The Religious Nerd

Around 2 years ago a friend of mine at work asked me why I didn’t have a Facebook account.  I quickly replied (with attitude in my voice) that I believe Facebook was a massive waste of time, and that your real friends will call or text you, or see you in person.  I thought internet friendships were foolish.  My friend then listed off some of the advantages of using social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc.  The main advantage being daily contact with friends and family who live far away.

I agreed with my friends reasoning and created my own Facebook account.  As my Facebook friends list grew in size and diversity, I became more and more interested in updating my profile, making posts, and interacting with others. After a year or so passed, my brain became wired to check Facebook everytime I opened up a web browser.  In fact, a couple weeks ago I deactivated my Facebook account and within a day or two found myself typing in “facebook.com” without even being consciously aware I was doing it!

The thing that I once thought was a huge waste of time quickly became the very thing I spent a ton of time doing.  For example, if you were to ask my wife’s younger family members about me, they would likely joke that I’m always on facebook and that I’m a facebook addict.  They would often say “nothing gets past Brandon” implying that I monitor Facebook so frequently that I pretty much know everything going on in everyones lives.

I used to laugh their comments off, and dismiss them under the guise that my social media activity was primarily for evangelistic reasons (even though I spent half the time talking about guns, politics, religion, and engaging in debates with people.)  Eventually I realized that my cover story was a big lie, and that I had become a social media addict.  I also realized that I am not alone as an addict, and that many of my friends are hooked as well.

About 3 weeks ago I decided that I was going to go on a social media fast. I’ve used the time I would have spent on Facebook to complete school work, spend more time with my wife and daughter, and spend time thinking about how I let my social media addiction get out of hand. During this time I thought of 4 different ways social media was ruining me.

1) Social media can become idol worship and Christians should only idolize the Triune God. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21. You need to determine whether or not you have a social media addiction.  Ask yourself some of these questions: If you can’t go more than a day or two without checking your Facebook account, Twitter feed, Youtube, or Instagram, you likely have a problem.  If you are sitting at the dinner table with your family and are constantly checking your smartphone for updates, you likely have a problem.  If you think it’s a good idea to take pictures of yourself in a bathroom mirror with a ridiculous duck face while flashing silly gang signs and upload them onto social media for everyone to enjoy, your problem is so bad I can’t do anything to help you! If you have a literal panic attack when you lose your smartphone, you have a problem.  The problem is that you have become addicted to electronics and social media and these things have become idols in your heart. This behavior is sinful, and should be identified and stopped immediately.

2) Social media is “ME” oriented while the Bible is Jesus oriented. Your social media experience is often centered around you. Believe it or not, you are not the center of the universe! The Bible says: “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23.  The “like” function of Facebook is specifically designed to give the user a satisfying experience that makes them want to come back again and again, just like cocaine.  When you put up a clever religious or political themed post and someone clicks the “like” button you feel a sense of satisfaction that people agree with you, or relate to what you have said.  A lot of the time people will respond to your clever post by giving you affirmation of your cleverness or telling you how much that comment meant to them.  While the motives of the viewer who “likes” your comments and affirms your cleverness are indeed positive and often done with love, the end result is a boost in your ego. If you disagree with that, you are  likely addicted to Facebook yourself and in denial. If you are a Christian in a leadership role, or have influence over a community of believers, you are extremely susceptible to becoming “Me” centered in your motives (even if no one else discovers it.)

3) There is no “dislike” feature on social media which in turn makes it difficult for you to handle criticism.  Because of this, a person who disagrees with your comment has to either type out their disagreement, or find a different way to voice their opinion.The problem with disagreeing on Facebook is that people quickly become defensive and argumentative,  or the friends of the person who posted originally will team up on the person who disagreed with the intent of making them appear foolish.  There are a lot of social media thugs out there, I have been guilty of social media thuggery as well.  I will “like” the comment that my friend put up, and not “like” the comment of people who disagree with me or my friend. “Likes” can be used to electronically punch people in the face.  “Likes” can be used to say “I’m smarter, more popular, or better than you and all of my likes prove it”.  All of this has created a generation of wussies who can’t handle criticism.  Unfortunately, in the real world, not everyone agrees with you.  Your boss doesn’t agree with everything you say, nor does your wife, or kids. You have to train yourself to be teachable and be willing to learn new things, and read different perspectives.

4) Kill your social media (and electronic) idols before they kill you. There are some practical methods you can use to get rid of your addictions.  Personally, I quit using Facebook over two weeks ago.  Since I kept finding myself typing in “facebook.com” or clicking the Facebook icon on my Smartphone, I deactivated my account all together.  Because of that, I no longer receive push notifications, personal messages, and am required to type in my password to reactivate my account.  In the past couple weeks I have managed to successfully unwire my brain from social media addiction.  I don’t feel the need to tell everyone about the sandwich I had for lunch today.  I don’t feel the need to put up some clever religious post with the goal of getting lots of “likes” and “amens”.  I don’t feel the need to check my smartphone while sitting at the dinner table with my family.  I haven’t wondered what someone will think about me because I said something controversial for the whole world to read about.  You can do the same right now.  Take a break from Facebook, Twitter, or your Smartphone, and examine where your heart is.  Chances are, you probably are a social media idolater too!  Ask your family members or loved ones if they think you have a social media (electronics) problem.  Put that sin to death and enjoy all of the time you have for more important things in life such as your family.

May God bless you abundantly!