Chosen Prompt: Begin an experiment involving quitting social media and reflect upon your reasons for doing so

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Why do I rarely utilize social media? What benefits are there? To answer this, I’ll list three categories to warrant my cessation of using social media: God, others, and myself. First, reading literature related to my area of interest, namely, Christianity, takes time. When I pour my time into social media, it’s at the expense of another thing; naturally, one would ask: What is most important to you? My answer would be my faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If I have time to use as I please, should it not be for the most important person in my life, God Himself? There is a colossal amount of literature concerning Christianity, so much that even several lifetimes wouldn’t be enough to cover it, much less have an exhaustive knowledge of it. I want my life to be used for the glory of God, and if I’m ignorant about what I believe and don’t study (see 2 Timothy 2:15), how can I expect that to happen? How can I expect to serve God and those around me? Apart from Christ, it is impossible. Still, I need to actively choose to follow Christ, which includes devoting my time to studying the Bible. 

Second, I would rather pour time into my relationships than spend time on social media. Responsibilities are a reality that most people face; not everything we do will be what we want to, but rather because we need to. The time commitment one has towards these duties will vary from person to person, but, more often than not, it consumes a significant portion of it. In light of this, I propose to myself another question: Would I rather spend my precious time and pour into my family or myself (it can be argued that social media is damaging to us; if anything is “poured into” myself, it could very well be poisonous)? Truly, to what extent would one go to be on social media? At the expense of fostering relationships with the most important people in their life? Saying it audibly sounds preposterous, yet, whether I realized it or not, that was what I was doing. The hours I spent on social media were taking away time that would’ve been better spent on my family. 

Thirdly, the reality of social media is that it draws you away from not only other people but the natural world as well. Moreover, it reduces you from a state of motion and activity to a state of stillness as your mind succumbs to the endless stream of content that is at your fingertips. We were certainly made to move; the sedentary lifestyle is a rejection of that. Our bodies cannot adapt to such a way of life that we are not built for. Bent knecks, rolled shoulders, slouched backs, the constant bending of the knees, little to no muscular exertion—the postural implications alone ought to alarm us! It took longer than I wished for me to realize the dangers of such a lifestyle. Since disconnecting myself from social media, I’ve spent more time outside, whether it’s running in the backyard with my nephew or taking a walk on a cool autumn morning. By living in ways that contribute to my health, I can more effectively achieve the two aforementioned reasons and bring longevity to my life; this adds to one of the most precious resources of all: time.

Social media is often more than a tool for people; it’s an addiction, an escape. I can recall a time when I sat on my bed and scrolled on TikTok for four hours. Afterward, I felt a wave of emptiness and regret, void of any motivation to do anything. There are only twenty-four hours in a day; what do I want to spend my time on earth doing? I don’t want to look back on my time on earth and realize that I spent so much of my life staring at a screen instead of investing my time in the things that matter. When I utilize social media, my intent is almost always to learn. Currently, I’m rarely on social media, and it’s improved various aspects of my life since making that change. However, I still spend time on YouTube (I don’t consider it identical to things such as Instagram or Snapchat). My reasons for doing so are to educate myself on Christianity. Yet, if I’m not cautious, it’s easy to fall into “doom scrolling” as I would with other forms of social media. It may not be a four-hour session as it was once on TikTok; however, the small sessions of doom scrolling accumulate over a day, week, month, and year. Reflect on your reasons for being on social media and contrast it with what you’re losing; the way we spend our time affects ourselves and those around us.

Thank You For Reading, 

John 3:16–21

David Fitzpatrick