So the problem for the glut of us bloggers out there and the glut plus a million of you Facebook users is this: you begin to live your life through the lens of your blog post or your Facebook status.
No longer are you actually present to the events as they unfold--say, a nice day with your kids or an afternoon throwing the frisbee on the quad. You are constantly evaluating: would this make for a cool blog post? How might I make this sound like a cool Facebook status update?
This perpetual evaluation of our lives based on how we might "spin" it into something public as a part of our persona or image is particularly alluring for those of us who are tempted to live for the applause and approval of others anyway. Facebook is crack for us people-pleasers. If you're a people-pleaser and you haven't recognized this yet, good chance you're already in need of intervention.
That doesn't mean we should avoid blogging or Facebook altogether. But it does mean that we must be vigilant to guard against the insidious ways it might hijack our lives. First step: admit the problem.
Many thoughtful saints through the ages have urged us to live our lives for an audience of One. I am instead perpetually tempted to live my life for the audience of my 615 Facebook friends and those of you who read Piebald Life.
Fasting is a biblical way that God invites us to enter into spiritual, emotional, and physical maturity. When our stomach is not our god, when we are free from even the most basic drives and urges in our lives that speak so loudly to us, then we are free to live a real life indeed.
In my case, I will sometimes fast from the activity itself (i.e. stay off Facebook, not blog on the weekends). But I will also make intentional decisions to fast from my ideas that I want to use on Facebook/the blog.
In other words, occasionally I'll catch myself framing up an experience or thought for a blog post or Facebook status update and I'll realize that it's inappropriate: either I'm still in the moment and need to enjoy it rather than try to package it, or it's after the moment but it's too precious or important to pimp out. So I'll fast from using that particular update or post idea, just to make sure that I'm running my thoughts and not having my thoughts run me.
5 comments:
Can we also limit blackboard please? :)
People-pleasers, unite.
615 friends...and not one friended by you...enough to give me nightmares about what my next status update will be! I just can't keep up with you.
Here's a twister: Did you spend time framing this blogpost about spending time framing blogposts?
thanks to all for your comments, snarky, witty, and profound.
jordan, glad to put a limit on blackboard if we need to do that. i've never used it. perhaps twittering is something that we need to add, too, but so far i've avoided getting sucked into that as well.
daniele, just another way that it's hard to be friends with me. hope you can deal with it.
grayson, why do you always leave the most profound comments? of course i spent mental time framing this blog post about framing blog posts! it came about as a result of a conversation with someone who was considering starting a blog a week and a half ago. immediately, perhaps even during the conversation, i realized it had potential to be post material!
Oh you're kind (I think).
I have no idea how people like you and your bro find time and energy for such regular blogging. And it's not filler, the posts are substantive :)
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