Creators, Consumers, and Christ: 10 Social Media Resolutions

Whether creating or consuming, Christians can use social media as a tool to steward and leverage well for the glory of God and the good of others. To encourage Christians and especially youth on social media, here are some very practical tips and strategies that I shared in a retreat workshop called “Creators, Consumers, and Christ—A Theology of Social Media.”

Editor’s Note: This article has been adapted from a retreat workshop. You can listen to the full presentation on YouTube.

1. Resolve to take social media sabbaths

This means taking breaks where you turn off your phone completely. A great time to do that is on Sundays, specifically when you’re at church and you don’t need to be on your phone for a few hours.

Resolve and make a promise to yourself: “I’m not going to open any apps when I’m at church.” You’re going to be completely present—listen to the sermon, sing the songs, see your friends in person—and not be distracted by anything that’s happening online.

2. Resolve to stop mindlessly scrolling and surfing

Infinite scrolling takes place when you’re bored. Resolve not to do that anymore. You can set time limits for yourself—hang out online for an hour—and then you put your phone away.

Don’t be constantly addicted, where you’re just checking feeds over and over again. Be purposeful in how you consume content.

3. Resolve to be aware of comparison

You know those moments when you start looking at something and you start feeling in your heart: “I wish I had that. Why can’t I have that? Why can’t I be like that?” Resolve to put your phone away and give those thoughts to God.

Say, “God, I am not feeling content right now, I just want to put this away, and I’m going to give it to you.” Direct your prayers towards him whenever you feel any sort of discontentment from comparison.

Research has found that social media may be linked to depression and can cause lonliness and isolation. Christians, our joy and our hope is found in Jesus. Once you start feeling any inclination of comparison, sadness, jealousy, or hatred—you need to give that back to God.

4. Resolve to flee pornography

I’m not going to pretend that there’s no pornography on social media. The moment you start seeing anything — mute or block it, and don’t click on it. Don’t begin to feed the algorithm. Resolve that you’re not going to have anything to do with pornography on social media.

5. Resolve to curate who you follow

You shape and you make out who you choose to follow. The good thing is that you don’t have to follow anybody if you don’t want to. You can choose to follow your friends. You can choose to follow Christian ministries. You don’t have to follow things that you know are depressing or things that you know will cause you to sin.

6. Resolve to be protective about who follows you

You don’t owe anybody anything when it comes to your social media. You don’t need to let people follow you whether they are strangers or acquantainces. There is a way for you to be protective and guard your heart against letting people into your life. You don’t need to open yourself up to everyone online.

7. Resolve to keep watch over your direct messages

You don’t need to be a content creator in order to be influencing people. You can influence people just by messaging them. Going the other way, we all know that sometimes people can enter your DMS.

Be aware of the conversations you are a part of online, and guard yourself against scams and improper relationships. Be proactive in protecting yourself and using messaging purposefully.

8. Resolve to monitor your motives when posting

It’s fun to share things on the internet. It’s good that we can share our lives with other people. But you have to watch your motives. Are you trying to impress people? Are you trying to project an image of yourself that makes you look a certain way? Maybe it’s false, or maybe it’s misleading. We want to be authentic, and we want to be real.

We tend to portray and project ourselves to be better than we are. We need to be aware that other people are doing that, too. We need to know that Jesus does not desire for us to be perfect. We grow in Jesus. So it’s okay to be real. We just need to resolve to monitor our motives for why we’re posting.

9. Resolve to practice discernment

Discernment means you are aware of the content that you’re consuming, and you’re also aware of what you’re posting. What are your messages saying about you? Do they have anything to say about your worldview, about Jesus, about God? You want to be aware, and you want to be discerning about what you’re doing on the internet.

10. Resolve to remember that you don’t have to be on social media

You don’t need to have accounts for every single app and platform that comes out. You can pick and choose what you want to do. It is incredibly freeing knowing that you’re not beholden to anything.

So be purposeful with the social media that you want to use. You can use them well, and you can use them to give glory to God. You can use them to grow as a disciple of Jesus. And you can use it to influence and encourage others towards Christ’s likeness, towards holiness, and towards worship.

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