Living a certain way for a great amount of time, develops habits that become innocuous. Social media thrives upon us keeping these habits up and encourages us to get “engagement”, and even as I write this, I realize I look at my page views too frequently, and I want you all to like me. While our purpose for doing a task may not be to get the maximal views or likes or comments, we easily fall into the trap of looking at them for approval, for increasing our social score, and when we reach a certain level our task, our accomplishment, our writing is then validated.
The problem with this type of living, especially as a Christian, is that we seek the approval of others first. Most of us are not attention hounds such going after social media approval, but if we don’t get that validation, we wonder why someone didn’t comment, or like my post. In turn, we reciprocate by liking everything, because our thinking become if I like their stuff, they are going to like mine. This pattern can easily become a time consuming, and add to the complexity of our lives.
For Lent, in a quest for simplicity, let us walk away from the little numbers in the corners that grade our social media validation. Some will choose to fast completely from social media, and that is great, but most of us just need to let that engagement go a little, and simplify our interaction with it. By simplifying these interactions, we make more room to seek our validation from the Almighty God, rather than each other.
Ultimately, that is the ultimate goal in this quest for simplicity. Where do I find my affirmation? If it is in anything other than God, then I have to really question whether it is edifying or not. This does not equate to living as a hermit in solitude, because God does want us to have joy, and we were given bodies to enjoy life, and people are brought into our life to enhance that joy, but God is the source of that joy. Since God gives joy, it is God’s approval we are called to seek.
Elpis and Shalom 