How to stay sane on social media

I remember when the internet became a thing. It was really exciting to see how far technology was going to turn the vast world I grew up knowing into a small global village. The only thing separating humans now were physical borders. Before emails, writing physical letters were a thing for me. I had to write letters to my brother whenever I was going off to boarding school and he had to keep me updated on my favorite TV shows through letters as well.

Funfact: I was writing my stories with pen and paper long before I had a computer to type into.

Yep, I was part of that generation where diskettes and CDs were a big deal!

So imagine the huge relief when technological advancements flooded the world. But with great technology comes great responsibility. While social media has proven to be a huge impact, like everything else designed by man, it has it’s side effects. It’s easy to get swallowed up by all the social media frenzy and despise our little beginnings. Because we are visual creatures, we tend to judge things based on everything we see forgetting that people post up what they want others to see. Humans are the ones behind the scenes of social media and like a show, the audience is there to watch.

But sometimes it doesn’t feel that way. Trust me I’ve been there before, where the fear of missing out held me bound and hindered me from seeing beyond making a mark on social media. Feelings of jealousy, comparison and being left behind tormented me until God asked me to let go. I didn’t know it had a huge impact on my soul until God asked me to let go of everything. It was in my letting go my freedom came to be. And you can be free too.

Understand that social media is NOT your life

And you can do without it. For someone who loved sharing everything God was teaching me online, I learned how to stop sharing and be fine with it. I had to learn how to wait on God and be okay with the revelation God gave me to be for my heart only. I also realized growing in this knowledge was more important than sharing. It’s really a thin line between the revealed word and a life that’s truly living out the revealed word.

Life existed before social media and it will continue to exist outside social media. You don’t really miss out. After returning from my social media hiatus from the Blog, Instagram and Twitter, (for about two years), it felt as if I hadn’t really missed out on anything. If there’s one thing I’ve discovered about obeying God and putting Him as the first and only priority, he makes all things new and years you think you may have lost not doing anything is automatically restored back to you.

Jesus spent 3 years of his life doing ministry and those 3 years are far greater than hundred of years people spend living outside God’s will or based on the fear of missing out.

Perhaps you lack the strength to give it up… take it one step at a time. You can reduce the time you spend on social media. If you usually spend 2 hours, you can bring it down to 90 minutes for one week. The next week can be 60 minutes and then 30 minutes. Have a journal where you document your activities on social media and keep yourself accountable.

Make a daily date with Jesus

The more I wanted to draw closer to God, I realized I had to sacrifice some things. I no longer watch movies the way I used to in the past. I tend to spend shorter time on Instagram and twitter as well. Pinterest was slowly becoming my kryptonite but God is helping me. There was a time I’d spend my time doing almost everything during the day but when it was time to fellowship with God, I would doze off until the next morning. Not good. For a while, this continued. I would wake up feeling guilty that a day had gone without fellowshipping with my Lord and Savior. For believers, our productivity lies in aligning ourselves with God’s voice and his will for each day. A successful day is when we are able to discern what the Lord is saying about our day and how we gave in to the Spirit over the flesh.

When you make it a daily duty to carve out time for your maker, other things will be sacrificed. This also makes you resist tapping that Instagram button when it’s just staring at you. Even if God has called us to share some things on social media or check a message on social media, we must be careful to ensure that every other aspect of our natural life is sorted before going online, which leads me to the next point.

Resist the urge to use Instagram as an escape route

Anything can be an escape route, but social media is a very addictive one and without self-control, you can easily slip down the rabbit hole. From one post to another and you’d discover time has gone. Do you know if you had used prayer or God’s word as an escape route, you’d be filled? Social media never filled anybody. Only God does. Seeking satisfaction in his word above scrolling mindlessly on social media saves lives. My soul knows the difference when social media serves as my escape route and when I resist that urge and run to Jesus instead. It’s so easy to see these things as negligible, but you’d be surprised that those are the details that matter. Those are the little drops of water that make an ocean. This is how love is built over time.

Understand who you are in Christ

When I didn’t know my purpose, it was easy to see every other person as a competitor and grow jealous and discontent. And because the world made us believe the more followers you have, the more validated you’ll be, we tend to tie our calling to the number of followers we have or the people who validate God’s calling over our lives. But when understanding came that Jesus was/is my purpose, it freed me and made me more laid back when scrolling on social media. There’s no point doing so much if it won’t count in heaven or if I wasn’t led. And just because men feel it’s huge doesn’t mean it’s huge to God.

Understanding who you are in Christ Jesus will strengthen you even when jealousy comes knocking. Even if people seem to be having it better than you based on what they post online, it’s okay. In fact, the bible tells us we must prefer our brothers above ourselves. And if they’re not having it better, it’s their business. The goal is to face your lane while celebrating others.

I’m daily learning to find contentment in Jesus. Jesus wants us to live from a place of rest. A place where the fear of tomorrow doesn’t motivate us to make decisions and the fear of missing out will no longer fill us with dread and discontentment.

In Christ, I have everything I need and this enables me to navigate social media wisely. Not that I’ve perfected it, but I’m still growing. So I pray you find the strength to let go and let God. This is how anything you do (including browsing social media) can bring Him glory.

Bloom with Love. Xx!