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Social Media is an Unhealthy Distraction—and You Know It

Social media distraction is a major issue for me. On the hour, I’m bombarded by Facebook notifications. I watchfully follow reactions to my posts. Even at work, I am distracted from what I’m paid to do. I’m distracted from the vocation I love. However, I’m not alone. You know this. You’ve experienced it. Perhaps right now, while reading, you’ve wondered what’s happening on Instagram. Or maybe your eyes have lingered on a notification. Our lives are regularly disturbed, by beeps and banners on our smartphones. We’re distracted.

All of us need to reduce our time on social media so that we can better invest it elsewhere.

Of course, social media has its benefits; as do our devices. However, there must be a limit. And you’re going to have to impose and enact it. As a person who works online and with a screen, this is incredibly challenging. So where do we draw the lines? Let me say upfront, I’m not going to prescribe limits in this article. I can’t. You need to figure that out. However, I will say this: all of us probably need to reduce our time on social media. Why? So that we can better invest our time elsewhere. Below are three ways to do this.

1. Distractions Threaten Our Devotional Life

First of all, social media shouldn’t be the first thing we wake up to. As the National Alliance for Mental Health attests: “Having a morning routine can increase your energy, productivity, and positivity. It also generates momentum, building up to the brain’s peak time for cognitive work.” Essentially, it matters what we do in the morning. Especially for Christians. Social media is often little more than meaningless commotion and mindless media consumption. If it’s the first thing we do, we’re choosing to wake up to noise.

If social media is the first thing we do in our day, we’re choosing to wake up to noise.

Rather, this should be the time dedicated to Bible reading and prayer. Jewish people have a habit of giving the first part of their day to God. As the Psalmist says, “O Yahweh, in the morning you will hear my voice. In the morning I will set forth my case to you and I will watch” (Psalm 5:3; see Psalm 59:16). They dedicate their mornings to the Lord. Likewise, we should give over our day to the Lord. The most straightforward way to do this is by developing the habit of morning devotionals.

More than most, Christians should be aware of the value in morning routines. What we do when we wake up can set the course for our day. So I strongly encourage you to leave your phone aside for a few extra minutes in the morning. Fend off the distractions flying at you through social media for a little longer and meet with God.

2. God Created Us to Work; Not to Scroll

Secondly, God commands us to work diligently in our vocations. Consider 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12. Paul writes: “We urge you, brothers, to progress even more, and to aspire to live a quiet life, and to attend to your own business, and to work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you may live decently toward those outside, and may have need of nothing.” Diligent work in addition to maximum effort is concerted, focused effort. And we must aim at this, whatever our vocation.

Social media notifications are distracting interruptions. They’re hampering our work.

We all know this is hard to achieve when we’re courting distraction on social media. When we invite disruptions. Our work is regularly disturbed. But that’s often no one’s fault but our own. One study concluded that “it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task….after being distracted.” This will vary from person to person. But there’s wide consensus that focus requires attention. We’re so accustomed to them that they’ve become part of life. Yet social media notifications are distracting interruptions. They’re hampering our work, the vocations to which God has called us.

3. Take Better Care of Yourself, and Others

Embodied community is vital to human flourishing.

Finally, taking care of ourselves is indispensable to being good stewards of creation. Being created in the image of God means tending to the world God made (Genesis 2:15). Tied to this, God created us in and for community. Embodied community is vital to human flourishing. Social media simply cannot offer this. In fact, increasingly studies are finding that social media can be damaging to our mental and emotional state. We need time to be outside and active. God gave us bodies. Not only thumbs and eyes. Healthier living will mean taking time away from our screens.

Stewardship involves taking care of what God has made, which includes our bodies. Core to that is community. Real community.

Saying “Yes” to Social Media Means Saying “No” to Something Else

Social media has benefits. True. But we should dedicate our mornings to devotionals; our lives to being hard workers; and taking care of ourselves as well as others. This might mean switching off some notifications and spending less time on social media. Make it your ambition to utilise social media without abusing it. Work harder at discerning between the value of social media and the countless distractions.

Make it your ambition to utilise social media without abusing it.

Go on. Create a morning schedule. I’ve done so using Google calendar. There are other helpful tools. Use them to create healthy habits: Bible reading, prayer, and quiet. Work hard at giving your day to the Lord. Then work hard in your vocation to his glory. Finally, remember that all of your time is God’s. So as much as we all need downtime or leisure, don’t spend all of that on social media instead of loving others.

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