Logging off: Fasting from social media
Megan Conley, Lifestyle Editor
Photo courtesy of unsplash.com
In the church, fasting is taught as something Christians do to give up one thing in order to focus more directly on God. Although fasting is a practice generally associated with food, it has become connected with other areas as well.
In Christian circles today, obtaining from using social media for a period of time has become a popular practice. Jared Thomas, Assistant Director for Student Life, offers advice about the overuse of social media and how fasting from it can help.
“Where my mind goes initially is that social media and the sense of needing to be connected has increased tremendously in the current generation,” said Thomas. “When you go back to my high school years, it would’ve been okay for me not to look at Myspace for a week. Now it’s a big deal for people to not look at those sites.”
In his time spent counseling, Thomas notes that item with such importance in someone’s life points to a deeper issue.
“When you remove something like that, it points to anxiety. In that moment, there are several things that are highlighted through fasting,” said Thomas.
If Christians find themselves wondering about fasting from social media, Thomas offers some advice for making the decision.
“We often times need to focus in on scheduling ourselves and setting time aside for the important things in our lives,” said Thomas. “Do you actively set aside time to pray and to read scripture? In this area I say that it’s important to prioritize your life and how much time you’re going to give to areas in your life.”
Sometimes the reasons behind overusing social media is its accessibility. For that, Thomas suggests making it more difficult to get on the sites.
“One of the difficult things of our age is the smartphone. So maybe it’s a factor of eliminating the apps on your phone,” said Thomas.
