The Social Speck
Meta's Withering Heights and the Follower's Challenge
Could Meta soon be…Meh?
While a potentially precedent-setting lawsuit against Meta (Instagram, Facebook) for alleged social media addiction plays out in Los Angeles, the social network heads might be watching a more devastating gathering storm – their platforms turning irrelevant.
The decline is marginal, but real.
A Financial Times analysis of more than 250,000 adults in over 50 countries showed social media usage peaking in 2022. Social psychologist Jon Haidt,through his bestseller The Anxious Generation, After Babel Substack and other advocacy is at the forefront of recent efforts to ban smartphones in schools and pass age limits for social media accounts in Australia and several European countries.
CNBC reports “going chronically offline is the latest trend to grip young people.” Several major cities hosted “Delete Day” events led by Gen-Zers and among evangelical Christians, Liberty University launched a month-long “Digital Rest,” echoing media fasts that have been encouraged in church youth groups.
So, those “crazy kids on their phones,” might be getting it, but what about the rest of us, the grown ups in the room who are supposed to be “adulting?”
To paraphrase Matthew 7:4:
“Why do you look at the digital speck in your child’s eye and pay no attention to the screen brick still in your hand?”
I’ve been on a journey to answer that question for a while through teaching media literacy at various Christian institutions and speaking about screen usage last year at North Greenville University.
The most revealing moment in that talk was reporting my screen time on all devices for one week – 9 HOURS on average per day.
More than sleep. More than study. More than prayer.
I left students with the satisfaction of knowing they probably weren’t as bad off as their prof, but I hope I also made a point.
We have a problem.
And for the Christ-follower, it’s a follower-ship problem…a spiritual crisis.
That chapel talk began a journey I’ve documented here at TURN IT OFF, one part screen time journal and one part media literacy for believers.
In these few months of turning off publicly, I’ve learned something else…
De-screening is hard.
And many of those same grownups in the chat room don’t want to think about it.
Pew Research showed U.S. adult usage of Facebook or YouTube at over 80% as of last November and at least 50% of everyone 18+using the apps daily. Emarketer projects ALL media time – traditional and digital - will peak at close to 13 hours a day for U.S. adults in 2026.
If big data overload blots out your guilt, just glance at your phone’s weekly screen time report. Mine arrives conveniently each Sunday before worship, proving again God can speak truth through a donkey (Numbers 22) or an Apple.
As I consider why to turn it off, I’m drawn to Matthew 6:21:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (ESV)
That Greek word for “treasure”, thēsauros, is less about money and more about a storehouse for meaningful things - a metaphorical “repository of thoughts, feelings, and purposes.”
Then, what’s so treasured?
I’ve concluded at least three spiritual problems with social media content:
1. The Attention Diversion – Our eyes are windows to our souls. Over and over, scripture tags the eyes as metaphors for our attention and if they’re going to screens hours a day, our hearts and minds will follow.
As Hebrews 12:2 says:
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (ESV)
2. The Conflict Collusion – Some of us are attracted by the chaos of social commentary. Whether we ever truly “win” on the toxic socials is beside the point. The fight is the thing and that includes some Christian “influencers” who make their living stirring us up. We tell ourselves we’re standing for truth, defending the faith but - maybe – we’re just having fun.
Consider James, and substitute your favorite commentary app for “tongue”:
“no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” – James 3: 8-9 (ESV)
3. The Selfie Identity – Social media is the ultimate “look at me” cracked mirror. I’m not on socials for your stuff, but to see what you think about my stuff. This impacts where we find our identity - in the reflected views of others or in Christ alone. Whether you like my “selfie” or I aspire to the beauty of yours, all of this self-ish posting is, as Ecclesiastes says, “vanity.”(KJV)
Modern translations change the King James’ vanity to meaningless and both words are on point:
“I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure….
”Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind”
– Ecclesiastes 2:10,11 (ESV)
The toils of our day and the pleasures for our eyes are now contained in a screen in our pocket. Yet the more we stare into that little black box, the more vain and meaningless it all seems.
If that’s addiction, let the courts deal with the addict-ors.
If it’s distraction, let’s take devices away from the young.
But for the rest of us, media is a choice and we can turn it off.
I believe our Lord demands nothing less than He be the key influencer in our lives. If He is not, we must remove the speck that’s clouding our eyes.
A first step might be putting a device down and picking His Word up.
I pray, let it begin with me.
Randall, you are really challenging us! I look to your writing!!