The Great Belonging Project: Day 12
“Early weekend mornings are my favorite mornings, because they give me extended time alone to read, write, and pray. I usually check social media, too, but the previous night I had decided Sundays would be social media-free for me. I want to refrain from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram on Sundays until sundown. I want to enter more fully into the Sabbath, and one way to do that is to put a moratorium on scrolling through photos, opinions, news bites, memes, and cat videos.” - The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other
The people who say social media will make you lonelier are wrong. Well, they are sometimes wrong.
While doing research for The Great Belonging: How Loneliness Leads Us to Each Other, I read plenty of studies that showed social media can help you feel less lonely and plenty of studies that showed it can make you feel more lonely.
It depends on how you engage, why you engage, with whom you engage.
Like most things in life, embracing nuance helps. Noticing helps. Paying attention helps.
For The Great Belonging Project: Day 12, I invite you to be curious about how you use social media. Which aspects of it help you feel like you belong? Which aspects make you feel lonely?
Then give some thought to tweaking your time online, how to balance it well with your time offline, who to give your attention to, who to ignore.
Let social media be an opportunity for belonging instead of a lonely drain.
How does social media broaden your sense of belonging?
Figure out what you need from social media and engage with it in ways that serve you and enhance your sense of belonging.
Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, if you like!
The Great Belonging Project is an offering from Spiritual Direction for Belonging™ and covered by the Spiritual Direction for Belonging™ trademark. Please help us protect our intellectual property, creative process, and the integrity of our work. You are welcome to forward these links to others, but any other use (written or spoken) is prohibited without written permission from Charlotte Donlon.