A conservative average on the number of times Americans pick up their phones per day is 90.
One thing that makes me sad about this…for myself and for all of us: if you are like me, some significant number of those pick-ups wind up with me on social media being wooed into thinking that something about me is deficient. I need to “combat drooping eyelids”, “dress to look taller”, “smooth over those age spots”, “lose that menopause weight”, “balance my hormones”, or “tackle my sagging neck”. The neck was a new one for me. I hadn’t realized I needed to start hating my neck on top of everything else.
But do I really need to hate my neck? Not only are my phone pick-ups injecting a jolt of stress hormone into my day, they are also giving me a more grinding, chronic anxiety about all the parts of me that could be better, could be fixed…could be overhauled. It’s possible I could have gone to the grave without considering the state of my neck except for the suggestion of a problem that my algorithm knew would hook me.
Proverbs 25:28 says “A person without self-control is like a city with broken down walls.”
A city without walls is vulnerable to attack and completely open to the enemy. I’m struck by how well this image describes the broad superhighway I construct with phone pick-ups into my very soul. I make myself too vulnerable, too open.
I’m feeling really convinced that Jesus cares about how many times a day I pick up my phone because he cares about anything I do 90 times per day. I believe God is so grieved that I wondered if I should hate my neck enough to try and change it. Not in some legalistic, let’s get back to the good ‘ole days way…No, more like any loving parent who grieves that their child’s inner critic has awoken and started terrorizing their beautiful son or daughter.
In a way, there is nothing new about the marketing industry. It just has more access to us now. A broad, superhighway straight to our souls.
Using some self-control to limit the damage might be a clear next step for many of us.
Share your ideas and wisdom in the comments.
One Response
I so agree. On YouTube there are always health specialists telling me how to get healthier with just one special concoction. ( even how to “poop” better, really?) I also find others perfect lives make me feel like a total loser. I really feel worse when I pick up the phone to go to my daily Bible app and end up on social media instead. I loved the verse you shared. I want to rebuild my walls.