84. Reclaim Peace, Joy and Productivity in a Digital World, God's Way with Erick Vargas

In today’s episode, we are addressing the real struggle many of us face in our digital age—how technology steals the peace, joy, and purpose God intended for our lives. I had the privilege of speaking with Erick Vargas, Christian entrepreneur and co-founder of Sabbath Space, an app designed to help people disconnect from technology and reconnect with what truly matters—God, family, and community.

What You’ll Learn:
• Understanding the Technology Trap: Erick shares his personal experience with technology addiction and reveals how disconnecting from tech can restore balance to your life and allow you to walk in God’s purpose.
• Finding Peace and Productivity in a Digital World: By intentionally setting boundaries around technology, you can make space for a deeper connection with God, your family, and your purpose.

Personal Takeaways:
Reflecting on this conversation, I realize how often I let technology steal my focus and peace. When I don’t intentionally rest or disconnect, I find myself anxious, overwhelmed, and struggling to hear from God. I’ve learned that reclaiming peace requires me to set boundaries with technology, just as much as it involves setting aside time for rest and reflection. Erick’s message is a wake-up call: if we don’t take action, technology will continue to steal the life God intends for us.

I also recognize that being mindful of what drains me and what replenishes me is crucial for moving forward with purpose. Technology is a tool, but it must be used wisely. When I use it intentionally, it helps me grow; when it controls me, it takes away the clarity and peace I need to hear from God.

Action Step for You:
This week, take a full 24-hour break from all notifications and digital distractions. Turn off your phone, disconnect from social media, and take time to reflect on how this makes you feel. After your digital detox, spend just 10 minutes in prayer or reading the Bible. I want you to pay attention to the clarity, peace, and joy that come when you give yourself space from technology. Let me know how it impacts you!

Resources Mentioned:
• Sabbath Space App: A practical tool to help you disconnect from technology and reconnect with what matters most.
• Previous Episodes: Episode 59 - Stress and Burnout: Consider a Biblical Sabbath for Healing and Renewal with Joel and Christy Peed and Episode 67 - Digital Detox and Biblical Sabbath Compilation.

Connect with Eric Vargas:
• Sabbath Space Website
• Instagram: @sabbathspace

Final Thoughts:
Technology is powerful, but if we don’t learn to manage it, it will take from the life that God has designed for us. Through intentional rest, boundaries, and connection with what truly matters, we can reclaim our peace, productivity, and joy. Eric’s wisdom shows us that we can take control of our digital lives, make space for God, and live more purposefully.

Thank you for joining me today! I look forward to hearing how you will reclaim peace and joy in your life through intentional rest and digital boundaries.

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Want to go deeper? Let's connect—set up a FREE Discovery Call today. See you next time!

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Curious for Christ show. Today we're diving into the power of Sabbath with our special guest Eric Vargas. We've touched on the concept of Sabbath in previous episodes and if you'd like to explore more you're welcome to check out episodes 59 and 67. Episode 59 On Stress and Burnout, a Biblical Sabbath, and Episode 67, Digital Detox and Sabbath. Today's conversation is a little different as we focus on the intersection of technology and Sabbath. I've invited Eric Vargas, a Christian entrepreneur and co founder of Sabbath Space, an app designed to help people disconnect from technology and reconnect with their faith, family, and community. Inspired by his own struggle with tech addiction, Eric created Sabbath Space to help Christians regain control over their time and focus. With a background in both seminary and tech entrepreneurship, Eric's mission is to guide individuals toward more intentional, mindful use of technology, fostering stronger spiritual connections and deeper relationships. If you've ever struggled to slow down set boundaries with technology or truly rest in God's presence, this episode is for you. Eric shares his personal journey of reclaiming Sabbath as a gift, one that brings joy, creativity, and deep connection with family and God. We also talk about the practical way Sabbath space helps eliminate digital distractions so we can be more present. What if The key to greater peace wasn't in doing more, but in truly resting well. Let's get into it. Welcome to Curious for Christ. Do you ever find yourself lying awake at night, wondering about God's plan for your life? Maybe you wake up with big dreams, but feel unsure where to start or what your next step should be. If you're curious about exploring your faith and finding purpose, then you've come to the right place. Hi, I'm Alexandra. I too felt lost, unsure of the direction my life was taking. I yearned to understand my purpose and have someone guide me. But I kept telling myself I was too busy, the timing wasn't right, and my lack of clarity prevented me from being consistent, until I found Christ. He brought peace into my life and revealed the way to find purpose, by anchoring myself In this podcast, we'll journey together exploring the Bible to gain a deeper understanding of Him and cultivate your own personal relationship with Christ. So open up your Bible, put in those earbuds and listen up because God is speaking to you. He is making everything new and you don't want to miss it. Let's get started. Thank you for joining me this morning, Eric, and I look forward to having this conversation that is so important in today's, times that we live in. I'm super excited to be here. Thank you. Thank you for joining me. So you have a tech background. And so I really wanted to start with that aspect could you explain what technology does to our brain and. Why this information is important because being aware of the effects that technology has on us could help us regain some of the control that we may have lost. Yeah. I run a software company. And with that, I get a little bit of a behind the scenes understanding of what big tech companies are doing to us and we don't even know it and that's part of it. The apps that we use every day, the iPhone, they're all designed to be addictive technologies to us, like a dopamine hits, dopamine is just like this chemical in the brain. That's in the reward center. And they have designers and developers and psychologists on staff at these big app companies. Trying to invest all their resources into getting us to click or to scroll. And that's why, that's how all these kind of inventions, one of the most famous ones, or two of the most famous ones is the feed. So every app you'll notice has an endless feed, and the feed is designed to make you think about what's next. Oh, I don't know what's next. Let's go see. Let's go see. And so that's how they design it to be, addictive, back in the early days of Facebook, they didn't have an endless feed. You would scroll and you would reach to the end of what your friend have posted, right? But now they'll insert things that might be you know, outside of your friends or an ad or this or that just to keep you in the app as long as possible, so that's one of them. And then another one is the feedback loop of likes and comments and requests and hearts and all of these affirmations that they're, Giving to you because it feels good to get a like on a post. And the reason why is because even from visually it's designed to trigger that area in your brain to say, Hey, I love this. And they're leveraging our biology. To make us addicted to the phone, and we're just naturally hardwired this way. And so they're taking advantage of those things. So that we're scrolling, all the time. Wow. That is very scary. Thank you for sharing all of that. I'm speechless. I'm just taking it all in. And I'm actually someone who can be very. So I know that, but to know the facts and to know that people that's their job and that's their specialty. We need to be aware of that self control is such a great attribute, but when you really think about it, if you're trying to be self controlled, it's really one versus thousands of people, and billions of dollars of investment to break your self control, it takes a lot of effort. 100%. Yeah. And the CEO of Netflix. Said, we don't compete with. Other technologies. We compete with sleep. Wow. That one left my jaw on the floor because I was like, wow. They know who they're actually their goal is to steal your nine to midnight every night. So yes, you work from nine to five and then Netflix from nine to 12. Wow. And so in your own life when did you realize that because I mean you are in that environment, but yet. Technology still had some control over you were there any specific moments when you realized that technology was taking over your life and what did you do? Yeah even though we're aware of all these ways that they're trying to take advantage of us. They crept into my life in a way that I didn't want it to, and what would happen is my wife would say, Hey, you're on your phone a lot. And I'm like you're on your phone a lot, right? And what the problem was is that, when I got home from work and I just wanted, 10 minutes to myself, I would just sit down on the couch and scroll. But that's when she wanted to engage with me. And vice versa, whenever, she was on her phone and I went, and so we were just missing each other, at different times. That is I was aware. I was like, yeah, probably on this more than I wanted to be. But that was the only little effect that I thought it was having in my life, but it really became apparent when I had my son who's two years old now, and I remember in the early infant days what, when he was just born I got a notification that I spent six and a half hours that day on the phone so if you spend five to six hours on your phone a day, that's 40 to 42 hours a week. That's a full time job. So that is three so out of the whole year, that's 100 days a year you're on your phone. And then throughout your whole life, it's about 10 to 12 years on the average lifespan. Wasted, and I run a company. I just graduated from seminary, I'm very productive and I still spend six hours on my phone, what else could I be doing? And I didn't want to miss those early days with my son, even if it's just time with him, it's better spent than on the phone. God cares more about people than anything else. So we may spend all this time doing all the things and we miss out on what God cares the most about. And it's about stewardship of my time. Your phone could become an endless pit of time. Or you could be investing it in your family, your friends, your church in the kingdom. And so that's why that's what got me upset. It's what else could I be doing? For God, instead of just, wasting my life on the phone. Yeah, and as we're talking about God, you do have a Christian background. You just graduated from seminary. Yeah. Yeah. It's right here based in Fort Lauderdale. It's called Knox Theological Seminary. And I got my master's there. That's great. And that's where also you studied and you were more aware about the Sabbath. Which inspired you to create this app called Sabbath Space. And when we had a chance to talk earlier this month you mentioned the analogy of in Genesis. God created a whole world in six days, rested on the seventh. And yet in today's society, the way our weeks are structured, it's five days of work and then two days of rest or a weekend, and yet with double of free time from work, we still are burnt out. So can you explain how you got inspired to create the Sabbath space? Yeah, I was confused because God tells us to work tell tell employees to work six days and see what happens, right? It's it's not going to happen, and so why are we so burnt out when we have double of the time off that God requires or God has given us, even before our five days a week society and even before God instituted the Sabbath, people worked seven days a week, it was actually mostly slave slave culture, so people would work all the time. And then God gave, the Israelites the Sabbath and it was actually looked down upon that they didn't work seven days. They're like, Oh, they get one day off. And and our American society here we have five days work, but why do we feel those. Still burnt out it was confusing and so that is because, okay, I start work at nine and I end work at five, but I take work with me with my phone wherever I go. And that's the problem if I get an email from a customer at eight o'clock. I replied. I get a slack. I reply. Because I run a software company, my developers are overseas. And there's a 12 hour difference. So when they're awake, I'm sleeping and vice versa. So I wake up and go to the gym at 4 30 in the morning, but they're online. And sometimes I'm working at 4 30 in the morning. Because they're awake and they need a question answered. And so we're never off. We're never truly sabbathing, we're never away from work. And that's why I wanted to create this app is to actually make myself more productive and more restful at the same time. So what I decided to do was follow what God commands us to do. And I work six days a week and I rest truly rest on one day a week. And so I'm not working actually on Saturday, I use that as a family work day. So I might do stuff around the house. I might, take my son out, for some something special. But I do kind of family type of work, right? But then on the Sabbath, I'm truly unplugged, and that has given me the space to really work really hard. And, do what God did and, pour everything out on six days and then rest on the Sabbath. And one of my favorite verses is the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. And basically what that means is that the Sabbath is a gift to us. It's a gift to us. And it's not a rule that got implemented that we have to obey. But it's actually a gift. It's really special to think about it that way. Yeah. And I would think that also work has to be redefined for us because there's the cultural influences. It's about striving, but when we do rest work becomes abiding in him and his strength God created good work for us to do it takes a whole different new dimension that includes people that includes his mission. And so it's a lot less burdensome as well. And think about the messages on social media that you might get on Saturday and Sunday on the days off. There's a lot of this hustle culture out there, you're not doing enough. You have to wake up at 3. 30 a. m. and you have to get after it and then most people are just burnt out, right? Somehow we're still very unproductive. Because we're not focused on the right things at the right time. So work hard and rest hard. That's how, I like to see it. Yes. And in everything we do work for the Lord with all our hearts. You've spoken about technology with purpose. How can Christians use technology in a way that enhances their faith rather than distracting from it? Yeah. So I would say if technology is a tool for you to utilize then it can be productive to your faith. And so the question I like to ask is, Are you in control of your phone or is your phone in control of you? Some questions or indicators that you might think that your phone's in control of you is every time you get a notification on your screen, or every time your phone buzzes, do you pick it up? And that's one, again, one of the reasons why I create a Sabbath space is because I would be in bed trying to wind down, and then my phone is right next to my table my nightstand, right next to my bed, and my phone would go bzzz. And then I would pick it up, my phone is in control of me, that shows me that it had power over my life rather than me saying, it's not time for that. I'm winding down. It's a time for me to recap the day with my wife to pray. To go to bed. And that's when, the phone has stepped outside of its proper use. I have all my notification off so that I have set time when I check my emails or when I decide to go to social media. But even then, yeah, because of the feeds you can spend a little more time than you would want one way that we designed the app to help with that is we have something called a devotional mode and so I hear all the time people waking up in the morning trying to do their devils and spend time with the Lord and they go to their Bible lab. They go in with really good intentions, and then the notifications, Instagram comes in and then more time with the Lord and then 30 minutes has passed and I didn't really do anything, today, and so Devo mode, what it does is it allows you to customize what apps you have access to. So that's on the Sabbath space. Yeah, go ahead. So on my Devo mode, I only have access to my Bible app. That's it. Everything else is blocked. So that way I don't get notifications distracting me from, my time for the Lord. That's great. That's great. I love that. And I'd love to talk a little bit more about how it works. But you mentioned work hard. Rest hard. So I just wanted to hear from you. What is the concept of Sabbath mean to you and if you can share some of the spiritual practices that you personally have that have helped you find rest and connect with God in your family. Yeah. Sabbath, if it's a gift, if God says, it's a gift to man, that's what Sabbath is to rest. And a time of rejuvenation. And replenishing. That is the time where you know, a couple of things that we like to do in my family and that I like personally to do. I like to cook and make a special meal for my family. Because I find that energizing. I like to create. I like to see people's faces when they taste something really good. So that's what I like to do. On Sabbath. Other people might find cooking as work, but I don't. So I like that. And then what we do is we go on a 2 to 3 hour walk at the on the beach. And we walk up and down the beach. That's me and my wife's time to connect to dream and my son is in a stroller and we're just walking and talking. So those are probably The most rejuvenating times on how we spend our Sabbath together. And then we try to do a family worship and really spend time with the Lord as a family. We do Sabbath on Saturday because my wife sometimes, serving at church for half the day. And so it's not really restful, she's a worship leader. And so we like to do that on Saturday. And then we spend our Saturday evenings, either dinner with friends or whatever we want to be doing, something replenishing and joyful to us. So good food and relationships. Mindfulness being present, and being in God's nature, yeah. And part of this, my study of the Sabbath biblically, the reason why God gave his people the Sabbath is because they were working 7 days a week building somebody else's kingdom and God wanted it. one day devoted to building the kingdom of God. And so one reason God implemented the Sabbath is so that we could be doing that. And so that's really why I spend a lot of time with my family on that. Oh, that's great. Thank you. And so the Sabbath space that apt it has helped you and your family. You say reduce phone use by 80%. That was amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So what kind of transformation can this bring for others who use it? And how does that work? Yeah. There's two kinds of ways. On the one hand yes, it stops you from mindless phone usage. Because let's say, your phone is buzzing with Sabbath space. It stops buzzing. So you don't have those unintentional times where you're just bored and you pick up the phone, the way I like to describe it is if you're on a diet, don't keep cookies in the house. If the cookies are not in the house, you're probably not going to get up, go to the store, buy cookies, and then cheat on your diet, you're just not, you're just going to get the apple or whatever's healthy in front of you, so that's one way I describe it. But what gets me excited is how to invest your time, I'm excited to hear that. Some dad is going to be a better dad because of it, because I'm going to invest this time in my kids and my wife and my family in my community. So practically how it works. There's a little bit of a twist. It's an app, but it comes with a device and it comes with this keychain right here. And in this keychain, there is a chip that is activated by the app. And what you do is let's say right now I'm in work mode. And so all my apps are, that are not work related are blocked. So I'm not distracted by them. And I cannot access those apps unless I scan this device. It gives a little bit more friction so that you don't just bypass it really quick. Some people might say, Hey, isn't there a feature on your phone where you can block apps? Yes, there is. And my wife used to use that one it's called the app limit, and if you're on Instagram, more than an hour a day, it will pop up. But the problem is you bypass it too easily. So she would bypass and bypass. This thing is that doesn't work. But let's say you scan this device and your keys are on the other side of the house. You're probably not going to get up and walk across the house just so you can go on Instagram and waste time. And that's what I mean by keeping the cookies in the house. Put a little bit more friction so that you don't default to wasting your time on social media. We want to change our default to something else. Less accessibility. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So that would be great for families. Could we have one keychain per member of the family, for our children? Totally. Yeah, I had somebody say that I'm going to use this for my family. And the kids are going to scan before school and they can unscan after school. That's really great. I'm excited to hear How that kind of plays out. So there's so many different applications. And that's what I'm excited to hear. That's great. And so how can people learn more about Sabbath space? Where can they connect with you and what you're doing? Yeah, you can just download the app Sabbath space on the Apple store, just search it and download it right there. And then if you want to connect with me personally, either LinkedIn or any of the socials I'm on there, just not on Sunday. And then you have a website as well. Yeah. Yeah. Sabbath space dot IO. You can also sign up there. And if you have any questions about it, you can submit the form and, go straight to me and I can, answer that and, answer any questions you might have. Great. Thank you. I put all the links in the show notes is there any final word of encouragement or. Words of wisdom that you'd like to share and leave our listeners with. Yeah, I would say, time is our most valuable asset. And The time you waste on social media, you're never going to get back and you're not going to say you wanted to spend more time on social media, That's what really changed my mind on, how I'm investing my time. I don't want to waste my time. I want to use my time to glorify God and build, his kingdom here. Yes, definitely. Thank you so much, Eric. It was great spending time with you today. Thanks for having me. Wow, this conversation really challenged me to rethink how I approach rest. I love how Eric describes Sabbath is not just a pause, but an intentional time of replenishment. I can definitely tell when I've had a truly replenishing time with God versus when I haven't. The fruit is so different. When I take the time to rest well, my imagination flows, my intuition is sharper, and I hear God's voice with more clarity. It's like my mind and And I step into the new week with a clear sense of direction. Rest isn't just stopping, it's a time of renewal that allows me to grow, fall in love with God again, and approach life with more peace and purpose. But I've also learned that rest looks different for everyone. For instance, my husband loves to be on the go, go on adventures, and while I need to set boundaries for my own rest, I also know that too much stillness can lead me into overthinking. And that's why he's my husband, right? It's a balance, one that takes trial and error. The key for me is knowing what truly replenishes me and making intentional choices to incorporate that into my life. God made us all unique and there's a time for everything, family, personal time, time with other people. True rest helps me refocus and be more intentional with how I dedicate my time moving forward. When I prioritize that, I show a better in every area of my life. I also love the idea of putting up barriers to distractions. None of us is immune to them, and I know I've been guilty of mindlessly scrolling when I've had a quiet moment. And in today's world, we can't truly talk about Sabbath without also talking about technology. We live in a time where constant notifications and digital noise compete for our attention, and making it harder to disconnect. It's not the same as it was a century ago. And we have to recognize that. God hasn't changed, but the way we engage with the world has, and that's why we need to be wise and intentional about claiming our time back. Ancient practices like being still, praying and reflecting are timeless. And I want to be more intentional about that in my own life, learning to rest well, to set boundaries and create space to hear from God without. All the distractions. I want to challenge you this week to take a day, just one day, when you turn off all your notifications. No buzzing phone, no news alert, no random YouTube shorts pulling your attention, no notification from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, just silence from the digital world. And guess what? You'll survive. More than that, you might actually Feel more alive. When we quiet the noise, we create space to hear what truly matters. So take this time to reflect. Notice how you feel throughout the day and afterward. Do you feel more at peace? More present? Do you have less anxious thoughts? Are you more in tune with God's voice? And while you're at it, take 10 minutes to open your Bible and read. Just sit with God's Word. Read the Psalms. Psalm 23, Psalm 91, without distractions. Let it speak to you. Then I'd love to hear what happens. How you felt, what you noticed, and what God revealed to you in that quiet space. Send me a message and let's talk about it. And if you feel called to learn more about God, His plan for your life, and how to live a godly life that prioritizes Him, I'm here to help. Let's set up a call. Just go to bit. ly for slash curious for Christ discovery. And let's talk about how I can assist you on this amazing journey. Thank you so much for being here with me today. It truly means the world to me to have you as part of this community. I look forward to diving into more amazing topics and conversations with you next week. Don't forget to email me your questions for our Wednesday Q& A episodes. You can go to hello at alexandraalvarezcoaching. com and send me any questions that you'd like some answers to. Until then, take care and goodbye for now. Hi, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If so, would you like to take 30 seconds and share it with a friend who may also struggle with knowing God and His purpose for their life. Also, leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Podcast, and let me know what topics you'd like to hear about in the future. Your voice matters. I'll meet you back next Friday for another episode.