US psychologists claim social media ‘increases loneliness’
We hardly needed psychologists to tell us this but in case you doubted it:
A report suggests that more than two hours of social media use a day doubled the chances of a person experiencing social isolation.
It claims exposure to idealised representations of other people’s lives may cause feelings of envy.
This Is Not A Show – Propel Women
Here are some good lines in this article:
All this being in the public eye, constantly under a spotlight of our own making, it doesn’t just share our faith. It also distorts it.
Social media turns faith into a show, and it ends up shaping our entire spiritual lives, both online and off.
Sharon then shares three practices that have helped her use social media in a healthy way:
1. Take a social media fast.
2. Practice the discipline of secrecy.
3. Embrace your hiddenness.
Five Reasons Why Pastors Are Getting Fired Because of Their Social Media Posts
I’m sure churches are checking a pastor’s social media use before hiring. But social media is also leading to some firings.
With greater frequency, more pastors and church staff are losing their jobs because of what they post, particularly on Facebook and Twitter and, to some extent, their blogs. By the way, churches will not always tell the pastor the specific reason for the firing. But, once we begin to infuriate our church members with our posts, many will find a myriad of reasons to give us the boot.
5 new brain disorders that were born out of the digital age
1. Nomophobia: No-mobile-phobia, the panic felt when one is separated from their phone.
2. Technoference: When tech devices interrupt our leisure time, conversations, and meals with our significant other.
3. The phantom ring: The perception that one’s mobile device is ringing (or, more precisely, vibrating) when, in fact, it is not.
4. Cyberchondria: People who research and diagnose their own illnesses online. They get neurotic, and go down a Google wormhole, frantically reading about every dreaded disease that matches their symptoms.
5. Truman Show Delusion: The spooky feeling that someone’s watching you, the false perception that our lives are being broadcast.
Are You Suffocating Your Creativity?
If your creativity is suffering, two of the solutions may be:
3. Don’t engage in technological distraction.
4. Embrace the boredom.
Five Warnings On Christians’ Thoughtless Use of Technology
David Prince reflects on a recent interview with Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains. Among many excellent points he notes:
♦ When we use a tool, not only are we shaping the world around us, but our tools are shaping us. The value systems embedded into our digital tools shape how we think and act, which even has a physiological effect on how our brains work (see Carr’s book The Shallows). Christians must actively interrogate the technologies they use and determine whether the value system the tools encourage align with the Bible’s value system.
♦ We often have an illusion of connection via social media, but for most, no one really knows us. This has huge implications for Christian community. Christians who unthinkingly use digital technology will struggle to create and maintain deep forms of Christian community.
♦ When we constantly use tools that train us to value efficiency and convenience above core aspects of our humanity, we begin to blur the definition of humanity itself. And if the definition of human is blurred, it is suddenly possible to mold the definition of human to exclude certain groups
Reset Your Child’s Brain: A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades, and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time by Victoria L. Dunckley MD. I haven’t read this book yet but it gets rave reviews.
More Digital Detox Resources here.