As one or two friends may know (who're from my life group), I have been dedicating my Week 10 to fast from usage of social media.
This desire to fast from social media has been nipping at me ever since Sabrina shared about her own fast 1-2 weeks ago, and hence I'd been constantly contemplating taking up the fast for 1-2 weeks... the resistant is most probably the lack of conviction previously.
But after Eileen shared that she would be switching her Daniel fast to a social media fast, last Monday this week, I knew I had to jump on the bandwagon too!
I immediately deactivated my Facebook account, signed out of all my accounts on all social media websites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr), and deleted all the applications of the same social media platforms, plus Foursquare and Snapchat. The moment of removing these social media connections from my life was at once liberating, yet slightly unnerving, at the same time.
So today has been Day 6, and I suppose I have broken my fast for a temporal amount of time, tonight, as I had to reactivate my FB for some necessary work/ministry usage purposes. (Which kind of led me to social website loafing all over again and explains why I am still awake now...... by golly.)
After tonight I will most definitely deactivate my account again and resume on my fast, but for the meantime, I shall document and journal my learning points from this fast.
Day 1 has been the most challenging day to overcome because all my muscle memories, mental habits, are all still fresh and screaming at me to pick up my phone, fiddle with my apps and scroll down my feed pages aimlessly. It was honestly a little troubling for me to fight with the habitual thoughts and actions. Thank God for Him, though, for reminding me to go to Him in prayers every time I realise I have subconsciously tried to access to my social media platforms.
Day 2 was slightly smoother, and by Day 3 I had almost completely forgotten about the apps, perhaps thanks to busily scheduled days of school which included a test. Days 4 and 5 were completely smooth as far as I can remember, praise God! :)
On Day 6, Saturday, I was feeling a bit of the itch to go to my apps... perhaps it was because I went out to town before service and seeped into the 'relaxation' mode... aha.
Overall, the fast turned out to be much better and much more rejuvenating, refreshing and successful than I thought. It really helped me to focus my thoughts and daily life on God, because a colossal chunk of distractions, which I realised was the source to breeding lies from the enemy which fed unhappiness, discontentment and inferiority into my heart and mind (spirit of comparison), was removed from my daily life and I could honestly feel more cleansed, more at peace, more contentment and more focus on the things I was initially meant to set out to do.
Nonetheless, it is to be recognised that social media platforms are pivotal in keeping connected to loved ones, providing sources for creative inspiration (essential for my work and art making!), and chancing upon articles which may be worth a read for what it's worth. (say The Relevant Magazine articles for example)
However, at the end of the day, it still boils down to how we respond to such seemingly uninhibited amount of access to information......... do I still choose to overload myself with information and lose sight of my initial plans for the entire day? I think it's so, so important that discernment comes into play in engaging in social media platforms.... ..... and also prioritising one's priorities, and exercising self control, too........
A v v v urgent reminder to myself, to exercise such qualities when I partake in social media... loafing around to look for design inspiration may be good, but not when one leads to another, and another, and another, and a video, and more videos........ Need to learn to not overfeed myself with things that may not necessarily add value to my life at the end of the day.....!
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