Five Social Media Suggestions

Note: this is one of a few archived blog posts I carried over from my old site just for fun and to preserve some “history.” It may or may not reflect current thoughts or feelings. This post is from April 2011.

Two of the main spiritual dangers of social media are obsession/addiction and narcissism. Most young people (and lots of older people as well) check social media before they even get out of bed and constantly throughout the day. Some have even admitted missing their phone while in the shower! The link between social media and an increase in narcissism has been well documented. Social media sites can foster a selfish, inward focused, all-about-me mentality. We can easily become obsessed with cultivating our online image.

With these dangers in mind (and there are many more), here are five social media suggestions to help keep a healthy balance:

1. Practice a Social Media Fast

Don’t look at your social media accounts for one or two weeks and see what you notice about yourself.

2. Have a Social Media Sabbath

Have a day each week where you take a break from social media. At the very least, have a night where you rest from the social media world.

3. Be Careful With the First and Last Parts of Your Day

Instead of checking social media first thing in morning and last thing at night, read the Bible, pray, or just read a book (for the Bible’s advice on the first and last parts of our day, see Psalm 5:3; 92:1-2; 119:55). Guard the bookends of your day.

4. Don’t Separate Your Worlds

Realize the virtual world is an extension of the real world. You can’t be a Christian everywhere in your life but not online. Sin is sin, whether online or in person. Gossip, arrogance, jealously, and other sins are still sins even in the virtual world.

5. Give Priority to Real Relationships

Studies are showing that the upcoming generation is dangerously lacking in social skills. People talk to people more online than they do in person. Make sure you are spending more physical time with your family and/or spouse than you are online in social media.

The problem is not using the technology. The problem is using it without reflection and without pause to think about what it is doing in our lives. As Christians, we should not just blindly jump into something and never pause to reflect on how these technologies impact our lives.