Last week I was traveling south on Highway 75 and I was about to the Hartquist Funeral Home when I noticed a young high school student on his moped approaching Highway 75 from the east on Elm Street. When he came to a stop he immediately stood up reached into his front pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He looked at it for maybe two or three seconds, stuffed it back in his pocket, sat down on his moped and took off towards school.
The first thought that came to my mind; really kid, you’re so addicted to that phone that you can’t travel the distance from your home to school without checking to see if someone is trying to contact you; are you that starved for attention.
I know, that wasn’t a very nice thought, was it. So then I thought I would give him the benefit of doubt. Maybe he was running late and was just checking the time. Maybe he was new to the community and was still uncertain about how to get to school, so he was checking MapQuest. Or maybe he wasn’t sure if there was rain on the way so he was checking the radar.
Seeing the young man reach for his phone at the stop sign must’ve been quite an emotional hook for me since I kept thinking about it as I continued driving. And then the Spirit questioned me, “Mike, are you really much better. You seem to be checking your cell phone a lot more. You even check your phone while you’re having a conversation with Vicki. Are you that starved for attention?”
Jesus was right; the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth, I was busted. I had to confess I have been checking my cell phone much more often, and especially Facebook. I began to wonder, am I feeling starved for attention. And especially, why do I check my phone when Vicki is sitting right across the table from me.
Now, although a cell phone can be useful for many reasons, I believe having instant access to social media feeds our longing for acceptance, security and significance. In fact for many people, their security, significance or approval ratings are often linked to who follows them on Twitter or by the number of likes they get on Facebook or Instagram.
As I continue to reflect on how social media has become a great form of deception and has created a false sense of identity and security for many people, I believe the Spirit prompted this thought. I wonder how our society would change if every time someone was feeling starved for acceptance, security and significance they would reach in their pocket and take a peek at a pocket Bible.
Imagine the boy on his moped stopped at the stop sign reading that God “liked” him, “You are my son, whom I love; with you am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Or, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…” (Psalm 27:4). Or “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor” (Isaiah 61:1) Or, and this was my favorite verse in high school, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body” (Ecclesiastes 12:12).
When it comes to seeking your acceptance, security or significance, may it not be so with you that you would turn to social media, but that you would become addicted to checking God’s word. As Moses instructed Joshua, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
Mike Altena