- Opinion -
A recent Google poll showed more than 40% of young adults (ages 18-24) said they use TikTok to learn and discover information.
According to the Pew Research Center, just under 30% said they use the app to find news.
Let's be honest, unless you have been living under a rock for the past 10 years, these numbers are not at all surprising. Social media usage among the general population--but specifically among young people--is at an all-time high.
When we want to learn, apparently we go to TikTok.
We live in such an age that when we want to be entertained, we go to social media. When we want to find approval, we go to social media. When we want a friend, we go to social media. When we want to read the news, we go to social media. And according to Google's most recent survey of social media users in the U.S., when we want to learn, we go on TikTok.
With Americans spending more and more time on their phones and less and less time in the real world, it will be a wonder if there is any normalcy left by the time of the iPhone 20. And if only it actually produced the intended result!
The reels that we view on Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, and similar social media platforms are made to make us feel like we're accomplishing something.
A special set of social media reels have arisen to deal with those people who would otherwise feel bad about wasting their lives viewing 30-second videos. These are the reels that promote productive activities such as working out, building relationships, and making money.
If only these reels produced their intended result! But they often do not. Instead of creating productive, healthy, loving, wealthy viewers, they simply create viewers who now feel justified in continuing to scroll through their feeds.
The sad truth is that this content will never truly fill the gap left by printed information and normal, human, social interaction.
Don't be mistaken, TikTok and Instagram reels will push print news out just as Snapchat might very well eliminate in-person dating, but what social media will not do is successfully fill the needs that were met by the real thing--those things created in us and for us by our creator.
How can we remain free from social media, and build real, lasting relationships, health, and sucess in this world?
First, we have to recognize a few things. Firstly,
We were made social creatures.
We were made to see people face to face, not mask to mask, through and Instagram filter, and certainly not through a bitmoji. If we feel lonely or isolated, turning to social media will only make that worse.
We were made to read, not to consume reels.
The world functioned off of print for the first 2000 years it was in existence. The Bible - God's inspired word - was given in print, not in 30-second TikTok reels. The benefits of reading are too many to be listed here, but among them are increased comprehension, better focus, lessened anxiety, and better vision.
We were made to think.
What separates us from animals? Our ability to not only think but to reason and even think about thinking! And thinking, in case it is not already clear, comes from actually learning. No, not sitting down and filling your brain with entertaining shorts, but real, long, hard, thoughtful, intelligent learning. Not from Youtube, Instagram, TikTok, or even Twitter, but by the same means by which Isaac Newton, Alexander the Great, Albert Einstein, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Wesley, and George Washinton got their information: through words: printed and spoken.
Now that we've laid down the basics, let's take action!
What are you going to do about it? You know you need to change the way you spend your downtime, but change will never come without setting clear, measurable, attainable goals. Because in case you haven't noticed, we are not inherently disciplined creatures. Left to ourselves, we will always disintegrate into a state of torpor.
Are you lonely? Go out and make some friends.
Are you unhealthy? Take one-tenth of the time you spend on your phone each day and go exercise.
Are you poor? Go get a job somewhere in your field of interest and spend your waking hours learning how to do it better. It might not be the perfect job, and it might not even be the job you want to work long term, but you will be farther ahead financially and better off mentally for staying active and staying busy.
Are you depressed? Studies have not only shown that social media fails to correct this state of mind but almost the single handily creates and sustains feelings of depression. Limit your screen time, and spend some time in nature, praying to the God who created it.
Want to learn? Make a measurable goal of consuming so much printed content each day. It might come from that pile of books next to your bed, or it might come from sites like this, but the information you gather from 10 minutes of reading will add up to more than 10 hours of scrolling through TikTok.
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