3 Simple Ways to Get Unstuck This Year – ESCAPE the ALGORITHM

Since I introduced the idea of a church-wide Lenten fast from social media, it’s received mixed reviews from people in our congregation. Some have responded positively and seem excited by the challenge, while others have said things like, “Great idea! I mean – I won’t be doing it – but it sounds like a great idea, you know, for other people.”

The most common reaction has been confusion. People seem genuinely disoriented by the prospect of disengaging from social media for forty days. Some of their bewilderment stems from what, exactly, constitutes social media. Are we just fasting from the Big Five: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X/Twitter, and Snapchat? What about YouTube? LinkedIn? Threads? BlueSky? WhatsApp? Messenger? Telegram? Spotify? Pinterest? Reddit? The Texas Aggies Football Forum? Dating apps?!

At this point, I have to admit: I probably didn’t think this through. I didn’t realize just how varied and pervasive social media platforms have become. They’re everywhere, so it’s clear why some people are thrown off by the proposition to disconnect from all of them. It feels like we’re asking them to disconnect from life itself!

But that’s precisely the problem, I think. The fact that periodic, prolonged fasting from social media seems impossible for so many of us suggests that we need this fast even more than I imagined.

Still, not everyone agrees that social media is a vice to be wary of, and to be fair, there certainly are meaningful upsides to digital connectivity. Social media platforms bring over five billion people together: grandparents video-calling their grandchildren, siblings separated by thousands of miles staying in touch, college buddies reminiscing about the good old days, etc.

But do these benefits justify the costs? Although social media giants boast about being “free,” we know that nothing in life is free. And it just so happens that these free platforms cost a ton in terms of:

• TIME: The average user spends 2.5 hours per day on social media platforms. That’s over ten percent of our time – and 16% of our waking hours, assuming 8 hours of sleep.
• TEENS & CHILDREN: The average teen spends 3.5 hours per day on social media, and more than one-third of girls report feeling “addicted” to certain platforms.
• MENTAL HEALTH: Facebook became available to the public in 2006, and Instagram launched in 2010. Between 2007 and 2017, the suicide rate among young people (10-24 years old) increased by fifty-six percent. Executives at Facebook (aka “Meta”) knew about this at the time, and they tried to bury the story. Almost half of adolescents (13-17) say that social media makes them feel worse about their own bodies. 50% of teen girls say that social media hurts their sleep, and 48% of young adults believe that people on social media have “better lives” than they do. The more a person uses social media, the more likely they are to be anxious, depressed, self-loathing, and suicidal. 
• ATTENTION: Maybe the most sinister aspect of social media is how manipulative it is by design. The business model of social media is built around keeping your eyes on screens and apps for as many hours a day as possible. To that end, they’ve hired specialists called Attention Engineers, a profession that rose to prominence in Las Vegas because casinos were desperate to make their gambling floors as addictive as possible. These Attention Engineers applied their skills to social media, helping programmers at Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, et al, develop tools that keep people scrolling as long as possible. Do they care how you feel about yourself while scrolling? No. Do they care about all the other stuff you should be doing instead of scrolling? Not one bit.
• DECEPTION: Social media companies do not care about you because you are not their customer. You’re not their client. You’re not a stakeholder. You’re not even technically a “user.” You are the product being sold. Your time, attention, and information are the only commodities in play. Advertisers pay hundreds of billions of dollars every year to analyze your data, spy on your online behavior, and learn from your tendencies to more effectively manipulate you in the future.

There’s so much more I could say about the massive toll being exacted on us by social media, but you get the idea. Instead, let’s address the obvious question: Is it worth it? 

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus shared a simple parable that, I believe, applies to our modern-day social media dilemma:

Christians have a singular mission on this earth: to be disciples of Jesus Christ by building our lives around him. Even though your salvation was a free gift from God, discipleship is going to cost you. In fact, Jesus said it’ll cost us everything:

If following Jesus requires all of our time, attention, intellect, and affection, we simply don’t have sufficient “capital” to spend so much of our energy escaping and doom-scrolling online. 

There is one important exception: if – and only if – a Christian can manage to build his (or her) social media presence around Jesus, if he goes out of his way to seek out and share Christian content, and if he makes it his mission to share the Gospel with his friends and followers online, then his social media usage can be justifiable.

But let’s be real: most of us have a long way to go before our social media feeds speak Jesus. Most of us spend most of our time wasting too much time and energy posting and perusing vacation pictures, political commentary, meaningless memes, sports and entertainment news, and trends in fashion and home decor. We were made for more than this. 

I used to be a social media fiend. I requested and downloaded reports of my activity on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X since 2012, and they tell quite the story. From 2012-2020, I posted an average of 155 times a year across all platforms, and I chimed in with over a thousand comments per year (I used to love to argue with people in the comments!).

My life changed dramatically in 2021, when The Story was forced out of the only home and denomination we’d ever known, and our church’s future was very much in doubt. It was then that I, along with a handful of strong leaders, decided to shift The Story’s focus away from merely drawing big crowds and to aim for deep discipleship.

I won’t go into the weeds here, but our choice to value making disciples over counting heads gradually led me to step back from social media. I was still fairly active in 2021 (125 posts, 852 comments), but from 2022-2025, I pulled way back, averaging only 74 posts and 99 comments per year.

Here’s what I’ve discovered about the relationship between discipleship and social media use: the more intentionally I follow Jesus, the less I need and care about social media. Unfortunately, the inverse is also true: the more active I am on social media, the less I (think I) need and care about Jesus. 

As we prepare to begin our 40-day fast, I recognize that it’s going to look different for everyone. Some of you are ready to go all-in and quit all social media, cold-turkey, while others are torn out of necessity (work obligations, for example). Many of you are probably intimidated by the challenge, and you might even be doubting whether you want to participate in this fast at all.

I promise you, I get it. With that in mind, I’ll close with a few simple tips in hopes of engaging as many Story people as possible in this challenge.

First, take a step back from your social media platforms of choice and STATE THE MISSION of your online presence. Essentially, social media should be nothing but a tool. To know how to use a tool, you have to know what you’re building, that’s where your mission comes in. Without a clear mission, you’ll be more susceptible to impulsivity and endless scrolling. As a reminder, the mission of every Christian is clear: to live as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Second, insofar as you choose to engage with social media, USE IT ONLY to BUILD TOWARD YOUR MISSION. Maybe an all-out fast from all social media is too tall an order for you. If that is the case, consider a stringent, “partial fast” by imposing boundaries and guidelines that fundamentally how you spend your time online, what content you’re seeking out, and how you’re engaging with others. Make it all about Jesus!

Third, IF IT’S NOT MISSION-CRITICAL, DON’T SAY IT ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Spend enough time on Twitter or TikTok, and you’re going to come across people who are doing and saying some reprehensible things. Instead of reacting impulsively, let your mission in Christ filter out the stuff your flesh would normally do and say. Remember, self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).