“YOUR PRESENT FOCUS IS PRODUCING YOUR PRESENT FEELINGS.”
I will give you a scenario, and I want you to think about whether or not it sounds familiar to you.
SCENARIO: First thing in the morning, I roll over and begin to scroll through notifications in my accounts. I check the news and respond to emails, texts, notifications, and a dozen other flavors of shiny red alerts. If permitted, I could spend all day catching up on what transpired while I slept, and, of course, more notifications continue to arrive during the process.
Looking back on these old habits reminds me of Sisyphus pushing his rock up a hill only to have it topple over him before reaching the peak. Don’t be ashamed; this is the way many of us wake up and spend our mornings in the 21st century.
There’s no denying that social media had become an enormous part of my life. Apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter helped me feel connected with loved ones, catch up on the news, and discover beautiful destinations and inspiring people. Yet, I found that spending hours on end scrolling through numerous feeds left me feeling anxious, drained, and dissatisfied.
At one of the lowest points in my life, I allowed social media to feed into my ever-growing anxiety and discontentment – and for a time, it became a never-ending cycle.
MY PERSONAL STRUGGLE
I was born and raised in a town surrounded by cornfields outside Edwardsville, Illinois. I spent much of my childhood exploring the fields and forests near my hometown. When I wasn’t climbing trees or playing sports, much of my time was spent in a religious context. My mother, who was orphaned as a child and adopted by her Aunt Janie, grew up in a Pentecostal church. My father, an athletic and musical man, worked as a pastor at a Baptist church.
If my family tree were milled into paper pages, they would fit well in a Bible. I knew that I wanted to be a pastor, a preacher, or a speaker devoted to God from age five, and that has been my driving force ever since. As a young preacher, I traveled throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area with my best friend, another young preacher named John C. Oliver, sharing my gift of “Connecting People with Purpose.”
Our journey took us across the Midwest teaching and preaching, followed by a period of service in the United States Army, and then we spent years working for Kansas City Power and Light. Whether I was carrying a Bible, a rifle, or a pair of pliers, I fully invested myself in the task 24/7. From college to seminary to senior pastor, it all happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to live.
I used to let work consume me. It was a perverse point of pride that I never gave myself any downtime. This overwork ethic placed me on the covers of California’s most prominent publications, from The Mercury News to The San Francisco Examiner to The Sacramento Bee, but that notoriety came at a cost.
I had to face the social media beast and my addiction to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram. Social media had become my escape, yet it had placed invisible handcuffs on my life. I was filling the hollow moments in my days with various social media platforms, which ironically left me feeling even more empty.
I recovered some of my stability, peace, and pleasure by first unplugging from social media, and then learning to keep it in its place. It may seem like a small step, but it can cause tremendous growth.
“WHAT YOU DO DAILY DETERMINES WHAT YOU BECOME CONTINUALLY.”
The first time I stepped back from social media, I felt like I might start hyperventilating! I couldn’t help but think, “Am I missing out on something?” I kept glancing at the phone with an overwhelming desire to snatch it up. I knew I had to step away from it in order to restore some sort of balance. After taking a few days off, I experienced a new sense of freedom. My life improved in a number of ways:
- Sleep was better, as no dinging or buzzing awoke me in the middle of the night.
- I had more energy and a sharper focus.
- I acquired less negative input from trivial sources.
- I woke up each morning at six and walked for 5 miles.
- I picked up the phone to talk to my siblings more often instead of viewing their lives at a distance through a screen.
THE BALANCE
As I mentioned before, I am a paster with roots in the Pentecostal Church, so take a minute to step into Pastor Shelby’s shoes. The Bible tells a story of how God uses Moses’ staff to show him that God himself would be with him as he confronted Pharaoh. Exodus 4:20 tells us the secret of all that followed: “the rod of Moses had become the rod of God” (p. 22).
Just as God used the rod for the destruction of the Egyptians, He used the rod to save the His people at the Red Sea. Likewise, we can utilize technology in both destructive and helpful ways. Your screen time can be an instrument specifically for the glory of God.
All rivers have direction. Our choice to use technology must also have direction. Without direction, technology is only entertainment. When Moses obeyed God, his rod became an instrument of God’s practical purposes. Think critically about your technology usage and realign your intentions with God’s purpose to become the Most Amazing You.
