Yesterday, instead of checking social media, I did a load of laundry. I cleared the dishes off the counter. I made a jug of lemonade. I touched up some paint on the walls where it had gotten scuffed. And I went for a walk with my husband.
I was able to do those things because I’ve deleted my social media accounts—and I’m still in the cage stage, so if we were sitting together over a cup of coffee, I’d try to convince you to quit too.
The truth is, you don’t need to quit social media just because I did. But it is wise to think intentionally about the time you spend there, just as you’d be wise to weigh any other activity in your life. How do you feel when you log on? When you log off? Does it help you love your neighbor? Do the people you’re following turn your heart toward the Lord?
There’s much that is good about social media. Women can discover good Bible studies, find kinship in rare life circumstances, and spur one another on toward Christ there. Used well, social media can serve neighbors and glorify God.
Used well, social media can serve neighbors and glorify God.
But there’s also much to watch out for. We can waste our time. We can feel anxious and overwhelmed by burdens we aren’t meant to carry. We can judge others quickly and harshly, envy other people for the lives they’re showcasing, or feel defeated and depressed about the body or home or circumstances God has given us.
Maybe you’re not sure what to think or how to competently evaluate your own social media use. That’s where I was a few months ago. Social media is a mixed bag, and it’s hard to know if the joy in connecting with friends or laughing at memes is worth the guilt over time wasted or the regret for not giving people in your real life your full attention.
Join Us?
I don’t know all the answers, but I do know a great place to start digging into this conversation. Over the past year, a team of eight women—all with different levels of social media engagement, all wise, all following Jesus—wrote a book with me. They each took a chapter, exploring issues such as identity, influence, relationships, and time management. They prayed and thought about the good social media offers, the problems it introduces, and the ways we can align our engagement there with God’s Word.
While writing the book, we discovered two things. First, because we generally use social media on our own, it’s profitable to talk about our experience there with others. A spouse or friend or daughter or mom or sister can verify that we’re not crazy (or gently tell us that yeah, we are a little crazy!) and can see our strengths and weaknesses better than we can.
Second, we realized there was far more to say than could ever fit into a book. As we went along, we kept uncovering new ideas and analogies and insights.
So after we crammed as much as we could into the pages, I sat down with each author to talk more about the ideas in her chapter and how they played out in her real-life Instagram stories or Facebook posts.
I’m thrilled to invite you to join us for these conversations. Here are the details:
As the videos release, you can find them here: socialsanitybook.com
Each video is about 45 minutes long.
We’ll release one each Thursday.
We’ll end after nine weeks. (One week for each chapter and the afterward.)
You’re welcome to listen on your own, or you could watch with a group of friends, neighborhood moms, or church ladies. You certainly don’t need to have the book to reap some benefits, but it might be helpful, because nearly everything here is new content, stepping off where the book ends.
Either way, we hope this sparks good ideas, robust discussions, and more healthy habits in your own life.
The Gospel Coalition