Yesterday, this girl stayed, for the most part, away from the three social media sites for the day. Give me a medal. (Ha. Ha.) In addition, I aimed to rest my mind and heart and focus my attention. Would you believe I actually took a media break? I realized quite a few things that jarred the senses.
- I pick up my phone habitually. I finally put my phone in another room.
- I think about my phone when I am not on my phone. WHAT.
- Scrolling is mindless and takes precious time.
- Waiting for people to respond to certain messages is unnecessary baggage. On the flip, I realized I do that to people as well.
- I had more time.
Balancing act
Here’s the rub, we are in our houses. Admittedly, how do we keep up with life, our people, news, etc? I’m finding that less time on my phone is helping my mood, my peace, my outlook. I do not want to be out of touch or not know what is happening with the people in my life.
Friends, there’s the target right there. We equate being on social media with being in touch with the people. When we scroll through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, please name a time you jumped on and off and felt encouraged and uplifted. If anything, you ended your time feeling a bit discouraged, comparing yourself, upset, angry, or all of the above.
Eye on the…
Clearly, a more focused intention in my social media time is necessary. Let’s be honest, we follow certain people and can search for them easily.
- Facebook steals so much time! As a result, my time here targets to people, messenger and not to scrolling. I post videos here as well and try to respond.
- Instagram is a scrolling app. With this in mind, I search who I want to see and I spend less time. I also use the DM function.
- Twitter sends me notifications for the people I follow when they “tweet”. I do not scroll normally here either.
- Snap chat is used to correspond with friends.
Perfect?
Let’s be honest, I’m not perfect with this. Clearly, I have so far to go with this battle in my life. Learning so much. Here are my tips if you want take a breather from your phone.
- Find the “do not disturb” on your phone and use it at night. Better yet, keep the phone in a different room at night. (I haven’t gotten to this point.)
- Leave your phone in a different room. Keep it there.
- Have a designated times to check your phone.
- Be intentional with your time on your phone.
- If your people are in the same room, make a point to spend some of that time with the phone down. Even if they don’t, watch what happens.
Love one another
Look, at the end of my life, I do not want the most important people of my life to wonder if they were. Furthermore, as I think about my habits of scrolling through social media, it steals joy and time. I spend more time wondering if I misunderstood or have been misunderstood.
34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13 HCSB
The radical love of Jesus attacks the culture’s idea of love. Think of the love of Jesus and how the blood poured. Come, eat, this is my body. Cultural love focuses on physical, easy (until it’s not), self-focused.
Jesus blasts this idea to dust. Lay down your life. Lay down your plans. Die to yourself. Love one another. Are there specifics here? No. Love another. You have been loved, go love.
When we remove a huge time waster from our lives, we have an opportunity to do the new commandment.
Friends, a high calling, let’s go.
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