Social media is worse than I realized. A couple of years ago, I had a different mindset. I didn’t see much harm in it. At worst I would have said it was a gray area. And so many of my friends were on it. Deep down I thought that the church was a little outdated on that rule. But somehow I’ve gained a deeper conviction in this over the past while.
My experience with social media has really been overwhelmingly negative. I don’t like the things that it does to me. I have spent far too much time on it in the past. I just don’t have the discipline to not waste time on it, so eventually I blocked those apps and websites. Now there can be legit uses for it, but for me they are exceedingly few and far between. When I do have one I can use a computer to access it. Locking my phone down helped me a lot, but it’s still very tempting if I’m on the computer. I will try to go through the downsides that I have noticed for myself. This is focused on social media, but I think they could also apply to movies, gaming, etc. Personal experience may vary but I think these could apply in some degree to everyone.
- It’s quite simply just a waste of time. It’s been crazy how busy my life has gotten in the last couple years. I have projects to work on, and so many things that I want to do with my life! I’m 20, likely one quarter way through life already. Why waste a single precious second God has given me? I don’t believe He can bless me using my time like this. The parable of the servant who buried his talent comes to mind. I’m not saying that I shouldn’t ever have a time to entertain myself, but there are much better ways than mindlessly staring at a screen. It has too many downsides and I haven’t found any upsides yet. I don’t think giggling maniacally for a few minutes then feeling down afterward counts as an upside.
- I’m too easily addicted. It’s just laugh after laugh, next thing I know it’s midnight and oops I was going to go to bed early to catch up on sleep. This keeps going and it takes up more and more of my free time. I fill all the little spaces with it, squeeze in a couple minutes before work, lunch break, get home from work to sit in the truck and scroll, then also stay up late to (guess what?) scroll. I decide to delete the app for good but find myself redownloading it the next day.
- I need quiet time, and when I fill all the little spaces I don’t get that. It really makes my brain a noisy place, and I noticed that it becomes harder to endure quiet time the more I’m pulled into social media. Worse than that, it steals time from God. It’s very difficult to hear God speak without quiet time. And too often I would scroll late and go to sleep with no devotions.
- It is a worldly influence. As Christians, we are called to be separate- “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” (2 Cor. 6:17) It subtly influences my thinking and attitudes towards those of the world. One thing I especially noticed is the impact it can have on my speech.
- It messes with my emotions. It can’t be healthy to mess with something that can turn me from grumpy into a giggle box. Even if it’s not humor geared I don’t think we were wired to take in that much input. Often times I can almost get on an emotional high from funny videos, but this results in a low afterwards. I have never gotten off of my phone and said “Wow, that really made me feel better!” It can really suck the joy out of my life. I’ve noticed the times where I was more addicted to it, it wanted to suck me in more and more. As that happens normal life starts to feel more and more bleh. Trivial tasks start to feel unendurable. It becomes escapism, with scrolling seeming to provide a temporary relief. However, what seems to bring joy is actually the joy stealer. When I use my time in good ways, I feel better about myself and life in general. There is much more peace and joy in the small everyday things.
- As a guy, it makes it tougher to deal with lust. (This really doesn’t need to be a topic we dance around, I think every guy deals with it to some degree.) You really can’t control what comes across when you’re scrolling reels. The algorithm will filter to your preferences, but you will have random videos of immodestly dressed women. But what’s even worse is how it makes me feel about myself. I’ve noticed a downward spiral chain reaction that I struggle with. Sometimes I have a bad night at a social deal, or maybe I just come home from work dejected or just plain tired. And then I’m tempted with escapism, wanting a cheap laugh to make me feel better, although it doesn’t actually make me feel better. After wasting time scrolling, I only feel worse about myself. That really lets my guard down when lust comes knocking. This entire cycle can usually be avoided if I don’t ever sit down to scroll for a “couple minutes”. (which often turns into a couple hours.)
- “Social” media isn’t actually that social. I might send funny reels to my friends, but that is not even close to the same thing as a real conversation. I find when I’m spending so much time on reels, it can actually make me wanna pull away from people. “I’m kinda tired, I’ll just stay home from (insert social function) and get to bed early.” (Then proceeds to scroll reels till midnight)
Even as I write this I feel like a hypocrite. I sat down at the computer last night and wasted time on YouTube. These are all good reminders for me to not go there. I find it goes better when I can abstain from this. I have taken a vow to uphold the Church’s doctrines. I could probably come up with more reasons why, but that is everything that was rattling around in my brain this time. I want to do more of what Paul said in Colossians 3:2: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
Leave a Reply