Fill Your Feed

Social media. I have a love/hate relationship with you. I love that you keep me connected with people: my family and friends from near and far currently and from the past. I love cheering on friends from the other side of the screen; excited for their victories and praying for their hardships.

And then there are those that deflate me. If I am not careful, I will follow someone just to watch the train wreck. I may even follow just to be in “the know” of their life not really caring about them deeply. Sometimes I follow some just so I don’t miss out on what they may post next. This is totally unhealthy, obviously.

What is in your social media feeds? What are you seeing everyday? What is filling your heart and your mind?

We like to scroll. Scrolling removes us from reality which may seem too hard, daunting, or hurtful in the moment. Scrolling turns our brains off from the busyness of the day. It’s mindless. Or, is it?

We are captivated by what’s in that little screen. It sucks us in and spits us out. The question is, when you get spit out, do you want to be covered in the slime of hate, anger, and anxiety. Or, do you want to walk away from your handy little device encouraged and lifted up? Personally, I choose the latter.

Who you follow on social media matters. If your feed is full of political rhetoric, I can guarantee you are going to feel heavy, worried, and mad most of the time. If you follow people you envy, you are going to feel less then sending you into a spiral of trying to be something you were never meant to be. If you follow people who hurt you or a friend who has moved on, you may feel replaced and betrayed.

SHUT IT DOWN.

I used to feel bad when I’d hit the “unfollow” button. I cared far too deeply about what the other person thought when they noticed I had walked away from our online relationship fully ignoring my mental health. It wasn’t until I stepped back and saw how my social media presence was negatively impacting my daily life that I made the change.

I fill my feed with goodness. My Instagram feed is chalked full of encouraging words, Scripture, and friends I celebrate. Every now and again, someone goes off the trail, but it is so few and far between. My scrolling leads to goodness rather than a messed up psyche.

I think we don’t realize that we have full control over our social media feeds. Actually, I know we do. We allow our feeds to control us rather than us controlling it. We own this little machine not the other way around. It is time we start living that way.

What do you fill your feed with? We spend countless hours in this space. It’s time we start asking ourselves, “Who do I want to be when I set my phone down?” I want to be happy not snappy (see what I did there) when I set my phone down and turn to my kids. I want to be encouraged not anxious when I scroll through my feed. And when I am not feeling that, I want to feel empowered to use the un-follow option.

Don’t allow your feed control your emotional and mental well-being. Fill that thing up with goodness and ultimately, you will feel lighter when you walk away rather than burdened. Fill that feed with things that make you smile and people that challenge you to be a better human. Make your feed nourish your soul. Your world, the space in which you live, will be better for it.

‘”You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.”‘ Exodus 20:4

Love & Blessings,
Meg