Key Takeaways
- Andrew Laubacher, a former touring Catholic musician, quit social media in 2018 and now leads a nonprofit organization called Humanality, which helps individuals break their digital addiction through a 12-week digital detox program.
- Social media can have negative effects on the human person, including depression, anxiety, and body image issues, and can become addictive.
- Laubacher highlights three ways to gain more freedom from digital media: be light, be giving, and be present.
- The average 18-year-old in 2025 is on pace to have a 90-year life span, with 93% of their free time spent on screens.
- Laubacher’s mission is to help individuals gain more freedom from digital media and invest their time and attention into the things that matter most.
Introduction to Digital Addiction
In 2018, Andrew Laubacher, a touring Catholic musician at the time, made the decision to quit social media completely. Despite his recording label telling him that he was making a terrible decision, Laubacher was exhausted from the impact social media was having on his life and felt God calling him to make this change. Fast-forward to today, and Laubacher is now the executive director of Humanality, a nonprofit organization that aims to help people discover freedom through an intentional relationship with technology. Humanality offers individuals help to break their digital addiction through a 12-week digital detox program. Laubacher recently spoke to hundreds of young Catholics at SEEK 2026 in Denver, Colorado, about the dangers of social media and how it can become addictive.
The Negative Effects of Social Media
Laubacher began his talk by highlighting data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which showed that the average U.S. life expectancy decreased for the first time between 2017 and 2019. He also cited research from Jonathan Haidt’s 2024 book "The Anxious Generation," which found that the introduction of the front-facing camera on smartphones in 2010 led to drastic increases in anxiety and depression. Laubacher shared how he saw this play out in his own life, constantly comparing himself and his life to others, experiencing lust, feeling lonely, and wasting his time mindlessly scrolling through his feeds. He explained that these technologies affected him in many different ways, but when he made the decision to leave social media, everything got better. His friendships improved, his purity improved, his productivity improved, and his prayer life improved.
The Impact of Technology on Society
Laubacher told the crowd that the way they have grown up with these technologies has literally changed everything. It has changed the way they think, the way they behave, the way they relate to one another, the way they sleep, and the way they perceive reality. He explained that algorithms are literally shaping their perception of what is true, and if they are living their life scrolling and getting stuck into these platforms, they are not necessarily living the life they want to be. Laubacher said that the average 18-year-old in 2025 is on pace to have a 90-year life span, and he broke this down into how many months one might spend doing different activities such as eating, sleeping, going to school or work, and driving. Over the course of one’s life, the average person is left with 334 months of free time, which is where they can fall in love, create music, write a book, go on a trip with loved ones, and discover their vocation.
The Importance of Intentional Technology Use
Laubacher highlighted that of those 334 months, 93% of that time is going to be spent on screens. He explained that at the end of their lives, the crowd will have looked at the screen for 27 years of their life. Laubacher’s mission is to help individuals gain more freedom from digital media and invest their time and attention into the things that matter most. He offered practical tools to gain more freedom from digital media, highlighting three of the 11 ways Humanality’s digital detox program aims to help individuals gain a more human way to be: be light, be giving, and be present. Laubacher explained that "be light" focuses on individuals stopping the nighttime scrolling and beginning to acknowledge the difference between daytime and nighttime. He also explained that people spend 90% of their time indoors versus 100 years ago when people spent 90% of their time outdoors.
Practical Tools for Digital Detox
Laubacher also highlighted the importance of "be giving," which turns the self-centered nature of social media to one where individuals start to think outside of themselves. This leads to a person being more happy and more healthy when they live a life that is giving. The last way Laubacher highlighted was "be present," which aims to simply teach people how to be present with themselves, with others, and with God. He explained that friends, the scariest, best, most amazing adventure in life is going to be learning to love God, your neighbor, and yourself. Laubacher found that his technologies were not allowing him to get to know the person that God has created him to be. He emphasized that these three ways – be light, be giving, and be present – can help individuals start to use technology as a tool and get out of these addictions.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Andrew Laubacher’s talk at SEEK 2026 highlighted the importance of being intentional with technology use and the dangers of social media addiction. He emphasized that by implementing the three ways of be light, be giving, and be present, individuals can start to use technology as a tool and gain more freedom from digital media. Laubacher’s mission is to help individuals invest their time and attention into the things that matter most, and his nonprofit organization, Humanality, aims to help people discover freedom through an intentional relationship with technology. As Laubacher said, "Friends, I want to tell you right now, the scariest, best, most amazing adventure in your life is going to be learning to love God, your neighbor, and yourself."