This week I created a Facebook account.
I stayed off Facebook and social media for years, and I'm glad I did. I'm 20, and I have maturity and discernment that I didn't have as a young teenager. It's easy to get tangled up with the wrong people on social media, to post things that are better kept private, to draw my value from how many Likes a post receives, and to waste a lot of time scrolling through posts irrelevant to me. While I still have to fight against such things, I would have fallen into these pitfalls easier at a younger age. But I still have to be careful no matter how old I am. I'm still maturing, and I still hesitated to hit the blue sign-up button on Sunday to create a Facebook account. Ultimately, I signed up because I'll soon be launching an online art store called Lauren's Easel and a Facebook page seemed to be a good way to market it. Facebook is also a good way to share this blog to hopefully encourage more people with my writing. But the thing that concerns me most about Facebook is how easy it makes "friendship." I don't want my friendships to become shallow, and Facebook makes that easy. There is beauty in intentional friendship, and intentional friendship is worth the effort. I've heard it said before that you only love as well as you're inconvenienced, and I believe it's true. And Facebook makes it very easy to not be inconvenienced much. You can just Like someone's post when maybe you should be picking up the phone, writing an email, or visiting them to engage them directly and to hear how they're really doing. Facebook can deceive us into thinking we're meeting each other's needs for community when often we're simply staring into a screen. I could go on about the dangers of social media, but I am choosing to use it like my razor. Used correctly and it yields good results. Used incorrectly and it yields bad results. That doesn't mean I shouldn't use my razor; it just means I need to use it with care. That is how I view my new Facebook account. Are you on Facebook? What advice can you share with me?
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I've been laying in bed, wondering what to post on my blog today. Good news folks, you'll still have a post. Inspiration has finally struck me! Here are five ways I'm using my five senses RIGHT now. Sight: I'm looking at silly family pictures on my electronic photo frame. I wonder if I'm allowed to post any here. Maybe they are too embarrassing to share. No, really they are cute. Here you go. Caption our expressions! It seems my poor parents had a hard time taking any "normal" photos of us!
Hearing: I'm hear my air purifier, which serves as a white noise machine when I turn it up to the highest setting at night. I also hear my fingers striking my keyboard. I hear a neighbor cutting grass. Touch: My fingers are touching my keyboard, and much of my body is touching cotton fabric. Smell: Sniff, sniff, sniff. Do I smell anything besides my sweat from running a fever? Okay, I just opened my window so that I can say I'm smelling the fresh air and the sweet grass that my neighbor is cutting. Taste: I taste a bit of banana still lingering in my mouth from when I ate it one hour ago. Now I'm fasting until 5 PM. I have a very strict eating schedule because I must take certain medications and supplements on an empty stomach multiple times each day. How are you using your five senses RIGHT now? |
AuthorHi! I'm Lauren Watt. I'm a 20 year old Christian, chronic illness warrior, and amateur artist and writer. Archives
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