Facebook and Fellowship
Well, I did the unthinkable. I deactivated my facebook account.
God has been hinting at me about it for quite a while, but this week the hinting got pretty noticeable. :)
Facebook has always frustrated me because it brings out a lack of self control in me. I am just not one of those people who can self-regulate on it. I literally got on there every time I opened my computer. And every time I looked at my phone. And every time I didn't want to do homework. And every time I was bored.
I talked to two different people, randomly, about how they deleted their accounts. And I started noticing what I was doing every time I logged in. Looking at pictures of that girl who got pregnant in the 10th grade, and who now lives in Kentucky? Reading blurbs from the mind of that perpetually drunk frat boy who asked me out one time freshman year? Keeping up with events my friends are going to that I'm not? It just seems a little pointless when I look at it that way.
There are some really useful parts of facebook that I am missing horribly. Upcoming convos and events at Belmont, concerts in Nashville, keeping in touch with people who live out of the country. But that was about 1/10 of what I was actually doing on there.
Not to mention that facebook adds tremendously to the clutter in my world. Constant streams of ideas, pictures, comments, blurbs, links, phrases...entertaining, but so distracting from the real world. Distracting from spending time with God, being authentically connected to people, staying on top of my school work, and surrounding myself with silence and calm every once in a while.
So anyway, I'm sure I'll revive my account after this semester, but hopefully the next few months will be less cluttered and frantic in this way.
Also, you know what this is forcing me to do? Wrestle with how to handle all those thoughts, quotes, pictures, and links I so want to share with the fb world. Will I have to start actually telling people about Don Miller's latest blog post in person? Will I have to go to coffee with a friend to find out what they did over fall break? Will I be forced to put pictures in frames instead of uploading them? Will I feel the need to share what I learned from Dr. Byrd with someone I see on the quad? Who knows where this isolation from the global interconnectedness of social networking sites will take me...
(Hopefully it wont take me right back to activating my account again :) )
...Maybe it will help me to foster real fellowship in my life.
God has been hinting at me about it for quite a while, but this week the hinting got pretty noticeable. :)
Facebook has always frustrated me because it brings out a lack of self control in me. I am just not one of those people who can self-regulate on it. I literally got on there every time I opened my computer. And every time I looked at my phone. And every time I didn't want to do homework. And every time I was bored.
I talked to two different people, randomly, about how they deleted their accounts. And I started noticing what I was doing every time I logged in. Looking at pictures of that girl who got pregnant in the 10th grade, and who now lives in Kentucky? Reading blurbs from the mind of that perpetually drunk frat boy who asked me out one time freshman year? Keeping up with events my friends are going to that I'm not? It just seems a little pointless when I look at it that way.
There are some really useful parts of facebook that I am missing horribly. Upcoming convos and events at Belmont, concerts in Nashville, keeping in touch with people who live out of the country. But that was about 1/10 of what I was actually doing on there.
Not to mention that facebook adds tremendously to the clutter in my world. Constant streams of ideas, pictures, comments, blurbs, links, phrases...entertaining, but so distracting from the real world. Distracting from spending time with God, being authentically connected to people, staying on top of my school work, and surrounding myself with silence and calm every once in a while.
So anyway, I'm sure I'll revive my account after this semester, but hopefully the next few months will be less cluttered and frantic in this way.
Also, you know what this is forcing me to do? Wrestle with how to handle all those thoughts, quotes, pictures, and links I so want to share with the fb world. Will I have to start actually telling people about Don Miller's latest blog post in person? Will I have to go to coffee with a friend to find out what they did over fall break? Will I be forced to put pictures in frames instead of uploading them? Will I feel the need to share what I learned from Dr. Byrd with someone I see on the quad? Who knows where this isolation from the global interconnectedness of social networking sites will take me...
(Hopefully it wont take me right back to activating my account again :) )
...Maybe it will help me to foster real fellowship in my life.
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