Grace Curtis
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I’ll be the first to admit I love taking selfies. Getting the right lighting, finding a cute background, and using the perfect filter are all a part of the thrilling experience of photography. And there is certainly nothing wrong with appreciating your beauty and feeling successful after finding the perfect picture. It starts to go downhill when we post that ultimate photo and eagerly wait for the likes to come rolling in. Without even realizing it, we subject ourselves to others’ approval. We become slaves to the system of “liking” and “getting likes” to feel wanted in the world.
The interesting thing about social media: it is all a complete lie. All people, even you, are only showing the part of their lives that they want people to see. When you scroll through the updates, you are only seeing the smiling, censored life that each person offers. Behind every cute selfie there is a living human being that has quirks, troubles, and secrets that they don’t want the world to know. It’s not wrong to want to protect our inner lives from anyone who can click on our account to view, but it becomes a problem when we compare our personal life to the online personas of everyone else. We are doing ourselves a great disservice when we look at that girl who seems to go to every party and have no responsibilities and say “Why can’t my life be like that?” We start to feed into the desire to prove ourselves to others by posting our own seemingly perfect updates and statuses. We tend to wait to see if others comment and approve and if they don’t we shamefully take down the post and try again in a few days. But if we take a step back from the endless game of comparison, we will begin to see all the great things beyond the screen.
Social media isn’t all bad, but if we don’t limit our time on it we can become self absorbed. We absent-mindedly trade the approval we’ve already gained from our Father for the false approval of people who don’t really know us. You are incredibly unique and beautiful, and you don’t need a certain amount of “likes” to know you already have the most important approval of all. God sees through the cloud of LOLs and heart emojis into our deeper souls, and He is absolutely delighted in the goodness within us. We experience so many amazing things in our lives that can only truly be explained by the glimmer of the memories in our eyes as we tell the stories to our friends. Typing out the stories online simply isn’t enough, no matter how skilled someone is at writing. Communicating in person brings our full humanity to life in a special vibrant way. Facetime is vital and an essential part of our inner desire for community. I don’t mean the app on our phone… I mean real, face-to-face contact in which we engage in conversation with those around us. Connecting with real people is guaranteed to work even when your wifi connection isn’t strong. This form of authentic relationships affirms our place in the world. It is beautiful that our hearts long to feel wanted, and we were meant for deeper affirmations than the cold electronics can offer. Real friendships point us to a deeper connection with God, a friendship which we can only achieve by turning away from self absorption to become more #selfless.
We are happiest when we do acts of service for others. There is something about giving our time and talents that reflects back onto our original purpose. Instead of worrying about our image and reputation we learn to lift up others and feel confident in our identities as children of God. The more we spend actively bringing God’s love into the world, the less time we have to idly scroll through social media to compare ourselves to others. Have confidence in the wonderful things you’ve done and the endless potential you hold within you. When we selflessly empty ourselves to be filled with God’s graces, powerful things can happen in the world. You were made with a unique purpose, and that will never be accomplished if you keep your nose in your phone! God will reveal himself to you only when you open yourself up beyond the “selfie surface”. He doesn’t speak through texts and status updates; His language of the soul can only be described as perfect, selfless love.
So… What now? Do we abandon all social media to become strict cloistered monks? Of course not! You can use social media as an evangelizing tool or to simply spread positivity. I propose a challenge to all of you: every day, put your phone completely away for at least one deep conversation with different people. Doing this allows us to appreciate real human connection and understand the meaning of relationships based on selfless love. And that, my brothers and sisters, is how God changes the world one connection at a time.
Your beauty is so much more than any affirmation you could ever gain through social media. Depend on the love Christ pours into your heart every time you meet Him in the Eucharist to find your real self worth. You were worth Him coming and dying on the cross, how #selfless is that? #Goals
Your Sister in Christ
The interesting thing about social media: it is all a complete lie. All people, even you, are only showing the part of their lives that they want people to see. When you scroll through the updates, you are only seeing the smiling, censored life that each person offers. Behind every cute selfie there is a living human being that has quirks, troubles, and secrets that they don’t want the world to know. It’s not wrong to want to protect our inner lives from anyone who can click on our account to view, but it becomes a problem when we compare our personal life to the online personas of everyone else. We are doing ourselves a great disservice when we look at that girl who seems to go to every party and have no responsibilities and say “Why can’t my life be like that?” We start to feed into the desire to prove ourselves to others by posting our own seemingly perfect updates and statuses. We tend to wait to see if others comment and approve and if they don’t we shamefully take down the post and try again in a few days. But if we take a step back from the endless game of comparison, we will begin to see all the great things beyond the screen.
Social media isn’t all bad, but if we don’t limit our time on it we can become self absorbed. We absent-mindedly trade the approval we’ve already gained from our Father for the false approval of people who don’t really know us. You are incredibly unique and beautiful, and you don’t need a certain amount of “likes” to know you already have the most important approval of all. God sees through the cloud of LOLs and heart emojis into our deeper souls, and He is absolutely delighted in the goodness within us. We experience so many amazing things in our lives that can only truly be explained by the glimmer of the memories in our eyes as we tell the stories to our friends. Typing out the stories online simply isn’t enough, no matter how skilled someone is at writing. Communicating in person brings our full humanity to life in a special vibrant way. Facetime is vital and an essential part of our inner desire for community. I don’t mean the app on our phone… I mean real, face-to-face contact in which we engage in conversation with those around us. Connecting with real people is guaranteed to work even when your wifi connection isn’t strong. This form of authentic relationships affirms our place in the world. It is beautiful that our hearts long to feel wanted, and we were meant for deeper affirmations than the cold electronics can offer. Real friendships point us to a deeper connection with God, a friendship which we can only achieve by turning away from self absorption to become more #selfless.
We are happiest when we do acts of service for others. There is something about giving our time and talents that reflects back onto our original purpose. Instead of worrying about our image and reputation we learn to lift up others and feel confident in our identities as children of God. The more we spend actively bringing God’s love into the world, the less time we have to idly scroll through social media to compare ourselves to others. Have confidence in the wonderful things you’ve done and the endless potential you hold within you. When we selflessly empty ourselves to be filled with God’s graces, powerful things can happen in the world. You were made with a unique purpose, and that will never be accomplished if you keep your nose in your phone! God will reveal himself to you only when you open yourself up beyond the “selfie surface”. He doesn’t speak through texts and status updates; His language of the soul can only be described as perfect, selfless love.
So… What now? Do we abandon all social media to become strict cloistered monks? Of course not! You can use social media as an evangelizing tool or to simply spread positivity. I propose a challenge to all of you: every day, put your phone completely away for at least one deep conversation with different people. Doing this allows us to appreciate real human connection and understand the meaning of relationships based on selfless love. And that, my brothers and sisters, is how God changes the world one connection at a time.
Your beauty is so much more than any affirmation you could ever gain through social media. Depend on the love Christ pours into your heart every time you meet Him in the Eucharist to find your real self worth. You were worth Him coming and dying on the cross, how #selfless is that? #Goals
Your Sister in Christ