SOCIAL MEDIA FAST

Our phones, tablets and computers have a tendency to consume our focus, time and attention throughout the day, and with the advent of the internet they have become the connection tools of choice for keeping up with what’s happening with friends, family and the latest news.

However, we’ve probably all found at times that we’re reaching for our phones and scrolling through social media when we’re bored or just looking for a quick pick-me-up. Fasting social media for a time is a great way to break the habit of constant scrolling and point it instead to developing our walk with God. Not only that but many people have found that time off social media has done wonders for their mental health and helped them deal more effectively with things like anxiety and comparison.

Given that this church fast is happening during a New Zealand Covid-19 lockdown where we can’t easily socialize with friends and family, it’s important that we’re careful to not allow ourselves to get isolated by going on a social media fast.

Here’s some ideas/tips for getting the most out of your social media fast:

Making social media applications harder to access while you’re fasting

  • Remove the social media applications from your phone so that they’re not easy for you to access while you’re fasting. Because they all keep data on the cloud, you won’t lose any data by doing this and you can reinstall it after the fast.
  • There are apps available that allow you to schedule when your social media accounts will work, and when they won’t. You can check out a list of these here – (Click here to see  best apps to track/limit social media usage) 
  • Another free way of locking your social media accounts so that you’re not tempted to access them while you’re fasting it is to change your password to something long and indecipherable, and save a copy of that password to somewhere else on your phone. This again just stops you from easily finding yourself on social media.

Staying connected while off social media

  • Find another way to connect with friends and family while you’re fasting – this might be through phone calls or texts or Zoom rather than through social media platforms. Be intentional about making time to be with people – especially while we’re in a lockdown.

Changing the scrolling habit

When you find yourself picking up your phone to jump on social media you can set up a few other things during the 10 days of fasting that will help draw you closer to God rather than aimlessly scrolling.

  • Create a prayer list of people to pray for and pray for one of them each time you pick up your phone
  • Create a list of declarations that God says over your life (there’s a list here) and speak these out
  • Open a Bible app and scroll through the Bible instead of social media!