202488/how-to-embrace-silence-essay/). Not empty time you immediately fill with a podcast or another scroll—actual silence. Five minutes in the morning before you reach for the phone. A walk without earbuds. A meal eaten without a screen. These are acts of reclamation. You are taking back the most valuable thing you have: your undivided attention. These changes might sound almost too small. But over weeks and months, the cumulative effect on your mental atmosphere will be profound. You wouldn't invite someone into your home who made you feel terrible every single day. You would, at some point, stop opening the door. Your feed is your home. You get to decide who walks in. The altar has always been there. The question is what you've been placing on it—and whether it's time to choose differently. [TIME Ideas](https://www.time.com/ideas) hosts the world's leading voices, providing commentary on events in news, society, and culture. We welcome outside contributions. 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