I gave something up and didn’t really miss it at all. … And I’m not all that excited to let it back into my life again.

I’m talking about social media. 

For Lent this year I gave up looking at, interacting with and scrolling through my social media feeds. I was challenged to do this by a few of the players on the Kingston Frontenacs (read about it here). 

This has been the first time in my life that I’ve given up something or even done something for Lent. But I have to tell you, in the end it was a good exercise for me.

The social media that I gave up was Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and sort of LinkedIn.

I made some rules about them that I followed. The biggest rule was that I would still post my blogs on these platforms. It was no big deal with Twitter and LinkedIn because I could post them straight from my blog platform. For Facebook, however, I had to sign in to update it. I signed in, but did not scroll or look at any feeds. I just posted my blog and signed out. 

I have to tell you I was not really tempted to spend any time on these platforms. In fact, when I was with others and they pulled our their phones to keep up on their habit, I just kept my phone in my pocket.

The one difficult, sort of hard part was that I kept getting emails that so-and-so posted something or undated a profile. But even those emails didn’t entice me to log on or click on the app.

You know how some people have a habit of eating dessert after a meal? They have a craving for something sweet. When the waitress comes to their table after a meal and asks, “Do you have room for dessert?” the answer is usually “yes”.

I understand these people because, in all my growing up years, we always had dessert after dinner. I was conditioned to at very least consider what the dessert options were.

For many of these people, it is a habit that they have. But if they break the habit for a while, they won’t even miss the dessert.

That’s the way it was for me and social media. I would take my phone out and check it. It was instinctive; it was a habit. 

If I was waiting in line and had nothing to do but stare at the back of the person ahead of me, I’d pull out my phone before I even thought about it. 

We waste an awful lot of time looking at our phones. 

But thankfully it became like out-of-sight, out-of-mind. 

Only once did I break my rule. I accepted a few new friends … mostly because I’m Canadian and didn’t want to be rude. And the only time I was tempted to check my Facebook was when I realized I could sign up for my mountain biking club. 

But even then I patiently waited until after Lent, only to discover I could have gone to their website to register a couple of weeks earlier.

Here’s the thing: God wants us to spend time with Him, yet so many of us just don’t have that much time … or at least that is what we say. But if we seriously considered all the time we waste doing things that are not important or have no real purpose to them, we would have lots of time to spend with God. Give it a try.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What could you give up to free up some time? Leave your comments and questions below.

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