The Day I Gave Up Instagram


It is Thursday, also known as Friday Eve. If you are anything like me this week has been crazy and you have been all over the place. I have tried my brain with some mind boggling homework, ran errands all over the place, attempted to clean my house, ended up in the emergency room with no answers, and gave up Instagram for over 24 hours.

Yes, you read that right. I deleted my personal Instagram account for over 24 hours. I was up late Saturday night into Sunday morning. I had came across a blog of a girl who was writing about how she wanted to be married. If you read my post from a couple weeks ago you already know how I feel about this. One line got me and it goes a little like, "I am 20 and I read my Bible more than I look at social media." I thought about that for a second. For me personally it goes a little like this, "I am 20 and I click the Instagram app more than I open my Bible or pray." That really convicted me. I sat up turned on my light and grabbed my prayer journal. I started pouring my heart out to God. I felt HIM telling me to trust HIM to give it up, even just for a day. I reached over unlocked my iPhone  and shook the app and clicked delete. This was hard, but in a way I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders for a second. I have given up my phone for long periods of time before, but it seams like when my phone is in my hand I am constantly looking at the pictures of everyone else's life, I focus on those pictures more than I focus on the beautiful picture of the love of Jesus. To be honest I just looked at IG in the middle of writing this. I have a problem, but I am getting better.

I went without Instagram and Twitter from midnight on Sunday to around noon on Monday. It honestly wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I thought I would be killing myself by making this decision, but it really was nice. Sunday was spent serving at church, having genuine life filled conversations without the distraction to watch stories while the other person was talking. I rarely missed it, I noticed I did not have it when my friends pulled up Instagram to show me something. It was honestly nice to not have it. The time I would normally sit looking at what my "friends", some of which I do not even know, were doing I spent pouring into others. I called my friends, I talked to my mom without scrolling through IG while she told me how her day was. I had quiet time in a coffee shop without posting a picture of my coffee on my story. I went to bed without staying up an extra 20 minutes just scrolling. Ok, you get it my day was filled with more of what was really in front of me. Don't get me wrong I love all my friends on social media, but sometimes I can become so consumed with the internet world and how my life looks on it.

Maybe you are like me and you see social media consuming way more of your life than you want it to. I challenge you to pray about it. Give it to God and trust that he can fill your life with more productive things. I am back on Instagram after my time away from it, but now I am more cautious of the time I am giving to the internet rather than giving to God or the people around me. Social media is a great thing and almost an essential in 2017, but it is important to not make it an idol. I love encouraging and inspiring people, I have made my IG one of my platforms for that, but I have to make sure it is not consuming me.
P.S  No Matter what, I want to encourage, be an accountability partner to you, pray, and befriend you. I am on social media as @406_jourd on Instagram and @jourdynMack101 on Twitter, give me a follow and feel free to DM me anytime. If you ever need prayer or someone to talk to email me, jourdynpuppies@gmail.com, don't laugh it is from fourth grade and I stuck with it. 

P.P.S Want to see more encouraging posts? I used to write for Odyssey Online, so if you want to see more check out the link below.

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