Social Networking

So about 5 minutes ago I read a blog on the negative effects of Social Networking (http://performancing.com/negative-effects-of-social-networking-sites-for-students/) and another blog that talked about how Social Networking impacts us (http://socialmediatoday.com/gareth-price/1037606/imperceptible-impact-social-media-our-everyday-lives).

Post #1

The first blog made some good points. Social Media can be a huge distraction that can effect our studies or our work. It really can waste a lot of time (I know this by experience) and keep us cooped up away from actual interaction. To me, Social Media is a neutral issue. Its not necessarily bad and it's not necessarily good. What we do with it in our own lives determines that. Now, for the person who has a real addiction to Facebook or Twitter and cannot stay off it long enough to study, that's bad. But for the person who has their priorities straight and leverages Facebook and Twitter for the good of people, that's great!

Post #2

The second blog post talked about the type of impact Social Media can make on people and its a big one. The reality is that many people actually act with the thought in mind of posting something about it later. They will go out of their way to do something just so they can tell their Facebook friends or Twitter followers about it later. I think when we get to this level of obsession, we can almost classify it as idolatry.

My Take

I own a Twitter (@SuperDale23) and a Facebook (Dale Smith-Gilleran). There have been many times  where I've wasted time scrolling through these things. I am not so naïve to think that Social Media doesn't effect us negatively. It takes a healthy balance of being able to use it for good, but not abusing it to the point where it hurts us in certain ways like wasting time.

For me personally, if I don't take it upon myself to have some self-control and put my phone down when I know it's time for me to go to bed, ill lose a lot of sleep. In terms of leveraging these sites for good, here are some ways I've learned how to do that (in no specific order):

1. Follow or friend people and sites that build you up.

I am a Christian and want to love Jesus Christ more everyday. So I follow people and sites like DesiringGod, Matt Chandler, Tim Keller, and C.S. Lewis. I also like to workout so I follow other people like SwoleUniversity, Beast Sports, and Bodybuilding.com to inspire and give me some motivation.

2. Be the #1 you just read about.

Twitter and Facebook give us the opportunity to encourage and inspire others... so do it.

3. Build Relationships

Facebook and Twitter allow us to build and maintain relationships with people who we aren't physically close to. I know I love to hear from those that I'm physically distance from because it means they care enough to make the effort. Be the one to make the effort, you can really make someone's day.

Hope this helps, Thanks!