"Have you been on Facebook today?"

I know this is a little late, but I now have computer so I can keep up with this thing a little better (hopefully).


This year for Lent, I decided to give up social media. Well, really just Facebook and Twitter. I know what you're thinking. How did I survive, right? Let me tell you, it wasn't easy.

I gave up Facebook one time before, for about a month when I was in college. It was a struggle, but it definitely helped keep me focused on my school work. Giving up just Facebook wasn't as difficult, though, because I still had Twitter to keep up with news, sports, friends, and the like. I did miss not having Facebook chat, but that forced me to interact with friends in other ways like texting or actually hanging out.

This year, I posed to stay off of Facebook and Twitter for the full 46 days of Lent. Let me just point out, I am not Catholic, but I always try to give up something for Lent that might be taking up too much time in my life and hindering my walk with the Lord. I picked Facebook and Twitter because I knew it would be tough and that I spend entirely too much of my time checking to see what everyone else was doing and not doing anything productive with my day.

The first few days went by slowly and I tried to find other ways to fill the time I spent scrolling my newsfeeds. I downloaded a couple of games to my phone, but those didn't hold my attention for long. Suddenly, about a week in, it clicked that I was supposed to be spending that time with the Lord. Once that realization hit me in the face like a load of bricks, the pulling that I felt towards games or other apps on my phone turned to opening up the Bible or the Bible app and reading chapters of God's word. It was then that I realized the hold that these social media sites had on my life, it's the same hold that it has on many of your lives.

Now that Lent is over, I'm back on these sites but I don't feel the need to check them as often throughout the day. Partly because every time I do, someone is engaged or married.. but that's another topic. I still use Twitter to find out the latest news or sports updates, but I don't have to be glued to the feed all day to find that out.

The only thing that really got me when I wasn't on Twitter was that I wasn't able to keep up with the feed for Secret Church to know what the answers to the blanks I missed were. I seriously considered giving in a day early just for that.

Lesson Learned: these sites aren't bad on their own, but don't let them takeover your life and interfere with your walk with the Lord.