7: Media

My friend Sammy and I are doing The 7 Experiment, a Bible study by Jen Hatmaker that we totally recommend!  Several people have joined these weekly fasts since the very first week, including my mom, Ali, and a few others!

This is the week I've honestly been dreading for the last month: media.  I have a feeling that this means this is the fast I will learn from the most!

Friends and me with our iPhones on 4th of July

I am a media kind of girl.  I'm majoring in Telecommunications and Media Studies in college, if you need proof.  I love blogging, Facebook, Twitter, instagram, iPhone apps of all sorts, and pretty much any other source of appropriate social media that one could find.  I enjoy it.  But these sources of media can be major distractions in my life.

This week, we will be fasting from seven sources of social media.  These are the seven I chose:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Posting from my blog and reading other blogs
• Radio/iPod
• TV/movies/Hulu/Netflix
• Texting
• iPhone apps

My exceptions to this fast are mostly within my phone apps.  I will be using the Maps app because I am severely directionally challenged and would otherwise never find my way to anywhere ever again.  I will be using the TAMU app for schoolwork.  I will use the alarm clock app for waking up for classes and church.  And I will use the camera app (but I won't post pictures anywhere until after the week is over).

The iPhone apps as a fast is focused on sacrificing from things like instagram, Candy Crush, Tumblr, easy access to Google, snapchat, and Vine.  Those are my iPhone favorites and will very much get a break this week.

An example of one way I use social media through snapchat all the time. Mmhmm.

I've informed my friends that if they need to talk to me this week, they can give me a call or find me in person, so I'm curious to see how many phone calls I will actually get from my contemporary friends (who like to text and tweet as much as I do).

When it comes to my blog, I will continue to write daily thoughts that I may post starting next Friday.  For me, writing is a form of worship and revelation, but I will refrain from posting anything, including comments, until one week from today.  I also won't be reading any other blogs for the next week.

I will be using email for schoolwork and work, which is why that is not included in my list of media sources (although I won't use my phone to check email).

I expect the biggest mistakes this week to come from habit.  When I turn on my laptop, my immediate reaction is to open Facebook and Twitter.  There may be accidental mistakes!  I'll log off these sites for the week to help me remember, as well as turn off the data on my phone, so hopefully this will minimize accidental errors.

It's a little stressful to think about giving up blogs, social media, and texting.  It's overwhelming to imagine spending my afternoons without giving into the allure of my iPhone and internet.  But this is exactly why it is good for me to fast from these things for a week and set my eyes fully on the Father and His unfailing love and mercy in my day-to-day life.

The promise verse I'm memorizing for this week is: "I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh." -Ezekiel 11:19.

Another verse that I will repeat to myself when I am feeling weary or frustrated is Psalm 86:11, which says, "Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name."

I'm approaching this week with full awareness of my own weakness and total desire to stretch my arms out to Jesus and ask Him to fill every distracted piece of my heart. 

Talk to you in a week, friends.

Two years ago: Pregnant Mannequins and Hairless Dogs
Three years ago: Rainbow Eyes