rebelling against low expectations
My phone does a great job at helping me pass the time. During quarantine, as the days went by, I found myself obsessively checking on my phone every fifteen minutes. My average screen time was at least 4 hours per day. Ridiculous! Nearly 90% of the time was spent on social media, especially on Instagram. Gradually, I found myself less being motivated to draw close to God. My attention was...
“Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade… It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else’s head – even if in the end you conclude someone else’s head is not really a place you’d like to be.” Thus journalist and New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell wrote in the preface of his book...
Do we compartmentalize God? I know I have. We place Him in sections and corners of our lives, relegating Him to those areas and barricading the rest of our lives out of His reach. We condemn sin when we see it in the world, but have no problem being entertained by it on our TV’s. We believe our lives have God-given purpose, but don’t think twice about wasting hours on social media. We love...
John 13:35: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Love is not a debate. Sometimes we, even as Christians, can get so caught up in being right, that we forget what really matters. This is especially evident on social media. It saddens me greatly when I think of the way so many of us treat each other on the internet, so many sides...
“Think before you speak!” Ever heard those words before? They’ve been said far too much for us to actually pay attention, but I feel that they are more relevant now than ever. Things are really, really crazy right now–I mean, we’re actually living through a pandemic. With people arguing over whether masks are an infringement on their rights, the spread of nationwide cabin fever, and...
I don’t have a smartphone. At least, not anymore. About five months ago I sold it and gave up the luxury (yes, luxury) of WhatsApp and Instagram. In many ways this article is the story of an addict. How God opened my eyes to the endless Facebook scrolls, and the never ending YouTube videos. And how downgrading to a ‘dumb phone’ opened my life to an intimate relationship with God. Becoming...
Guy/girl relationships can be confusing, can’t they? Guy/girl relationships online can be even more confusing. Does she like me? we wonder. Why is he emailing me? Why does she always comment on my posts? I think he’s flirting . . . is he flirting? Does she private message other guys . . . or just me? We stalk, we scroll, we like and comment, and before we know it, we have a full blown crush on...
The night of the last presidential election, I made a poor decision. I looked at Twitter. My feed was full of tweets and retweets rejoicing, mourning, celebrating, or decrying the situation as it unfolded, minute by minute. Praise and blame was heaped on both of the major candidates—and on their supporters. My birthday came just a year too late for me to vote in the presidential election. As I...
Dear Social Media, We have had a complicated relationship for many years. Now that I am in college, I need to reevaluate my obsession with you. You have shown me many things, both good and bad, that I never would have seen on my own. You have familiarized me with many unique lifestyles and have enabled me to travel the world without leaving my bed. You have given me wonderful acquaintances. You...
It’s an unfortunate reality that our generation struggles intensely with anxiety and depression. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 32% of teens 13-18 years old struggle with an anxiety disorder. There’s a lot we could (and should) go into here, but it makes you wonder what’s causing this and what can teens do to reverse the trend? What do happy teens do? I...
rebelling against low expectations
