This 7-day phone fast gives a youth group one small challenge a day, from "phone off for the first hour" to a full evening without screens, each with a short Bible passage and discussion questions. It's free to print and use, and it doesn't need any app. Print this page to hand it out.
Youth pastors and small-group leaders are welcome to print, copy and adapt this plan. Use your browser's Print option on this page for a clean handout. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version, which is in the public domain. If you share it online, a link back to this page is appreciated.
How does it work?
- Kick off together. At your group meeting, read the plan, pick a start day and pair everyone with a partner.
- One challenge a day for seven days. Each one builds on the last.
- Check in with your partner by a quick message or in person each evening: did you do it, and what did you notice?
- Debrief together at the next meeting using the questions for day 7.
Nobody needs to get rid of their phone. Calls and messages with family, and anything for school or work, always stay allowed.
Day 1: Notice
Challenge: Check your screen time for yesterday (iPhone: Settings → Screen Time; Android: Settings → Digital Wellbeing). Write down the number and your top three apps. Don't change anything yet.
Read: "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Psalm 90:12
Ask: Did the number surprise you? Which app takes the most of your time, and what does it give you?
Day 2: First hour
Challenge: No social media or video apps for the first hour after you wake up. Charge your phone outside your bedroom tonight.
Read: "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." Psalm 5:3
Ask: What did you do with that hour? What was the first thing you wanted to check?
Day 3: Pray before you scroll
Challenge: Before you open any app today, pray one sentence. Try: "Lord, this day is yours."
Read: "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." Mark 1:35
Ask: Was it hard to remember? Did praying first change how the scrolling felt?
Day 4: Notifications off
Challenge: Turn off notifications for every app except calls and messages from people you know.
Read: "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful." Luke 10:41–42
Ask: How many times did you check your phone without a notification? What were you hoping to find?
Day 5: No comparing
Challenge: No posting and no checking likes or views today. Send one encouraging message to someone instead.
Read: "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves." 2 Corinthians 10:12
Ask: How does social media make you feel about yourself? What does God say about you that a feed can't?
Day 6: Screen-free evening
Challenge: No screens from dinner until bed. Eat with your family, play a game, read, go outside or call a friend.
Read: "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while." Mark 6:31
Ask: What did you do instead? How did you sleep?
Day 7: Keep one thing
Challenge: Choose one habit from this week to keep for a month. Tell your partner which one.
Read: "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12
Ask: Which day was hardest? Which was best? What do you want your phone to be for, and what do you want it never to be for?
A note to send to parents
This week our group is doing a 7-day phone fast. Each day has one small challenge, like no social media for the first hour after waking or no screens after dinner, with a short Bible reading. Calls and messages with family are always allowed. Please encourage your teen, and consider doing the challenges with them. Day 6, a screen-free evening, works best as a family.
Can adults do this plan too?
Yes. It works for adult small groups, families and couples. Adults often find day 2 (the first hour) and day 4 (notifications off) the most eye-opening.
What if someone breaks the fast?
Expect it. The goal isn't a perfect week. It's noticing how much the phone pulls at you and practising turning toward God instead. Encourage partners to be gentle, and pick back up the next day.
How can we keep the first-hour habit after the week ends?
Most people slip back without some kind of guardrail. A few ideas: keep charging phones outside bedrooms, leave notifications off, and lock the hardest apps until after morning prayer. Prayer Latch does that last one. It isn't made for children under 13, so it's best for older teens and adults, ideally set up together with a parent.
Pray before you scroll
Prayer Latch locks your chosen apps each morning until you pray. Your first 7 days are free, no card needed.
Updated October 22, 2026 by the Prayer Latch team at Janus Works LLC.