WHY I QUIT SOCIAL MEDIA

I QUIT SOCIAL MEDIA AROUND THIS TIME LAST YEAR.

It got the better of me. I posted things that lacked discretion. It was all about me. Vain glory.

The year before God gave me a verse: John 3:30— “He must increase; I must decrease.”

I even wore a leather wristband with that verse to remind me.

My great hypocrisy was that I would always be looking throughout the day at how popular my posts were.

I wanted to increase.

My approval and warm fuzzies came from “clever,” “witty,” and “thoughtfully written” posts. But also through insensitive, offensive, and stupid political ones as well which were inconsistent with Christ-like character.

Someone suggested I heed Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount: “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away…. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better….” (Matthew 5)

I fell prey to what the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma,” warned about: “…social media's design nurtures addiction to maximize profit and its ability to manipulate people’s views, emotions and behavior….”

It happened to me.

A year later, my posts are mostly biblical, Scriptural, encouraging…and boring.

To never go viral is a small but worthy sacrifice for Jesus.