Have you ever thought what it would be like to give up social media, but you never really wanted to because it was such a constant in your life? Well, in this article, I will explain what it was like for me to give up social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat) for the forty days of Lent. Maybe my experience will show you that you want to give it up…or you’ll realize my experience isn’t worth the trouble.
Lent is the forty days before Easter (not including Sundays) that represents Jesus’s sacrifice while he was out in the wilderness preparing for ministry. He was without food for those forty days and was constantly tempted by Satan. Christians give things up for Lent to represent Jesus’s sacrifice.
This year, I gave up social media. It had become such a big part of my life that I wanted to see what it would be like to live without it. Social media has a very present hold on society. It’s where we get our information, how we stay up to date on people, and how we let everyone know what we are up to. It’s more than just a simple trend; it’s a lifestyle that people have become so accustomed to.
Giving it up for Lent was hard, but it was also nice because it gave me a lot more free time. I could get stuff done in the morning instead of sit on my phone for thirty minutes catching up on the world. I thought I would be so out of the loop, but when things are worth talking about, it gets spread by word of mouth, too. Anything political was discussed by my friends or my professors. Not only that, but when people are on their phones and they see something shocking, they’ll usually want to talk to whomever is closest. And let’s face it: everyone is on their phones and social media all the time so I was bound to hear gossip that was on Facebook.
The only place where I really missed information was from my sorority’s Facebook page. Lent also happens to line up with pledging so I had no clue what was going on, and I relied on other people to tell me where we were meeting for pledging and at what time. Sororities are big, so the best way to spread news was on our Facebook page, and I felt bad for always having to ask if anything important was posted that day or not.
You don’t realize how often people are on social media until you give it up for a bit. There were numerous times where I was sitting with a bunch of people and they were all on their phones. It was awkward for me because I didn’t have anything to look at on my phone (except emails or texts), but it really opened my eyes to how normal it is to just sit in quiet as everyone browses Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Taking away that normalcy was helpful to my studies. Before I gave it up, I would browse social media when I got bored with my homework…which was all the time. Without the distraction, I was able to get readings done much more quickly. I felt more motivated to get stuff done, otherwise I would just be sitting there staring off into space. During Lent, I still had really busy days, and it amazes me that I probably would have been ten times more stressed out than I was if I had social media to distract me.
Lent is also a time of reflection, and let me tell you, the free time I had without social media allowed me to reflect on myself, my studies, my faith, and anything else I had going on in my mind. If your life feels like it’s moving too quickly or you don’t have enough free time, take a break from social media. Your newsfeed and friends will still be there when you get back, and you may even realize that you’re following people you don’t really know anymore. Deleting all the extra things from your life will also add free time to your schedule. It’s healthy to take a break for a day to really focus on yourself. One day is a lot shorter than forty, and if I could do it for that long, anyone can do it for a day.