Family Time vs. Social Media

I often find myself professing that I don't have enough time during the day to get things done. There always seems to be something else to do, and never enough time to do everything I want to do.  That has been quite frustrating at times, and I am sure you have felt this way too.

It’s common to feel like we don’t have enough time in the day to balance everything we need to do: spend time with the family, get all our work done, and build a relationship with God. But when we start breaking down the time we invest into things like social media, it becomes a lot clearer why other goals are hard to reach.

Time we all spend on social media is deeply rooted in habit, and after awhile it may not register just how often we end up there. Facebook, for instance, doesn’t tell us how many videos we’ve watched or how much time we spend scrolling to find something to interact with.

But visit any restaurant and you’ll see at least one table with a family sitting with each other, not talking, each on their respective devices scrolling. Things come up that require our attention, but when it’s a pattern or when it takes up most of dinner, it’s a real missed opportunity.

Let’s start with a conservative estimate that the average user spends 30 minutes per day on social media. That doesn’t seem like a lot of time, right? But over the course of a year, that’s 180 hours invested. What all could you do with 180 hours?

There’s obviously more to consider than this as it pertains to the time you have for family, work and faith. But when you feel frustrated with what seems like a lack of time, consider cutting back on social media. 

Challenge: Spend time with your family and God before social media.