3 Spiritually Harmful Effects of Social Media
1) It emphasizes outward appearance over inner wellbeing
the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
—1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)
The nature of social media is highly visual, which emphasizes outward appearance. People tend to portray themselves as happy, confident, fun, and beautiful on the outside, when on the inside they might actually be full of loneliness, anxiety, and insecurity. Our true inner wellbeing is far more important than our outward appearances, but unfortunately inner realities get muted on social media platforms.
2) It opens the door to jealousy while closing the door to contentment
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.
—Exodus 20:17 (ESV)
The most popular content on social media is the content that’s the most remarkable. The posts that get the most likes are the ones that feature the most beautiful women, the funniest memes, and the most remarkable phenomena. When I expose myself to a constant stream of everyone else’s all-time bests, I find that my spirit really starts to feel jealous of all the things I don’t have.
When I am feeling jealous of other people, I forget about all the good things I do have which erases any warm, fuzzy feelings of contentment I previously had.
3) It shifts my attention toward worldly things and away from spiritual things
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
—Romans 12:2 (ESV)
I find that most content on social media tends to focus on worldly things. Things that are temporary. The here and now.
While social media can be a useful tool for relating to the world, I have to be careful about getting sucked into it. If the only content I consume day in and day out is worldly, then my mentality is gonna be formed around worldly things.
Eternal things are so much more important than worldly things. If I really believe that God is the source of joy and peace, then why do I find myself consuming social media more than I consume scripture?