Unplugging can be therapeutic for the soul. It is a place to redirect time typically that is spent on social media and surfing the internet. According to figures in the latest Statista Digital Economy Compass, the global average time spent using social media platforms per day is 142 minutes in 2021. Studies show that people who spend significant amount of time on social media experience increased anxiety and decreased self-esteem. Watching everybody else's milestones and achievements fly through your feed doesn't make you happy for your pals, it makes you unhappy about your own (seemingly) lack of accomplishments.
A recent Austrian study has shown: Just checking out your feed for 20 minutes or that randomly browsing the internet integrates sad or depressed feelings. Also some evidence suggests the more time you spend on social media, the worse you'll feel: The persons who use social media platforms most often have been shown to be three times as likely to harbor feelings of depression and anxiety. Increased Facebook use even correlates with reports of reduced life satisfaction overall.
My kudos to you today is to take time for yourself and unplug. I'm going to be participating in a 21 day fast starting today. It's a challenge from our pastor and our local church. My fast is to use that time which would be on social media to reading a few good books that have been on the shelf way too long. Of course, the number one book is the Bible, so yes, I can catch-up on my yearly plan when I've missed days.
Thank you to all who follow my blog, and see you in a few weeks!
Romans 12:1-2 (The Message Translation) So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
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