It’s been a month since I’ve put up a blog post.

I really do have some good reasons, I swear!

The main reason was that I attempted a social media fast for Lent. (Notice I said, attempted.) Second, my 2 turning 3 year old attacked my computer keyboard for the upteenth time, basically laying it to rest with his last visit, tearing away 20 keys that I couldn’t get back on. It’s a real pain to try to type anything of significance when hoping that you’re fingers don’t slip off the tiny circles that reside under the plastic keys that pass pressure signals on to the CPU. Right now I’m making do on a cheapy keyboard accessory from Bed Bath and Beyond. Meh.

I digress. Back to Lent. I failed regarding social media. I managed to keep myself off Pinterest and Twitter with no problems, I only looked at a few blogs, but that stupid Facebook has its hooks in me. I dramatically reduced my time on it, but came no where near to eliminating it completely.

I’m really bothered by that. An addiction to Facebook says alot about me, much that I would rather just ignore.

You know how they say that people whose families tend to have alcoholic tendencies should just never drink? I think Facebook is the same for so many of us. In moderation, it can be a great, efficient way to stay connected with people. However, for those who are unaware of certain thought patterns they have or those who simply haven’t dealt with them and the lies from Satan they have believed, Facebook can feed into unhealthy tendencies by creating false realities and reducing relationships to a mere exchanging of surface level status updates.

Of course, this isn’t always the case, but I think it is certainy prevalent among FB users. Are those 300 friends I have really connected to me on a meaningful level? And really, is it possible to connect in any meaningful way with that many people?

Was my fast for Lent successful? Yes, and no. No, in that I obviously still engaged to some degree with the media. Yes, in that I realized how deep and unhealthy my current attachments to Facebook are. For me, Facebook allows a lazy way to have relationship….you just log people in and out when you desire. You can easily avoid or confront without consequences. For me, Facebook allows me to hang on to old ghosts in my mind….relationships from the past that I need to let go of, but for some reason can’t, and Facebook allows me the facade of believing that I am continuing those relationships.

I’m trying to decide currently what to do about Facebook….drop it completely, or just try to set really strict boundaries on my time there. And it concerns me when I get uncomfortable with the idea of just letting it go immediately. I’m sure Jesus has something to tell my heart about this.

How about you? How does social media affect your life? Is it an occasional interest, or are you FBing constantly and following the 2012 presidential campaign in real time on Twitter?

Seeking to fully live,