“Most neuroses and some psychoses can be traced to the unnecessary
and unhealthy habit of daily wallowing in the troubles and sins of five billion strangers.”
-Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
Let’s be honest-
How many Facebook friends do you have?
How many followers do you have?
How many people do you follow?
Now-
How many of those do you actually know,
and/or talk to on a somewhat routine basis?
If you’re anything like me, the answer is, very few.
So why have them?
I not too long ago completely deleted my Facebook, stayed off it for a month, and then decided to just make a whole new one.
I was only going to add family, co-workers, and close friends.
Before deleting my original page I had over 1,500 friends. 1,500.
My, oh my.
Un-plugging from the world
Is there a purpose other than just to see how many friends and followers we can get?
I’ve struggled lately with my personal walk with God, which in return has affected the way I voice myself online.
I have (well, had) two different Twitter accounts.
One for my friends, where I said what I wanted, and complained as often as I wanted.
And one for my writing and Jesus-talk; the ‘good-girl’ side.
Why?
I then realized that I was hiding the fact that I am a follower of Christ.
Well, according to Kyle Idleman’s book Not A Fan, I wasn’t even being a follower at all.
I was praising God when the context was ‘appropriate’.
Where my non-christian friends wouldn’t see it too often.
Where I could say what I wanted and not have to worry who would see.
Where nobody would judge me, because well, they were doing the same thing.
But why?
I decided to make a change.
But instead of deleting my ‘do-what-I-want’ Twitter, I deleted my ‘good-girl’ Twitter.
I already have a great number of followers on my personal one, so why not start there?
If I’m going to truly change my ways,
I need to do it in the place where I may even be judged.
I need to do it in the place where I may even be mocked.
I need to do it in the place where I may even be ‘un-followed’.
The purpose behind Social-Networks
I have been guilty lately of using my Twitter account to literally dump my negative thoughts, baggage, complaints, and junk.
This was brought to my attention so strongly, recently.
I realized I was abusing social media.
Instead of separating my faith from my networks, I need to use these networks to reach out to those non-christian friends.
I need to embrace those that don’t see eye-to-eye with me;
I need to not be afraid to truly follow Jesus.
And in doing so, I need to make sure that others see it.
We have so much power at our hands!
So many opportunities to reach out to people!
There are millions of people on social network sites, daily.
That’s a million chances to bring the light of Jesus to somebody.
That’s a million chances to step up for Jesus.
That’s a million chances to show you are a follower of Christ.
Use it.
Don’t abuse it.
The next step
So what now?
Well, take a risk.
Use your social media connections to shine a little light of Jesus.
I have challenged myself.
To reach out to others.
To show I am a follower of Jesus.
No matter how many people un-follow or un-friend me.
For example, everyday I make it a routine to write on a random friend’s wall.
No reason. No motive. No gain.
Just a little note of love, prayer, and inspiration.
I have also refrained from posting any negative comments, complaints, and phrases on both Twitter and Facebook.
It is not a dumping ground.
I need to bring my troubles to the Lord, not the internet. (a lesson we could all do well to adopt)
They’re little steps.
But they show a difference.
I want to live a life where people can look at me and know I am a follower of Christ.
Even on my social-networks.
How often do you use your social-network sites as a dumping ground? Could you use a good ‘ole media cleanse? I challenge you.
Related articles
- Some thoughts on the crowded field of social networks… (shannonturlington.com)
- Avoid Overloading Social Media Networks with Useless Noise (blogs.constantcontact.com)
- Can We Go Wrong “Following Jesus?” (ptl2010.com)
- www.notafan.com (Kyle Idleman)
“I want to live a life where people can look at me and know I am a follower of Christ.
Even on my social-networks.” AMEN!
Shalom, Art
It is truly a challenge, but either you’re all in or you’re all out.
God Bless!
Hi Katherine, what a joy that your heart is responding to God’s call to stand up for Him regardless of the cost and when we do we are greatly blessed.
Some say I have the gift of Evangelism others that I’m a teacher but I just can’t help sharing about Jesus, I Love Him so much and I’m also passionate about the beauty of His creation, so I create Power points and e-mails which have a Christian message. Like you Katherine I got fed up with the superficiality of what I was receiving and doing but it is still ok to be real, I love your honesty you have a beautiful heart, I have been praying for you.
We need to be able to express our hurt , disappointments etc with those close to us or even a stranger if needed, in doing this I have made friends with some of them, being real allows others to be too. God tells us as His Body we are to carry each others burdens and to even cry with each other as well as rejoice, we are family we are one.
God bless you greatly Katherine and Christian Love from us – Anne
It is such a blessing to hear that! I truly have a passion for reaching out to people who I don’t even know; I believe that a single prayer can go so far.
It is great to be able to connect with fellow followers of Christ, and be able to openly express our love for the Lord, and even our aignst, at times!
Thank you for your kind words, Anne!
God Bless & Many Prayers!
This is a wonderful post; I have been in similar situations a few times online. It can be healthy to have an outlet, but it is so easy for the internet to transform from a constructive place to a destructive place.
Your challenge to yourself (and us) is well worth pondering.
Exactly. I think it just becomes so easy for us to fall into this trap of spilling our baggage all over the internet.
There’s got to be a filter in there somewhere.
I’ve noticed that both in friendships I have that are maintained mainly through the internet and on social networks that there is a lot more emotional dumping and/or transparency. I think that a lot of that trend, and the ease with which we slip into emotional dumping, is explained by the fact that when we type something out to a computer screen, it doesn’t feel like we are broadcasting it to the world. Instead, it has an almost private feel to it; the network becomes our diary. However, unlike our diary, we can also receive attention and feedback for what we say, which taps into our desire for fame and attention.
It is quite the deadly combination really: a false sense of intimacy and a puffed up sense of pride. Perhaps that is why so many people on the internet come across as jerks? We feel like little kings of our turf online.
Filters are so incredibly vital to a healthy life, yet we neglect them so often….
I wholeheartedly agree. I, myself, feel it so much easier to express myself through written (typed) words; it’s freeing. I am also more likely to vent this way. I never really realized how negative I started to become this way…
It is dangerous. But I do feel like it can be healthy, done in the right way. But you’re right, we tend to neglect those filters and boundaries.
Writing does the same thing for me; I can express myself clearly without hesitation and it is an exhilarating feeling. It is an overused quote, but I think that the Spiderman movies hit the nail on the head: “With great power comes great responsibility.” We’ve got these awesome platforms for communication that were not available a few years ago, and we have got to keep a close eye on how we use them. The Bible talks about the tongue being incredibly powerful–I think it applies to the written word as well as the spoken.
Right, the internet and all forms of media have given us such an upper hand at reaching out to those, that normally we would never even know. We do have so much power, and i think that sometimes we like to use this power for our own selfish gain; fame, attention, selfish gain, etc. It’s easy for this to happen.
Which is what I struggled with, until I realized that I really was using this all wrong. I have endless opportunities here, to inspire people, to reach out to the broken, and to comfort the hurting.
Just like everything else in life, it’s not about us. & sadly, that’s over looked daily.