Social media has it’s pros and it’s cons. But when the cons start to outweigh the pros, maybe it’s time to consider a social media audit. Here are a few reasons why you might want to give it a try.
Getting Stuck in the Comparison Trap
Social media allows us to tune into other people’s lives. Most of the time it’s the shiny and polished parts that we want people to see. We watch celebrities and influencers setting the world’s standards for beauty, fitness, popularity and much more. We see our friends celebrating jobs, graduations, marriages and babies. It can be hard not to compare ourselves to everyone that we see on social media. Even strangers.
After a while it can cause us to become discontent with ourselves and even our abilities. It’s important to remember that God has given each of us gifts and talents that He wants us to use to glorify Him. Helping to bring others to Christ.
Romans 12:3-8 says “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
We don’t need to compare ourselves to others because God has made us each with unique characteristics and abilities that, in unison with others in the body of Christ, work to serve the Lord.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you celebrate the gifts that God has given you and show you how you can use them to bring glory and honor to God. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you replace the negative thoughts or emotions that you feel when you see others showcasing the highlights of their lives with positive ones.
Maybe the discontentment you feel when you start comparing yourself to others is an indicator of an area of your life that you need to pray into. If you feel like you have nothing to show for your life or your walk with the Lord, maybe it’s time to really dig into God’s word and ask Him to reveal to you who you are and how you bring value to His kingdom.
Auditing social media to prevent yourself from falling into the trap of comparison may mean unfollowing certain people or accounts. We are called to be set apart from the world. We don’t want to allow ourselves to become influenced by it through what we see on social media.
Guarding Your Heart
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23
When it comes to social media, we also have to be careful to guard ourselves from what we are seeing and interacting with. The lines for what is deemed appropriate or inappropriate are increasingly becoming blurred. So much of what used to be considered “poor taste” is now viewed as acceptable. Nudity, profanity, even slander and hatred can frequently be found on social media feeds today.
Just like the people that we surround ourselves with, the things that we view and interact with on social media regularly will influence us. Are you following accounts that promote things like conformity to a certain body type, beauty standard, or worldly belief?
Philippians 4:8 tells us “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
I would even venture to say that this goes for what we view as well.
We have a very real enemy. One who observes our habits and preys on our weaknesses. In John 10:10, Jesus warns that “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Satan will do anything that he can to keep us from understanding who we are as God’s children. He will try to tempt us, distract us and pull us away from spending time with Jesus. When we aren’t in continual relationship with The One who redeemed us from sin, the more easily we can be swayed and convinced of lies to sin. Lies like “Watching this is okay. I’m not hurting anyone by doing it” or “Listening to that kind of music is fine. It’s not going to affect me”.
I encourage you to take a moment, distraction free, and ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you have believed lies about the content that you consume on social media. Ask Him to reveal the areas of your heart that remain unguarded. Where the enemy is using social media to gain strongholds over you, whether you know about it or not. When we ask for wisdom like this, we are stepping closer to God. He will show us what we need to see and let us hear what we need to hear.
Get intentional and not only ask for wisdom but the strength to follow through and unfollow those people or accounts that are holding you back from freedom. That are allowing the enemy to have a hold on you. Whether that is by using comparison to make you feel unworthy, content that tempts you to sin or accounts that make you covet what someone else has. Taking back your control of your social media feed and glorifying God in that will be one of the best things you will ever do.
Curate Your Social Media Feed
One of the great things about social media is that you can choose who and what you want to follow. When you open your feed you can either be bombarded with content that makes you feel bad about yourself or you can be welcomed with encouragement and inspiration.
After following the direction of the Holy Spirit to audit my own social media I noticed a difference in how I felt after a scroll through my feed. I started following Christian content creators, speakers, pastors, coaches etc. The way that type of content left me feeling was so much more encouraging and uplifting than how I used to feel. Posts and reels of fitness influencers boasting about a diet that I “had to be on” or an exercise program that I “had to buy if I wanted to get bikini ready” or a makeup tutorial that was well above my skill level always made me feel like I wasn’t enough or had to change something about myself.
I’m not saying that following fitness or beauty accounts is a bad thing, but I would encourage you to pay attention to how that content makes you feel afterward. If it’s leaving a negative feeling within you, maybe it’s time to take a break from them for a while. I can honestly say that I haven’t gone back and re-followed any of the accounts that I left behind.
You can choose what kinds of things you want to see and leverage social media to help put content in front of you that would encourage you to seek God more. I now enjoy reading scriptures or watching sermons on my feed. I enjoy following other Christian content creators and seeing how God is using them to bring the gospel to others. It’s beautiful to observe how others use their gifts and talents to serve God and to share Jesus with the rest of the world. Seeing what God does in other people’s lives is also motivating to me to stay in His word and continually surrender my heart to Jesus so that I can steward my own gifts and abilities well.
Conclusion
If you’re finding that you are left feeling down on yourself or struggling with temptation after or while using social media, maybe taking some time for an audit is what you need. It’s important to be aware of what we are taking in and what we are allowing to influence us. Comparison can lead us down a spiral of discontentment, most content these days exposes us to temptation of some form or another, and if we aren’t careful our feeds can leave us feeling dragged through the mud. The good thing is that we can take control back and curate what we see to be faith based and encouraging. I challenge you to invite the Lord into this part of your life and allow Him to show you how you can audit what you see and hear and allow the process to help you grow closer to Him.
Closing Prayer
Lord, I lift up the woman who is reading this and I ask that the Holy Spirit would help her invite you into every aspect of her life. Even when it comes to what she consumes on social media. I ask that she would open her heart and allow the Holy Spirit to show her where the enemy is using social media to undermine her. Please expose the lies of the enemy and reveal to her how she needs to make this audit. Lord, you are in all things and I pray that you would allow the right accounts and content to come before her eyes that would be encouraging to her and bring glory to you. That would help her become inspired again. We thank you, Lord, for this insight and ask that it would strengthen our walk with Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
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