Who Are You Following?

By: Jenifer Metzger

I have a love hate relationship with social media. Many days, the scales tip towards hate.

Recently I was talking with a friend about social media. In and of itself, social media isn't bad. Social media can be a wonderful tool for keeping in touch with family and friends across the span of miles, for sharing in our lives, and even for encouraging each other. Social media can certainly be a wonderful, wonderful thing!

Unfortunately, many people use it for bad. People air their dirty laundry, there is nonstop drama, the passive aggressive posts, the bullying, the comparison, the discontentment, the hunger for likes and follows, being robbed of our time, it's awful.

How can we use social media for good and not bad?

In her newest book Who Are You Following, Sadie Robertson Huff says, "I think it's safe to say that anything we are spending up to seven hours a day on is worth looking at closely and considering whether it is leading us to the life we desire."

It is amazing how much time we spend on social media. My phone has this feature where it tells me how much time I spend on it. It can even narrow down what apps I am on the most. When I first discovered how much time I was on my phone, I was shocked! With all I have to do, with all I could be doing, and I am on my phone that many hours a day!

In the summer of 2020, I was struggling a bit so I decided to silence the notifications for all social media on my phone. Those dings and pings have a powerful force that pull me in! By silencing the notifications, I found myself on social media -and my phone- much less.

Guard your heart above all else,

for it determines the course of your life.
Proverbs 4:23

While on my phone less, I still battled with what I read and saw and how I felt. By following and friending people, we are allowing them to speak into our lives. We are giving them this right to our life and letting them dictate how we feel. We are being influenced by people behind the mask of a filter instead of by God and His Word.

Sadie says, "Often we don't intend to see the things we see, think about the things we end thinking about, spend the hours we spend, or even buy the things we buy. We just weren't paying attention to who we were following."

I remember one time scrolling through Instagram and coming across a name and face that I had not recalled ever seeing. I then went to look at my list of people I was following and it was so random. I was following accounts for products I didn't use or used once, for people I didn't know, it was crazy. It was time for a massive clean out, and time to be more intentional with who I was following and why I was following them. Sadie also says, "We need to be more intentional about what we are looking for so that we can be intentional about who we begin to follow."

Who Are You Following is so thought-provoking. Sadie has confirmed feelings I've already had and opened my eyes in other areas. Who we follow matters. Who we allow to speak into our lives matter. The way we feel when we come away from social media matters.

This book should be read by everyone! If you have social media, you need to read it. If you are thinking of getting social media, you need to read it. If your child has social media, you need to read it and so do they. Pick up a copy of Who Are You Following and the Who Are You Following Guided Journal today!