Last week I talked about why I think we should use our phones less. I’ve been really feeling the Holy Spirit challenging me to put my phone away & focus on other things. I’ve currently been monitoring my phone usage & it’s absolutely embarrassing how much time I spend on my phone. Granted I’ve been required to use it a lot at work, but still. In this past week, I picked up my phone a total of 404 times. That’s with an hour a day of no screen time. Earlier this week I had a really meaningful discussion with a close friend about social media & how it’s such a great tool to use, but we quickly started talking about how dangerous social media is & how we find ourselves getting sucked in & how addicted we’ve become. Later on, in the evening, we ended up watching an episode from this show Black Mirror (disclaimer this is not a show I watch or recommend watching, this episode just happened to catch our attention). I want to share a scene with you because it had us thinking quite seriously about how we’re using social media after we watched it.
How many of us stage photos for social media? How many of us have looked at someone else’s photo wishing it was us? How many of us have posted something to get a reaction from only a specific group of people? How many of us have fallen into the trap of comparison when scrolling through social media? I’m sure everyone reading this can admit one of these things you’re guilty of & I’m not here to judge, I get it. We’ve been conditioned in fact phones are designed to keep us addicted.
Okay so now you know all of this information how do you start to use your phone in a better way? One of the ways I’ve been working on this is by asking myself what’s the purpose? What’s my purpose for sharing this post? Is it to help people? Is it to get more likes? Is it because I’m genuinely excited about this thing? Is it to feel accepted? Is it to impress someone? What’s my purpose to be on Instagram right now? First off, do I have time? Am I wanting to connect with people? Am I bored? Do I have something else I should be doing? It’s really been helping me to evaluate what’s really important & what I should really be focusing on. I really believe God has great things for every person, but sometimes those things require us to work hard & focus & if we’re constantly distracted by our phones & caught up trying to be accepted we’ll miss what God has for us. I don’t want to miss out on the exciting moments of my life because hold on, I got to post this on Instagram or miss out on the people God wants me to touch because I’m too busy scrolling through Instagram instead of being sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Please don’t misunderstand me when I say social media is an amazing tool & I think it’s great, I just believe we need to have healthy boundaries when it comes to social media. I hope you hear my heart & I hope you’re challenged to spend more time away from your phone. You’ll discover you have a lot more time.
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
Ecclesiastes 3:1
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Galatians 1:10
Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.
Love,
She Laughs Mission 