06/29/2026
Hello dear readers,
Thee Quaker Project, the organization that produces the Daily Quaker Message, has a tagline: “Quaker media for the 21st century.” We’re always thinking about how to bring Quakerism into the digital age, and when I’m not editing the Daily Quaker, I’m managing Thee Quaker’s social media. So I’m invested in the idea that technology can be a conduit for meaningful spiritual experiences, and from conversations I’ve had with people who engage with our projects, I know that it often is. But like many people, my relationship with technology isn’t simple. I resent the time I waste scrolling and notice myself reflexively reaching for my phone when I’m anxious or bored. My screen is filling up the spaces that used to be empty.
So what to do? We read messages from Friends this month who would have us take a fast from technology to clear our heads or even give up electricity. It was suggested that Quakers take a lesson from the Amish and give each new technology a trial period, then discern whether to adopt it or not, depending on its effect on our core values.
But the message that spoke to me most came from Mary Ann Kelty, who made it clear that a “cool, well-balanced, pure, healthy mind” doesn’t come naturally to anybody (when she wrote that, the telephone had not yet been invented!). This means it’s up to each of us to build our capacity for silence, to ground our bodies in the presence of God, and to put down roots in our community, a word that showed up again and again as an antidote to the fractured attention and isolation we can so often feel online. Then, like the early Quakers, we can move forward, continuing to seek and explore.
Tomorrow the Daily Quaker Message will begin a summer break, though you’ll still receive a message every Sunday during this “off-season.” We value your feedback, and I encourage you to take our reader survey to give us ideas for how to make this ministry more valuable to you and to share information that helps with our grant applications. We will return to daily messages on August 31.
With wishes for a restful summer,
Maeve Sutherland
Editor of the Daily Quaker Message
Reader Reflections
How do you create positive boundaries for yourself around screens?
When have you “opted out” of a new technology that you felt detracted from your life? What was the outcome?
