Why I Gave Up Facebook -- Grace

I'll be straight-up-honest here: I love social media.  It's great.  There are some I use more than others, like how I like Pinterest and Instagram best because I'm a very visual person.  But Facebook was my first love.  Or...my first social media account...whichever is more appropriate.  :P  I got a Facebook the day after I turned thirteen.  One of my best friends lives at least two hours away, and I hadn't talked to her in years -- that was my first reason.  And now I have friends and family literally from Maine to Oregon.  Facebook was my way of keeping in touch with all of those people -- even family and friends that live in town.  I got health updates on friends and family in dire need.  I saw pictures of my little cousins and friends' babies.  I heard about birthday parties and weddings, celebrated engagements and well-wishes for trips, watched as friends bragged on their best friend or sent random "you're awesome" messages to others.  I shared my poetry on there -- the stuff that God gave me to share with others.

So why did I give it up?

(I'll be honest....I still ask myself this question sometimes).

It's a tool.  But it's only useful if you use it wisely.  I used to check Facebook once every five minutes.  I'm alone a lot, and it was very easy for me to get bored and turn to Facebook for entertainment.  And with two hundred plus Facebook friends, there's bound to be a new post every ten minutes.

What else could I have done with the hours and hours and hours I've wasted, waiting for....what?  For another like?  A comment that would make me feel good for all of five minutes?  I could have been writing, sewing, sharing with others -- things that are worthwhile.  I could have been spending time with God and reading the Scriptures.

But instead, I was wasting my time on a shallow little social media platform....waiting for....nothing.

(Disclaimer: I love Instagram...it's slower and more laid-back than Facebook, and I don't feel the need to check it as often).

So...what could you do with the time you spend on social media?  Eh?

"Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal.  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

Matthew 13:19-21