Engaging Social Media Wisely

On Monday, October 4th, three of the most popular apps in the world stopped working. What are those three apps?

Facebook
Instagram
WhatsApp

All three of those apps are owned by Facebook, the epitome of social media.

Let me say each of those platforms has a lot of benefits they can bring to your life like connecting with people who are physically distant from you, creating a sense of community for people who cannot get away from their homes, and exposing us to a wealth of experiences we likely wouldn’t have on our own.

But each of those platforms has some downsides as well. For instance, the ‘I’ll just look at one thing to only find myself here for 37 minutes syndrome’, constant ads interrupting what is supposed to be your downtime, and the dark side of someone we love venting their frustrations online in an unhealthy way.

Knowing both the good and the bad of social media makes me wonder if perhaps October 4th, 2021, was secretly a gift to you and me.

Perhaps it is an opportunity to evaluate how much we use social media, how we use it, and if we should even use it all.

As we evaluate the role of social media in our lives, I want to give each of us tips on how to engage with social media wisely.

Be gracious with your fingers.

“Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.” – Colossians 4:6 The Message

The typical post on social media is text. Even when you post a photo or video, you still create a caption. Your fingers are saying a lot about who you are and what you believe.

As a follower of Jesus, I’m keenly aware that everything I put online stays there forever. Even after I delete it, it still exists on a server waiting to be resurrected at someone else’s convenience.

So when you post or comment, be sure to be positive and encouraging, you know, like K-Love.

Negativity shouts and positivity whispers.

It’s almost cliche to talk about how negative social media can be, but cliches only come to exist after they've been proven true over the long haul.

It has been proven that most social media algorithms show negative posts because negative posts get more interaction.

Positive posts, on the other hand, tend to go unnoticed.

Negativity shouts and positivity whispers.

We have to learn how to whisper on social media instead of shouting.

Learn to only like or share positive posts. Don’t add to the noise by making a negative post get more interaction, instead, create peace and calmness with posts that whisper.

Bonus – This will help you create a feed that is full of positive content instead of negative content.

Be quick to read and slow to post.

James 1:19 says, "Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger."

To translate that to social media would be quick to read another’s perspective, be cautious about commenting or making a counter post, and if it makes you angry, close the app without responding.

If you still feel you need to respond later, it’s probably best done through a private message in a way that reflects Jesus.

Filter Your Follows

Some psychological studies have shown that when you are primed with certain words related to a topic, you tend to mimic that topic.

The most famous of these studies was one showing that people who were given a task sorting words typically associated with elderly people then walked slower immediately after the task was complete.

This would suggest that following and interacting with people online who are often negative will cause you to also view things from a negative perspective and perhaps even act based on their influencing attitude.

We all need to filter who we follow.

This may be difficult to do because you feel guilty about unfollowing someone you know. I get that, if you just absolutely feel you can not completely unfollow them, you can still mute them so they don’t show up in your feed.

By unfollowing (or muting) those who are constantly negative on social media it will help you create a feed that is filled with positive content instead of negative content.

In turn, you’ll likely start to view things from a more positive perspective and perhaps even act based on your newly influenced attitude.

Guard Your Phone

I’m not talking about protecting your phone from your significant other, your kid, or being dropped. Guarding your phone is drawn from Proverbs 4:23 NLT – “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

What do we look at before we lay down at night?

What do we look at when we wake up in the morning?

What do we go back home for when we forget it?

What do we pick up absentmindedly and begin to engage with?

Our phones.

Our phones aren’t our hearts, but increasingly, the phone seems to be the place where we draw the course of our lives from.

So guard your phone by purposefully placing limits on your social media usage.

Your phone will allow you to set time limits on certain apps and schedule times you can’t be on certain apps. Use those so you aren’t wasting opportunities to spend time with people face to face.

Be mindful of your social media usage so you don’t miss the chance to grow in your relationship with Jesus. (Maybe hop on the YouVersion Bible App instead.)

You can be on your phone, just make sure you don’t let social media keep you from fulfilling your purpose in Jesus daily!

Summing it up

• Be gracious with your fingers.

• Negativity shouts and positivity whispers.

• Be quick to read and slow to post.

• Filter your follows.

• Guard your phone.

(Originally posted on October 5th, 2021.)