Under the Influence(R)

BEING FOLLOWERS IN A HYPER-DIGITAL WORLD

The familiar late-night glow of a 6.4-inch screen captures the eyes and imagination of nearly 6.9 billion smartphone users existing in the world today. That siren of the screen has our fingers scrolling through the latest shorts to see what everyone is up to, even if you have never met them. Something about seeing other people’s innermost thoughts, desires, opinions, and adorable dog calls out to our deepest desires and keeps us wanting to see what’s around that proverbial screen scroll (bend).

80 years ago, we were watching TV gathered around with our loved ones after a long, hard day at work; now we lay in bed alone watching people who seem to have direction in their lives tell us about their day, what they ate, and what their latest Target haul was (why are those fridge restocking videos so satisfying?). And it isn’t just a nighttime thing; we grab a quick scroll through TikTok between classes, as we wait for the dentist, in line while waiting to check out at the store, and even when sitting around a group of friends. Once you start, it’s like an addiction. You just can’t stop. We are not just talking about those cute pet videos you send to your friend group chat, we are talking about all those people who fill your feed with their world (a carefully curated one) and all they want you to care about.

What’s the big deal? It’s harmless, right? It’s a good way to unwind and relax. But what we are really doing is literally subscribing to people and their way of thinking, living, and doing.

We like being in the special club that gets to unbox a new makeup product and see the mental breakdown they had this week because life isn’t fair. These people tell us that they love us, that we are part of their family, that we are their community, and that we understand them in ways that even the physical people in their lives couldn’t. Even if we don’t follow specific people, we start building an algorithm of shopping vlogs, sneaker reviews, and police officers pulling over unruly people. We linger on the darker videos and listen to countless hours of people telling us what they think and believe, and as Christians, before we know it, we don’t realize what’s happening to us. We’re under the influence.

TikTok has normalized not being normal. Where else can you act like a high schooler and do stuff you wouldn’t do in front of a stranger on the street? YouTube has celebrated being normal, and now every platform has normalized American privileges as if they are expected and deserved. We ignore the realization that we rub off on each other, allowing us a platform for a socially acceptable way of giving into our innermost desires for self-indulgence.

In the Bible, we have the luxury of seeing this play out time and time again. Samson had a ton of strength, but in the end, his lust and desires got the best of him when he married the wrong woman. King David, literally called by God a “man after God’s own heart,” stays home from war (maybe he was tired of the fighting and keeping up a disciplined life) and sees a woman he cannot resist and ends up murdering her husband so he can have her. We may not end up in that extreme of a situation, but we do see many ill effects of how we spend our time and what it fills our minds with.

Those finger scrolls on our screens do more than entertain us. They are our crutches, our safety net when boredom strikes; they make us feel like we are part of the bigger world if we are feeling insignificant, and let’s go one step beyond that: “If everyone’s like me, then I am alright.” But as Christians, we are in this fight for God’s Kingdom today. Ephesians 3:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” We are at war, and God gave each of us a calling to help and bring people to see Christ. David’s answer to his sin was to turn to his own logic, but the further we look to the world for the answers to our boredom and comfort, the worse the response will be.

What’s the big deal? It’s harmless, right? It’s a good way to unwind and relax. But what we are really doing is literally subscribing to people and their way of thinking, living, and doing. They make us desire things we never knew we wanted or needed to be whole. We allow their way of thinking to take center stage above the teachings of the Bible. When dealing with a hard situation, it’s immediate gratification to turn to our screens and find the answers from the world (or the people we think wise). The more we escape to these people, these ideas, taking in what others think, the more we think like and look like the world—bottom line.

What happened to the wise, older Christians in our lives? The wise older saints, the passionate Jesus-following friends and family, and the pastors of our churches are among many voices in a sea of opinions, drowned (or deadened) by our preferences, which we allowed in by the current culture. What’s the answer? Delete all social media apps, move to the convent, and only allow your eyes to take in re-runs of Veggie Tales? We are still called to live in the world, but the hard part is that we still are to be separate: “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one” (John 17:13-15).

Instead of quick fixes and escaping from reality, who is our identity found in? Jesus, or the world? Who is king of our lives and hearts? Before you pull up your phone to pass a few minutes waiting in line, or when it’s quiet and you want a quick distraction from that paper you are supposed to be writing, turn to Jesus. Ask Him to refresh your mind. Get in real community, too. Find a local church that can be part of the rhythm of your life and get some good influencers in your life.