I’m guessing if you’re reading this, like me, you feel poisoned by the onslaught of post-election laments, rants, hate-slinging and terror posted on social media and broadcast on television news. Like me, you’re also probably somewhat addicted to reading, which in itself is a good habit, but in this technology age, social media is like bait, luring us like a giant worm on a fishing hook into an ocean sized library of opinions, blogs, 140 character soundbites and 21st Century laments. On occasion we discover an island sanctuary, where a poem or an Internet prophet calms our soul. Internet reading choices, like a thousands species of fish in the sea, satisfy erudition, bookish cravings. Entertainment television offers escape. Yet, soon enough we feel waterlogged. Our brains loaded with abundant blog fish and Twitter sushi, we promise we’ll fast more often.
I promised myself the other night when I felt envious when a friend told me she’s never on Facebook or social media, that I’d cut my social networking in half or more. I wasn’t coveting her lovely house by the beach. I envied her social media-free, low-sensate nerve endings that makes her calm in an otherworldly sort of way.
I thought of Jesus in midst of the despair of his day, when injustice reigned under the power of political forces and religious legalism, he roamed from town to town listening to laments of the poor, the broken, the neglected and the sick. Moving in step with the first century pace, he heard the cries of injustice face to face.
Jesus wasn’t inundated by onslaughts of rants, harrassment, terror, cries and outrage at Internet speeds that we download today into our minds and hearts. His culture didn’t have heart-bearing public media sessions like those launched on the Phil Donahue show in the 1970’s, evolving into broadcast therapy sessions on Oprah and Dr. Phil, digressing into platforms in the likes of the Howard Stern Show, and trash TV like the Jerry Springer show. Jesus would surely turn over tables knowing the Twitter hate and Internet bullying between Christians with different theological perspectives in the name of Christ. Although he knew religious hypocrisy well, and the problems of blending politics and religion, and although he knew white supremacists and skinhead types of his day, even dining with some of these folks, the difference is, in the first century Jesus faced them in real-time, not reel time, not fiber-optics time.
His technology free ministry gave him ample time to retreat to quiet places to pray, where, on a regular basis, he brought his cares to God. Of course we can do the same, but it’s harder for us when technology has become an extension of ourselves, when we’re temptated to grab our phones by our bedside for one last peak.
Last night before bed, I said, ‘just one last blog’. I read a post shared by a friend on Facebook written by a mother, a popular blogger I read on occasion. She wrote about the terror she felt after internet harassment and threats from those from the alt-right movement who harassed her family for having black children. She wrote, they “inundated all of my social media sites with racist memes, posting altered racist photos of my young children and suggesting violence towards me and sexual behavior in regards to my kids.” They even posted her address and photo of her house.
Her words struck my nerves light lightening. Already tired from a long day, I had no defenses. Sorrow filling my weary soul caused a restless sleep. I woke with despair. Sure, atrocities went on in Jesus’ days, but such news didn’t travel at light speed to a device in the hands of someone going to bed. We need to be careful of the post-traumatic stress from too much information and hate flooding into our minds from media. We need the spirit of self-control to limit our media usage. If our phones have become like extensions of our hands, then put them out of sight, or turn off the TV and take a week off from Facebook (deliver us from temptation oh Lord!)
Even more so in this precarious Information Age, we need ample time for abiding in God’s love, for hearing and knowing God’s will. Yet, this requires receptivity and a calm and humble spirit so we can hear God’s call in order to do our part in fulfilling the dire needs of the world. This requires the awareness that technology, with all it’s power, is not our god. It means chosing healthy online habits, and making prayer and time with God a priority.
My work requires a good deal of computer work, and keeping step with worldly affairs. But I know the dangers of being pulled into the media vortex. I’m doing a few things this week. I’m limiting media time other than work to 30 minutes a day to check news on one or two sites I trust, and to read a few blogs. Before bedtime, I’m leaving my phone downstairs, away from my bed. I’ve used my phone as a clock, so I’m replacing it with a clock. I’m trashing my Facebook phone app which vibrates when someone posts, making it more tempting to view the news threads many times a day.
By limiting our media use and spending more time in prayer and with God, we immerse ourselves in love, for God is love. In love, there is no fear, including no fear of the state of our world. Entering into the kingdom of love is where we build our faith, humility and hope. This is how we become lights on the hill.
Promise me, promise yourself, and I’m with you in this. Unplug often, take walks, close your door and pray, avoid the temptation to turn on your phone by the bedside and instead, seek God, seek God, seek God always. Make your life about listening for God’s still quiet voice that says, go this way. Soak yourself in the great ocean of love.
And remember, we’re needed. We’re so needed. Offline.
WE LOVE YOUR COMMENTS!
Yes and Amen!! Never has it become more apparent to me than the last few weeks how much we all need a breather from social media and technology. And for better or worse, I have been hiding out from it since last week. But you’re right, we are needed– to be light and love in a world that so needs it. Seeking God and stillness with you friend ♥ Thanks for the encouragement and God Bless!
thank you Heather for your words and for following the call to unplug and seek stillness and peace along with me in God where light shines!
This is so spot on…it’s time to unplug and just breathe. Thank you for sharing!
So lovely to have you visit..ahhh yes, just breathing is so wonderful after this election season!
Ps..love your website.
This is a very good post! You’re right! Sometimes we need to break away and enjoy the quiet.
thank you Kimberly for your encouragement! I have been loving the extra time off social media! Blessings!
I am with you on the media fast. It’s been a really terrible place to hang out. The victors are flaunting and the opposition rants. I like the quiet when I turn it all off and focus on loving those right in front of me. Great post!
yes Kelly..love how you put this..the quiet is oh so beautiful compared to hanging out at such a ‘terrible’ place as the Internet has been..thanks for your words! Blessings!
This has been the most difficult election I have ever experienced and I am 69. I call many adults and children of all colors my friends and family. I love as best I can without conditions (yet I know that is impossible as a human..but I want to!). I have abhorred the racist and ethic and social and economical slandering that I could not help but hear or read. I rarely watch tv yet I have. I do look at too much internet and that has taken its toll.
I praise the Lord that He loves us and that He desires rest for us. I have seen and read more posts in the past week on resting in Him and, as You say, WE NEED IT!!
May God continue to be Lord of His world and of His children.
Yes, Linda..it’s painful to witness the divides and racism that has surfaced. So glad we have one another to remind us to rest and returning to God amidst the hurt and disorder going on in the world!
What a different meaning that phrase holds – “close your door and pray” – when you’re talking about social media. I pray. I pray often. But not as often as I could. I’m on social media a lot – it’s a huge part of my job, but I could absolutely lay better boundaries to prioritize more God. More prayer. More quiet. Thank you for this reminder.
you are so right Becky, ‘close your door and pray’ doesn’t fit with social media..I didn’t realize how much it lures us until the election season, and how I needed to cut back! Thanks for visit!
Oh I’m just so tempted to toss my phone out the window after reading this. It’s so true. We are flooded with info and 90% of it is not good. I’m unfollowing more than ever to keep a love filter on my social media…it’s tough. Thank you for the reminder that real life matters more.
So glad this prompted a visceral response..we forget what a powerful force it is! So glad it was helpful. We remind one another of the distractions in our lives! Blessings!
Wow, oh wow, this is such a good post. First, let me say that I am grieved for your friend with the multiracial family. Her nightmare has been my fear for families of color. My child is Hispanic, but fortunately, we live in an area of Houston where we whites are the minority, so she has not been exposed to such hatefulness. You are so right in saying that the divisiveness has stretched well beyond racial differences, though, and has infected even the church. I have had to unplug several times in the last week or so to “detox” and I have even chosen to step away from my Bible study group where I got an earful from a member right before the election. I will return in a few weeks, when hopefully we are all calmer and ready to move on. What you said in closing is important. We are needed. We need to focus on Jesus and continuing His ministry to the broken and hurting world. We can’t let Satan distract us from our mission, via political fighting. Thanks for the reminder that this isn’t new, and that Jesus had his own social climate to deal with. Nevertheless, He pressed on and stayed focused, just as we should. Have a blessed day!
Linda thank you so much for visiting and for your thoughtful comment. You are so wise to unplug, detox and even step away from a Bible study group where you got an earful. We need plenty of time with God to hear where we are most needed. I so appreciate your words.
Speaking the “truth” in love is “timeless”. That’s where prayer is definitely the answer. It’s a personal discipline that we all need to cultivate. The Father tells us “who, what, when, where and why”! I love the “limitation” of technology! I love your heart sister!
“The effectual and fervent prayer of a righteous man/woman accomplishes much”.
Ah Rebecca! It’s taken me a bit of time to get online to respond to your thoughtful comment. Prayer is a personal discipline where we receive such gracious guidance from God, why would we want to miss such enormous blessings! I love YOUR heart!
“Our brains loaded with abundant blog fish and Twitter sushi, we promise we’ll fast more often.” This line just made me smile! I don’t even like sushi much, so should be able to fast on SM quite easily, however do need the help of temptation-fighting tools. I gave up television years ago but do junk out on the odd BBC series on Netflix (and justify this sometimes as learning how to develop stories and dialogue, however it most definitely is a bit of escapism). I think the FOMO virus is spreading, unfortunately and only by applying a dressing barrier to break contact can the it be held in check. And to really trust, that we are going to be okay uplugged! Goals and tasks will still be completed, life will go on, and as you so say, we (and the world) needs us unplugged too!
I love those last two paragraphs. We are indeed desperately needed offline, and I love and greatly appreciate that quiet still voice that says, “Go this way.”
There is no smartphone in my life right now except for my husband’s which he needs for work. I sometimes feel I am in competition with it! For me, however, I know that I do not do well being on a screen too long except to write; I begin to feel as if the computer is sucking out my soul! But there are drawbacks to this attitude. I simply do not do well as a blogger by any serious standards, because I spend too little time on social media, my own blog, and networking with other writers. I am actually trying to be online more consistently than I have been in the past.
Ah, life’s a balance!
thanks for your comment and I surely know how the smart phones become compeition in our own families..we’ve have to
always remind one another to put the phone down..the computer can have the same sort of feeling of sucking out our souls, so important
to get out to nature and really control our habits! I know as a blogger I have to be online and I love reading other’s blogs,
but, that too needs controlled time. It sounds like you have good habits! Stick with them!
I’ve literally been working on this all week. I am allowing myself to read some of the stuff, but am very cautious. It’s been difficult, especially with the outbreak of hate crimes now occurring here in Canada following the US election.
I made the decision however, that I don’t want to be torn down by the negative, and decided to not even bother contributing to it (my latest post is actually about that).
Thanks for the great post! Very, very timely and important, especially as Christians.
We must be cautious what we read, so much of it is toxic..and even false. I’m so saddened to hear Canada is having an outbreak of hate crimes, it seems this election has brought out such hate from under the surface..but I thought it was mostly in the U.S. I’m glad you are deciding to unplug from the negative!
YES oh YES Kathy. Once again you touched on such a significant topic and hit a home run with your message!
My heart breaks for the blogger you referred to… I’m just sick about that kind of hate and rage and violent aggression going on EVERYWHERE. I am so very weary from it all- and yes, I MUST make those changes you shared. I must. There was something on the news today about how so much of the sites and articles seen on FB are not true… that we are all inundated with SO much information and SO much of it is absolutely false.
It’s a mess out there. I’ve been setting boundaries on ‘where I go’ online and what I watch on TV- but I need to do more- I need to stop exposing myself to those opportunities that are EVERYWHERE that lead me to read/watch/ingest more of the madness unfolding online.
It’s incredibly disheartening and I LOVE that you addressed it here. THANK YOU for reminding me where my priorities need to be. I think we all need to reorient ourselves to settle our foundation in Christ once again. <3
Kathy I read and my smile widened!
Yes yes ! How I love the reminder that we are needed off line . The still sweet voice of God is a Fantastic reason to click mute,
So we can be present and know God is everywhere –
We can Relax …
Your thoughts Always beautifully expressed
Xo Suz
Love to see you here dear suz! Thanks for your encouragement..can’t wait to see you again!
Amen sacred heart sister!!! I am being called to sit by a lake, ocean or garden more than ever since the election. I am being told that being reminded of the beauty of nature, reminds me of the beauty of the human souls (even those whose opinions I disagree vehemently)……Social media has been a major distracter and temptation that has decreased my time in nature and prayer. The message I keep getting during prayer post election is “WAKE UP AMERICA.” I know it means……awaken our hearts and souls to all around us who are suffering in their own unique ways. I know a big part of WAKING UP in addition to prayer … is focussing on information of substance: the Bible, Martin Luther King’s Non violence civil rights work in Stride For Freedom, quality literature, poetry, unbiased journalism (i.e. Christian Science Monitor…..has won 6 pullitzer prices). My nervous system rewards me with a greater sense of calm with each unplug I master.
I love how you’re processing this post-election and media choices by moving toward soul-filling activities, sacred writings,
unbiased journalism, and filling your heart with God’s love and nature. The more our cup is filled, the better we are lights in the world! Onward!