We don't have to be victims of the spiritual fall-out of the digital age. It does take some serious intentionality to combat the cultural compulsion for connection that surrounds us, but it's worth it.

Most people find it extremely difficult - if not impossible - to focus in prayer.

Most people would say they live with an internal angst that they can't always put their finger on. This is because the Internet has changed our very way of being in this world, compelling us to be perpetually "on" - from our cars to our computers, our tablets to our smartphones, our desks to our living rooms or dining tables, our churches to our libraries to our schools.

Neural science, which is the study of the brain, tells us that we have up to one billion brain cells with thousands of branches that communicate with each other much like a complex highway system. The more we attend to something, or the more we engage in certain behaviors, the more those particular cells communicate and the pathways between them deepen. This is how our values, our beliefs, and our motivations are actually formed.

If you've managed to remain a Luddite - one who resists technology - you're surrounded by people who don't, so you're affected more than you may realize.

The reality is that most of us are rarely, if ever, alone with our own minds and souls. Even when we do find a few minutes of quiet, we're driven to check our devices for emails, texts, etc.

The monumental digital shift has taken place so fast, we haven't really had time or invested the energy to evaluate what this is doing to our culture, or how it's impacting us as individuals - physically, spiritually, and emotionally.