Following the Crowd

   If you ask most people what they could not live without, what do you think they would say? I’m betting at least 50% would say they could not live without some sort of technology. And, for some people that technology may be related to social media. What is it with social media? I mean, it’s been around for how long? At first, it was great for people to see what is going on in other people’s lives; but now it has been taken to the extreme. Kids are being cyberbullied for crying out loud! Then there are other people who are just worried about how many followers they have. So is social media really that great of a thing?
   I believe that social media can be a good thing, if used properly. It can be used to help witness to others and people can use social media to catch up with people they normally do not see or talk to. But, according to The Telegraph which is an online magazine, the average person spends about 1 hour and 40 minutes on social media sites per day. And we talk about not having time to do things, ha! Then we have people who complain about how much time is spent on social media; and how kids should be doing something more active. I’m not saying I disagree with those people but I do have something to say to them.
   If you want children to stop spending so much time on social media, you need to give them something else to do. You cannot say to a child “get off Facebook” and expect them to do something else. Like I said before, social media has become our lives. Children are worried about how many followers and likes they have. It is where they find their identity; and that can be a very scary thing. We have become so disconnected that it takes a screen for us to get connected. Children need to have social interactions with other people, face to face in order to understand the world around them. We wonder why children are not developing properly; well it’s because we are not doing our job! We are called to mentor the young. We need to develop every child socially, emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. If we continue to follow this path, we are in for some rough time my friends.

   So what can we do to combat social media? Well, first off we can be disciplined; and we can discipline our children. We need to limit our time on social media; because, not only is it taking away from our jobs and relationships, it is also taking away from our time with God.
   When most people are asked "do you spend time with God every day?" I bet they say they just don't have time. Is that really true? Maybe instead of spending ten minutes on social media we should spend that time with God. After all, he created us so maybe it's time we give him a little bit of our time.
   Also, we wonder why our country is going downhill. It is because people find their identity in things other than God. Many times I hear children bragging about how many likes their post or picture got. But, when someone doesn't have many followers they are picked on and bullied. It doesn't matter how many followers they we have! What matters is that we are children of God. He loves us and cares for us; and that is what should matter to us.
   So, rather than spending time on social media are you going to spend time with God? Where do you find your identity? Is it in the things of this world, or in God?
Genesis 1:27, 1 Corinthians 12:27, 1 John 3:1-3