Addicted to Validation
I need to come clean about something. I’m addicted to worldly validation. I think many of you feel the same way, even if you don’t realize it. Mindlessly scrolling through social media causes us to compare our lives with the “perfect” lives of people we see. The truth is, people don’t post actual real life experiences. Most of the time they only post about the good things, or the heavily altered experiences to show off their good days.
“Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.”
- 1 Corinthians 10.14
Whether we want to admit it or not, social media is an Idol. When we devote so much time to these idols; the Bible says, we forsake steadfast love.
“Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.”
- Jonah 2.8
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want social media to come between me and the hope of steadfast love that God offers.
Apart from social media being an idol; it is so dangerous in the way that it can corrupt us and make us think things about ourselves that are not true. The things that this world will say about us are so damaging, and just outright false. Social media has been influential in our path towards self hatred, and our struggle for self worth because of the many things that we find to compare ourselves with. We start to wish we had the life of this person that we only see the best parts of. All of us wish we could live our “best lives” but only God can provide that for us.
I have found that it is crucial to combat these feelings by randomly taking breaks from social media throughout the year. This usually helps me to start forgetting about all those things and re-center my priorities. I can usually tell when I need a break if I start opening Instagram or Facebook right when I turn on my phone. Even if I have no reason to look at those apps. I do it out of habit. I think recognizing these bad habits is very hard, and more often than not these bad habits that look harmless lead to a bigger issue. In the case of making social media a habit, it can lead to becoming addicted to what other people think of us to the point that we forget about who we truly are.
Over the past few months as I’ve grown in my faith, I’ve come to realize that I have been a victim to the corruption of social media and looking to that for validation. I’ve become so addicted to the idea of “validation.”
Addictions are very hard to break, but I know that if we truly trust God then he can take away the feeling of needing to be “validated” by people. He will show us who we truly are. We are his children, sons and daughters of The King.