rebelling against low expectations

How do you avoid an addiction to social media?

By Discussion Questions
April 30, 2016
173 comments
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ANONYMOUS WRITES: I’m relatively new to the social media game, and I don’t think I’m addicted to it. At least, not yet. The thing is, I’ve heard about so many people who get obsessed with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. and they become addicted to it. How do I guard myself against wasting time on or getting unhealthily connected to social media?

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173 comments

  • My first first comment!! 🙂 Well, speaking from experience, my parents have always had us set a timer if we are on electronics. I myself, don’t care for gaming though. I’d rather do something musical (as you can probably tell.) I will however, play on the wii once and a while. I’d rather write a song than accomplish nothing on a video game. I guess, just make sure that you limit your time and make sure all you do is ‘glorifying unto God’. 😉

  • Hey Anonymous! I’d highly recommend the WasteNoTime browser extension. With it, you can set time limits for yourself on websites you don’t want to spend to much time on. It’s free and it’s pretty easy to use! =)

  • I may be totally wrong but I think Anonymous was talking about social media as a whole (referring to it as a “game”) rather than like an actual video game. Although Facebook games can be addicting so I may be wrong lol =)

  • I would suggest taking a break from social media every so often. I don’t use any electronics during the summer months of June, July, and August. You don’t have to go to this extreme, but maybe take a week, or even a weekend, and don’t use any social media. 🙂 Besides, summer is too beautiful and wonderful to be spent indoors on electronic devices! Trust me, taking a break really helps! 🙂

  • I totally agree with your point about taking breaks. And I think this is true not just for electronics but for a lot of things.

    For me, I probably actually spend more time on social media during the summer since I don’t have school. . .And (about going outside) I’m terrified of bees.

  • If I become addicted to something, I try to stay away from it for a month. When I try to avoid being addicted to something, I try not to spend too much time on it.

  • This is the perfect question for me. I often spend too much time on my computer doing ‘social media’y things.

    I don’t actually have any legit social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), but I spend a lot of time texting with friends, commenting on here, sometimes texting with my friends through Skype.

    As Olivia’s said, taking breaks is great!

    There’s definitely a balance I think. Like right now, I’m writing on the Rebelution to answer this question. I want to get more active on social media platforms, as I’m interested in becoming an author. At the same time, I know I have weakness in this area and I need to be careful.

    So, all that to say, remember to be thankful to the Creator of social media, and taking breaks, as Olivia said, is really good and helpful.

    Also, if you realize that your using social media to procrastinate from doing important things (like being with family, spending time with God, etc.) that can be a pointer that you’re using it too much.

  • You should have seen me taking out the compost the other day. I literally screamed and dropped it twice. . .because there was a bee in my vicinity. Haha.

  • I agree, we need to take a break once in a while from lots of things. Yes, I used to be afraid of bees and it was not fun! There is nothing more annoying than going outside to read and having bees fly all around you!
    I usually use my summer to spend more time catching up and finishing the books I am reading. 🙂

  • For me, it’s important to have accountability. I’m not a big poster on FB and I’m not on Instagram, Snapchat etc. It’s about limitations. I have gotten off/deleted accounts on different sites because I felt like it was taking up too much time, putting pressure on me to be someone I’m not, and definitely making me grumpy 🙂
    My parents will tell me if I’m taking too much time to look at all my feeds and friends profiles and they help me set boundaries. I’m accountable to them.
    Another thought is to not look at your social media during school hours. This definitely will help limit your time and it also frees your mind to focus solely on your studies and not who liked who’s post.
    Maybe limiting yourself to two or one posts a week. This cuts down your time and you get more ‘likes’ the longer you’ve kept from posting! 😀
    Hope this is helpful, Anonymous!

  • That’s a really good idea! I know I have a weakness with spending on time on social media, so I think I might try that. 🙂

  • Great topic. Hard to answer as there are both good and bad aspects to everything. As humans, we all struggle with self-control in different areas. If you get to the point where you think you are doing too much, it could be a problem. I would suggest you chronicle your usage as to what you are on, how long and why for a week. Then go back and see how much was redemptive and useful time and what time was wasted. Only you can decide that. Try exchanging the wasteful time doing something for good. I think it might help.

    It is very good that you are interested in keeping balance in your life. It will serve you well into the future.

    God bless!

    Mrs. Jean

  • It’s funny that this should come up now! I have become addicted to social media, so I’m doing a month long social media break for May. I’ve set some pretty strict rules in place, but I’m looking forward to it. I did about a week long fast in the beginning of this month, and it was hard but so worth it!

  • I think the best way to control social media (or any could-be idol) is to keep if under the bigger framework of your life — which, if your a Christian, is to glorify God; advancing the gospel through your words and productivity.

    So if your insta gets in the way of your relationships, kill it. If FB makes it harder for someone else to enjoy God, kill it.

    You have the freedom in Christ, but use it wisely and be ready to give up your rights to serve others and advance the gospel.

  • Of course there’s also the flip side of this, social media can be an amazing way to build relationships and spread the gospel. Main point: do whatever shows more of God.

  • How do you avoid social media addiction? Become a missionary in Africa with limited internet access. Worked for me! =^D =^D =^D

  • You’re right. I cannot find a strong enough word to describe my love for reading. We are talking about addictions to social media, but I find that my addiction to reading and books is much stronger than anything electronic! 🙂

  • Hi!
    I can completely relate. As began to become a lot more involved in social media, I still had the gnawing fear of becoming addicted. A couple of warning s signs I live by are if 1) I go on social media more than twice a day. Did I post something that I am excited about? Keep it to two look overs a day. 2) I look on peoples profiles… a little two long. If you are scrolling down “Josh’s” page to the point where the posts are two years old, time to get off. 3) If I sit looking at my screen and realize they are no other sites to visit, so I just revisit the ones I’ve already been to. Big no-no. (I find myself doing this one all the time!)

    I have found that when I find myself doing on of these are all of them, it’s time to take a break. Typically, I social media fast for about a week, but that’s all up to you. I wrote a blog post about this actually, so if you’d like to read it, here’s the link:
    http://dollyspix.blogspot.com/2016/04/why-i-have-social-media.html

    The long and the short of it is that if you feel being led to something, by all means do it. If God’s asking you to do it, no matter how hard it is, it will all end well. Just keep doing His will!

  • Ok @Josh A. I edited it. Thanks for pointing that out!! 😃

  • Terrible! Why do you think God sent yet another missionary to share the Gospel there???

  • Living in the will of God is wonderful. Living in the Republic of South Africa is testing.

  • Ooh yeah South Africa is pretty tense from what I’ve heard… Their history alone makes me cringe 😛

  • They have a very interesting history, mostly sad, of course, but what is coming over the country will be worse than the previous disasters.

  • Just know that the “official” history of South Africa that was told to the Americans, written on Wikipedia and even found in A Beka Book’s history books, is a twisted view of events, motives and philosophies and religions of the numerous peoples involved.

  • No, sorry, it was an example! Not about you. Man, that totally made me sound like a stalker…. Awkward…..

  • Seriously? You’re like one of the most popular people on here and you haven’t even been on for two years? Wow! It gives the newbies hope. Lol

  • True. True. If you feel led to fast, do it. Even if it’s not God, it can’t hurt you.

  • Hahaha well thanks! Last I checked Brett was most popular by a ways ;D But yeah I’ve been on here since January 2015 so about a year and a half.

  • Haha that’s when I got on here too! But you are the 3rd top commenter and I’m like #7 or something 😛

  • Umm, if you go to the bottom of any given post, you’ll see the number of comments, the a button that says “The Rebelution”. Click on it, and then click the top commenters button 🙂

  • But I didn’t comment that much at first… You jumped right in. It was like, BOOM Josh is here!

  • Man, I still have so much work to do, and I was on here before you!!!

  • It says when you joined in your Disqus profile…you joined January 12, 2015 and I joined January 2, 2015. So I’ve been around for ten days more than you, lol =P

  • I guess it shows up differently on my old desktop, so I actually couldn’t see it… still can’t lol.

  • I’ll second that. I now can make my computer stall by trying to open Josh’s profile page.

  • That’s odd. Well in case you’re curious you joined April 1 of this year. But I know nothing about computers so I wouldn’t know how to help y’all fix this lol…

  • Apparently since January 12, 2015! But I really only became myself after If Your Friends Had to Describe You. That’s when Ramona became my photo.

  • I remember first welcoming you to theReb. And then when you wrote on here, and you had a picture of you in a truck or something and I thought you were like 20.

  • Ah yes, Ramona 🙂 That’s been your pic for so long now, I’d be like, super confused if you changed it lol.

  • Like when a guitar suddenly gets a face!!! *rolls eyes* @GuitarwithArms:disqus Or a mime turns into a lake. . .@mim4Jesus

  • You looked like a country singer or something. It’s not my problem!

  • Of course, I’ve never actually seen a country singer before. . .so?

  • Well, I guess I can’t complain. Brett’s in the very, very middle.

  • Haha it’s okay, I’ll bet it was the sunglasses that threw you off ;P

  • Haha! If you want to find what number you are for commenting you go to the bottom of any post, click on the thing that says The Rebelution (next to the number of comments) and it’ll show you the latest discussions and the top commenters. I just counted down from number 1 to find my number! lol 🙂 Hope that wasn’t too confusing!

  • Man, you counted that far down? That’s hard core! It would take me all day to find my number!

  • lol you’re pretty new, right Aaron? I don’t think I ever welcomed you! Well, then, umm…. Welcome 😉

  • 162, 163, 164… *stops counting to commenters and looks at reply* Oh, thanks 

  • lol you actually are counting?! Take a bow, Sir, that takes some determination ;P

  • Haha, well it’s only my hard thing for today. (Jk) I am doing the 100 Hard Things challenge. The hardest thing about counting now is that I lost count, lol! XD

  • I’m glad to hear that you’ve taken that challenge! Good for you! And oh dear, losing count is the worst. But I’m one of those annoying people who will start throwing out random numbers when someone’s counting out loud to try to throw them off…

  • Thanks! Oh my gosh! I would probably close my ears and count as loud as I could, lol.

  • lol it’s funny… until I actually make them lose count and I feel really bad… haha… I really gotta stop doing that :p

  • I know right! And then the other person is mad at you and you’re like…sorry…while running as fast as you can. 🙂

  • I just finished now… I am around 190. Phew! *Wipes brow, sighs, and smiles contently*

  • In two years, you’ll be like 7 I’m sure! Haylie did it, so you can do it too!

  • Yeah, if you saw the picture of me with sunglasses, I don’t know what you’d think.

  • Maybe. You probably did when I was chatting Jaquelle through the submissions account. Do you know what I look like?

  • Actually I think I might… because of editorial team e-mails… but only you in sunglasses, or in a group of people, so you were blurry. :p

  • Oh, yeah! Hahaha. That’s funny. I don’t usually use email from a web-browser so I forget about the picture showing on email. That was me at dance wearing a cool hat with a duck-butt. *whispers*before my coolness article.*stops whispering* Lol

  • Lol yes that picture. All I really noticed was your hair color though XD

  • Thanks. Hey Haylie, I guess it’s time to take that bow now, don’t yah think? 😉

  • Yes! Take that bow with pride! 🙂 How long did it take you to count to your number?

  • Hey, that’s a really good idea! I’ll try that next time… *grins menacingly* lol

  • Haha, ok! *Grins widely and bows*
    It took me about 10 to 20 minutes to count, I guess. I started, got to around 160-something, and then I stopped to reply to Haylie. After that, I resumed counting by starting from number 79 (since you said you were #79) and counted down from there until I got to my number, 190. The whole process of me counting took around maybe 10 to 20 minutes. 

  • Well that’s amount of comments – someone could just spam a lot and be top hahaha. Looking at followers, the people with the most that comment a lot are Brett, Trent, me, M4J, and Sam. You’re up there too =P Or, you could add number of comments to followers, but that’s a little excessive XD XD

  • Oh…I just looked and realized that I joined in June…LOL! For some reason I thought it was like February or something! XD LOL!

  • They key is to stop before it gets to addiction! That may sound hard but if you persist you can do it in a month. See you have to get your ‘head’ bored with too much.

    There are ways you can do that. 1) Give your self limits. Set timers so you an only go for a certain about of time. I set times that I allow myself to go on. And make sure you wait for at least an hour after you wake up before you go on and get off at least an hour before you go to bed. I don’t allow myself to go on during school hours or while I’m eating. That alone narrows the time I go on by a lot. 2) Do something you are passionate about. Find something you love to do and do that whenever you feel you have been on too much. I like to either work on my blog, take photos or do crafts. That way you’re not tempted to go on during that time too. Plus you get to do something you love. 3) Let yourself have cheat days. Just like dieting I allow myself to go on more on Saturdays when all my friend are able to talk too. But I make sure it doesn’t get in my way of studying by setting times I have to study. 4) make your time meaningful. Have a purpose for going on every time. I don’t allow myself to go on just because I’m bored. I go on to talk to friends, get inspired or relax.

    And in no time scrolling through your Facebook feed will be very boring because you know there are way better things to do with your time. Now it does take time to become a habit, but trust me, you can do it!

  • Okay. I finally got it, and it was by accident. Just from curiosity, I tried to find out what was my rank in commenting on the Reb, and got discouraged after I got up to 300 after five minutes of counting. Probably missed both of my profiles somewhere. Or maybe the Reb is bigger than I thought?

  • By the way, I like your bio. It’s very complete (well, I haven’t met you, and probably never will unless you live in Switzerland, but it looks true enough, judging from your comments).

  • Haha! Well you have 19 comments and there are a LOT of people who have commented on the Reb, so it could go either way…you could always try to scroll down a ways and then do a Control+F search for your name. =)

  • In a few words: set boundaries for you and stick to them!! “I’ll do this ONLY for 30 mins, 15 mins, etc..

  • Oh, and have media fasts, were you decide to not get on social media for a period of time!

  • Haha not at all, (from what i’ve heard you had it first anyways). And after all, I’m not on disqus or the Reb much anymore anyhow.

  • I tried a control+F search. My computer stalled.
    I guess it’s the downside of having two profiles. If I didn’t, I’d be… higher.

  • Gosh, I have so much trouble with this. I’m glad that my parents didn’t get me an Iphone until a few months ago when I turned 17. I like to set a time limit each day–maybe I don’t go on any social media until after dinner, or I can’t go on until I’ve finished all my math homework. Once I finish the 100 days of joy challenge that I’m doing on Instagram, I’m thinking about nixing social media for the rest of the summer.

  • Haha yeah, I get you. I’ve contemplated making an alternate profile for no reason, but decided against it. Do you have two for email reasons or?

  • I just don’t have much along the lines of social media, so I can’t really get addicted. So I guess that there’s a way to go, don’t let yourself get alot of social media.

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By Discussion Questions April 30, 2016
173 comments
rebelling against low expectations

The Rebelution is a teenage rebellion against low expectations—a worldwide campaign to reject apathy, embrace responsibility, and do hard things. Learn More →