This world is a place of both good and bad things. It is a place that builds people up but also breaks them down.
Often times, our Instagram likes or our Facebook friends determine our popularity. That popularity translates into our worth. When this happens, we get caught in the cycle of comparison which is purely destructive.
I'm guilty of it too. Sitting in bed at night, scrolling through the explore page full of beautiful girls with so many Instagram likes and feeling distressed. This habit is one too many of us have and it is affecting us more than we know.
When you hear the word "idols" what images pop up in your mind?
Idols look different for everybody. By searching for our worth in things like school, money, and social class, we begin to idolize these things. When idolizations appear in our lives, we start to lose sight of what is truly important.
When I look around me, I see people aggressively typing and scrolling away. Rarely do we see people having genuine conversations anymore with friends, but we see people sending tweets and Instagram posts back and forth.
With that being said, the question can easily become, "has social media become societies modern day idol?"
Unfortunately, its not uncommon for parents and kids to pull their phones and tablets out at dinner or other events. Sure, technology is an awesome gift, but it shouldn't be the number one focus in our lives.
God should be.
Technology and social media are consuming us. We spend hours a day on our phones and tablets checking our social media pages and updating our statuses so our friends can know exactly what we are doing at all times. Apps like Snapchat allow users to constantly take pictures of ourselves to share with friends for 10 seconds max.
Again, these apps are amazing and fun in many ways but are they distracting us from having a relationship with God.
Like mine, if your answer is yes, that's when it becomes an issue and that's when we need to reexamine the way we are using social media. I have come up with a list of things we can all do in order to refocus on the Lord and redirect our attention to the right things:
1. Ask God to help you eliminate any idols that may be in your life and listen to him
2. Limit your time on phones
Start to pay attention to the amount of time you spend on social media and your phone. If you start to realize it's excessive, make the change!
3. Don’t allow social media to interfere with your bible study or prayer life
4. Take a cleanse from social media
Try this: for a week stop cold turkey from tweeting, posting pictures, or anything else that deals with social media.
5. Make it a point to shut down and refocus your energy and time on God
You may be thinking to yourself, "its the twenty-first century, I can't live without social media."
This is a thought I often have as well. We are so consumed by our phones and social media that we cannot imagine a life without it. How can we possibly shift our attention from our phones to God? Closely examine your life.
Colossians 3:2 states, "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth"
When you do this, cutting back our time spent on social media becomes a less daunting task. Remembering that God created social media for good and NOT to idolize becomes more apparent and important.
