I'm on a Diet

It’s the week after Thanksgiving and I’m currently on a diet. I took some time to reflect last week and concluded that I need to go on a diet, a social media- and Netflix-diet. Social media and Netflix bring joy to my life but I need to control the number of hours I spend staring at a screen. When I was 12-years old it was easy to avoid watching too much TV or spending a lot of time online. The internet used to cost a lot of money per hour back then and my favorite TV shows only came on once a week. I had to wait a whole week before I could watch another episode of my favorite shows. Today we have constant access to a never-ending stream of entertainment, which makes it easy to spend too much time looking at a screen.

I have counted how many hours I spend online per week and have decided that I need to cut that number in half. I don’t spend that much time on one form of social media, but when you add up the time I spend on all different types of social media it becomes a lot of hours per week. I write a blog, read other people’s blogs, watch Netflix, follow people on Youtube, Instagram, Facebook etc.

Life is short. I want to make sure that I spend enough time in my life on loving God and loving people, not on staying updated on what everyone is doing on social media. Real love still happens in real life. I will continue to enjoy the benefits of Netflix and social media, but hopefully I will be able to spend less hours on these things from now on. Cutting my social media and Netflix intake in half will be a challenge for me, but I’m looking forward to having more time leftover for face to face conversations with friends and family. Jennie Allen’s words from her book “Proven” inspired my social media- and Netflix-diet:

“Friends, what if abundant joy, bliss, wonder and pleasure were ours, but we just kept missing those things because we’re either trying to work our way to God or numbing ourselves with fleeting entertainment?
I am learning to pick up books that show me more of Jesus, instead of turning on Netflix. I am learning to call friends over for chili instead of surfing Facebook. I am learning to look my kids in the eyes instead of stare at my phone. Our family is choosing to eat outside and laugh and have game nights and I am learning that the rhythms of gracious living are sacred and pleasing to Jesus. I want to enjoy God’s gifts but never give them too much power in my life. I want to see that Jesus is better, better than any cheap substitute I may crave.”

Jennie Allen, in her book Proven