grahamville classical

This summer my oldest daughter and I are listening to the Set Apart Girl podcast together. Not all of the episodes are relevant for where my daughter is in life, she’s only 11, so I am going through and choosing the ones that do pertain to her life or will in the near future. Last night we listened to one about social media, and talk about stepping on toes. I am so grateful for Leslie Ludy taking a bold and biblical stance about every aspect of our lives, even when it’s not easy to listen to.

I really encourage you to listen yourself because it was that good. But I want to recap the biggest things both my daughter and I took away from it.

I also want to note that my daughter does not have social media, she does watch a few families/kids on youtube and has a silly youtube channel herself but we are treating it the same as social media because it is still giving her a platform and the same things that can go wrong with social media can just as easily do the same for vlogs.

-If our purpose in everything we do is to honor + glorify God, that goes for our social media accounts as well. Is what we are posting about pointing to Christ? Or is it idle chatter, useless and have no worth?

-If we are not careful, our social media accounts and channels can quickly become shrines of ourselves. Our face and photos all over, our life, our homes, our projects, our thoughts/opinions/emotions. Rants and complaining, all about us + me.

-People don’t see more and more of Jesus when they see more and more of US. They see more and more of Jesus when they see LESS of us. John 3:30 says “He must increase, and I must decrease“.

So how can we use our social media in a God-honoring and glorifying way?

-Purpose. Ask yourself if what you are posting has a purpose? Does it edify and point others to God or is just idol chatter? Are we posting it to show off our ___? Are we posting it to receive a self-esteem boost of compliments? Examine your heart and motives behind your post, first.

-Time. Ask yourself if you are using your time on social media wisely. Time is a precious gift and we should be using it wisely doing things that have eternal value. How long am I spending scrolling through feeds? And when am I making time to do so? Are there other things that I should be doing but am not because I am so consumed with what’s going on in social media world? Am I ignoring my family while stuck behind a screen?  Twenty minutes here and twenty minutes there add up.

-Content. When you are on social media, who are you following? What content are you looking at? Are you following people who post about things that are uplifting and strengthening your walk? Or are you scrolling through photos of homes, families, bodies and lives that make you unsatisfied with what you have now?

I am especially guilty in this area and have drastically weeded out the list of people and companies I follow. I don’t need to be filling my mind with photos of peoples “picture perfect” high end homes that leave me wanting to change everything about my own home or feel that my own home isn’t big enough, good enough, nice enough, the right paint color, or needing to be updated. Not to mention, the time that is put into these homes is unobtainable for me with eight kids and a crazy schedule. And budget- did I mention 8 kids? Don’t fill your mind with things that make you less satisfied and happy with your life. Unfollow all of the perfect home IG accounts. If you struggle with body image and self-esteem, unfollow accounts that make you obsessed with your body and working out, or that make you feel that you should be- because there is so much more to life.

I am constantly and never-ending cleaning out my list and I’m trying to narrow it down to family, real-life friends, and accounts that I have things in common with which I can gain tips/tricks/inspiration from (large families, homeschooling families + adoptive families).

This may all sound negative towards social media, because it’s something so widely used and an idol for so many who do not even realize it. It has no eternal value, so we will be praying together about how we can use it to honor the Lord because we do truly enjoy it- and that’s OK! It’s ok to like instagram or facebook or whichever platform you choose.  But be careful and mindful.  Use it to further the kingdom of God vs. letting it become an obsession and idol that steals our time and leaves us empty and dissatisfied.

You can find the link to the podcast here 🙂