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"Social media use is a hard habit to shake. You try to stay away, but your fingers are itching for one quick click, just another good scroll to last you through the day. \nSometimes, you find yourself coming back for more without even realizing. It's reflex, the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you remember at night. \nHourly Facebook checks were standard for Lucy Church, and Lent became a time to make the change. Like many others, Church sacrificed Facebook-use for the religious season. Lent is often the golden opportunity for people to break free of vices like junk food or alcohol, but going on a digital cleanse for 40 days is becoming a popular sacrifice. \nFacebook served as a welcome distraction for Church, a Ph.D. student at Florida State University. A practicing Anglican, she's observed Lent for the past three years to strengthen her relationship with God, she said. In the past she found it difficult to abstain from desserts and Netflix, but Church says this time around relinquishing social media use was a welcome challenge. \nSEE ALSO: Feeling Down? Facebook Improves Self-Esteem\n \n\"It was something I was spending a lot of time on and I thought of it as a generally healthy behavior modification,\" Church told Mashable. \"Lent is supposed to be a time when you draw closer to God and replace those activities with more reflection.\" \nRecently, even the Russian Orthodox Church encouraged its followers to give up social media. The Eastern Orthodox Lenten season, which continues through April, is a time to cleanse the soul, said a church spokesperson, and that means no tweeting or Instagramming the experience. \nJana Bennett, associate professor of theological ethics at the University of Dayton, said social media's ever-increasing influence naturally extends to religious institutions. Religious communities can help people live more meaningful lives, and part of that is understanding what factors have the strongest impact. \n\"I think that can be a useful thing for religious community to do: encourage members to turn off social media, make a room in the house to be social media free,\" Bennett said. \"There\u2019s something beneficial in the aim to grow closer to God.\" \nSEE ALSO: 10 Digital Dos and Don'ts for the New Pope\n \nThe allure of Lent is its time frame. Like many bad habits, completely cutting social media off is a tough idea to tackle, but Lent serves as a test or trial, Bennett said. \n\"The benefit of Lent and social media is you don't have to give it up entirely,\" she explained. \"You can see what kind of impact this has had on your life, and it helps us be more reflective about what we\u2019re doing.\" \nChurch delved into the Lenten experience by replacing her social network time with prayer. At first, the difficulty was apparent. She had to make a conscious decision to swap her Facebook habit for a more meaningful activity, but the deprivation helped her realize the negative effects of her news feed. \n\"I\u2019m so much happier now, honestly, because Facebook does a really good job of presenting you with a false reality of people\u2019s lives,\" she explained. \"It makes you feel horrible about your life because you're constantly comparing, but I've been so much happier because I haven\u2019t been constantly aware of those things.\" \nCharles Naut felt the pull of this emerging trend. Naut, a program manager for Microsoft, gave up Facebook for Lent to increase his productivity. \nGiving up candy and junk food was protocol after attending Catholic school for eight years, but this time around, his sacrifice also improved his relationships with others. While his Klout score has taken a hit, Naut said his Lenten sacrifice will limit his future Facebook use to a few times a week. \n\"It's good to take a break for a little bit, to step back and realize what place social networks should play in your life, what real value they have.\"\nHave you tried a digital detox? Let us know in the comments. \nMashable composite, images via  iStockphoto, pchristinaq, and logos courtesy of Facebook and Twitter."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/03/26/social-media-lent/>