When I joined Facebook last April, I did it with fear and trepidation, knowing it had been idolatry for me in the past. Several things made it idolatry:
- I considered it more fun than spending time with God.
- I spent time on Facebook instead of spending time with my husband when he was home.
- I spent well over an hour a day on Facebook, so it swallowed up my time.
Because I love God and my husband more than life itself, I’m holding myself accountable. I promised my husband it would not be the same this time; that if I joined Facebook again, I wouldn’t let myself get swallowed up in it like a black hole. So now I have come to the end of the year, which is a time for reflection. Has Facebook been idolatry for me? Even though I have spent an enormous amount of time on Facebook this year, the answer is, unbelievably, “no.”
Do I look forward to Facebook more than I look forward to spending time with God? Does it cause me to speed up my prayers like it did that first day? The answer is no. I love my time with God way more than Facebook.
Do I spend time on Facebook instead of being with my husband? At first I made myself the rule to be off the computer whenever my husband was home. That way Facebook would never interfere with my marriage. But then guess what? My husband got me a cell phone with a connection to Facebook. He got himself a cell phone, too. Now picture this: my husband and I are sitting quietly on the couch on any given evening. My husband has his cell phone out and is showing me some silly YouTube video. Or he’s playing Angry Birds or some other inane game, to unwind from work so that he can sleep. I WANT my husband to unwind, so I highly support anything that helps him to relax and unwind.
But this now puts me in the position of sitting with my husband, with him playing on his phone, and me doing nothing. If I continue to do nothing, my husband will feel a false guilt for unwinding instead of “spending time with me,” so I get out my cell phone and check Facebook. My husband is not bothered by my sitting beside him and looking at my Facebook page while he’s playing Angry Birds or whatever. We are both happy. I pray for my Facebook friends, encouraging them in Christ, and developing deeper friendships. This is not sin.
I probably spend MORE time on Facebook now than I did back when it was idolatry. It’s because when I’m at the checkout line at the grocery store (alone), instead of just wasting time standing there, I check Facebook and encourage other human beings. It is good use of time.
And yet I must pause. I could easily be blind to my own sin. I must continuously check my heart and make sure that my priorities are straight. I haven’t even mentioned that I’m trying to run a business that God put on my heart to start, and the greatest amount of traffic for my blog and website comes from Facebook, because I truly love the people there. I read their stuff and watch the videos they post and care about what they think and pray for them. They’re real people, and I love them for real.
So is Facebook idolatry for me? I was off Facebook for three months in the summer, and I had no withdrawal symptoms. That indicates no addiction. But to be honest, it’s an ongoing struggle because I do enjoy it, and anything in my life that I enjoy can become idolatry if I don’t keep it in check. So I must continuously give it back over to God and pray that I will bring glory to Him with however much time I spend on it.
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