My Tech-Wise LifeSample

We Don’t Have to Compare Ourselves—When Social Media Freaks Us Out [by Amy]

  

After a school dance, my friends all started to post on Instagram and spammed our group chat with caption ideas and gushing compliments. Unlike me, they looked perfect. As they went on, I started to get more and more upset. I didn’t want anyone to see these photos, ever.

Even now, I can’t totally explain my intense reaction. But I can say something definitive about that moment: it’s not unusual. In fact, pretty much everyone will experience something like this. It might not be about a picture of yourself. Maybe it was when you saw those videos from the party you weren’t invited to, or when your friends bragged about getting perfect scores on the test you failed; maybe it’s your parents’ disappointment when you didn’t make the team.

Of course, technology isn’t the source of our insecurities—it’s not like people suddenly started feeling bad about themselves when the iPhone showed up. But much of the technology filling our lives both encourages anxiety and profits from it. 

When we engage with technology, we’re surrounded by messages that our lives are missing something. Reminders of our imperfection are always lurking in our pockets. Still, our phones and the internet don’t just make us insecure, they also improve our lives. Like everything in our lives, tech both helps and hurts us. 

I’m learning that living wisely with technology isn’t one-size-fits-all; you have to do some self-searching to discover how tech will tempt you and how tech will help you. I hope you can clear away any static that technology might bring and learn to listen to your family and friends more deeply. 

Here’s what I hope we can commit to: when our daily troubles and lurking fears overwhelm us, let’s not turn to tech. You and I—we are broken, ragged people. We can’t be healed by technology’s seamless flow. We need fellowship with our broken, ragged friends. 

When I was crying from my gremlin-like photos, I reached out to my youth pastor, Bethany. She embraced me, prayed with me, and shared the scars of her self-doubts too. We talked and wept and broke bread together.

Sharing with others sometimes feels impossible. It takes courage and vulnerability to confess our self-doubts, and it’s so much easier to put on a confident face and lie. And as Romans 12 shows us, we find peace from our insecurities through community.

Have you been struggling on your own without asking for support? Identify the people or person that could help you. I promise it’ll be a relief to share what’s hurting you.