Wake Up, Look Up

[Music]

hello everybody thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wck

and in today's episode we're asking the

question is my phone making me lonely

and the answer by the way is yes that's

at least according to a few studies that

are coming out which are once again

showing us that smartphones and social

media are not only eroding the fabric of

our society but they're changing our

hearts and Minds so for example a study

of 500 teenagers that were asked three

times a day when's the last time you

interacted with an actual human person

at least 50% of the teenagers every time

they were asked said it had been over an

hour since they had last interacted with

a human adults are not immune from this

one out of every two adults say that

they regularly deal with loneliness in

fact studies are showing that there are

three things that smartphones and social

media are doing to us uh number one

they're causing us to Envy to compare

ourselves to each other unfavorably who

can keep up with all the cool vacations

and gadgets and clothes and stuff people

are doing on Facebook and Instagram and

Tik Tok making us feel like our lives

are uninteresting and uninspiring in

fact a study of 220 College freshman

recently indicated that the number one

negative feeling they experience in

relationship to social media is Envy the

second trend is that we're increasingly

and I am super guilty of this text

messaging each other over actually

hearing each other's voices are actually

interacting with each other increasingly

we're turning each other into chat box

that you text with and then third we are

increasingly addicted to streaming

videos whether it's binge watching a

show or going down the YouTube rabbit

hole listen I I know wake up look up

we've been banging this drum but social

media and our phones are changing us

they are creating isolated lonely people

and of course you don't even need me to

tell you that by doing that they are in

large part separating us from what me it

means to be made in the image of God God

is Triune father son in spirit before

there was anything there was God in

community with himself that's why

Genesis 1 says let us make man in our

image that's why God said in Genesis 2

that the task of Imaging him was was too

big for Adam it wasn't good for him to

be alone he needed Community that's what

we're made to have if we go into our

phones and away from each other we're

not just becoming lonely we're not just

becoming envious we're becoming less and

less human and that's going to change

how we understand ourselves it's going

to change how we understand God but

we're also kind of dehumanizing each

other we are seeing each other as as

impositions it's easier to text you than

call you because there's no value to

actually engaging you I just need

information it's easier to assume that

you and I can't connect because you're

busy being awesome on all of your trips

and and to be envious of you than it is

to actually get to know you and even

maybe to deal with the messiness of the

inequity of Our Lives the reality is

that social media is separating us from

what it means to be human and what it

means to love each other which is why we

have to be more intentional listen the

idea that we would go away from

smartphones or the internet or social

media is probably a little pie in the

sky although I'll tell you

I have recently stopped using social

media personally and it's been awesome

and I don't miss it and I think you

might feel the same way if you tried it

but even if I can't get you there can we

at least set some boundaries for

ourselves can we actually call instead

of text every now and then can we limit

our screen time and how much time

particularly we're spending on social

media when we're feeling lonely can we

refuse to reach for a device and instead

spend time with an actual person or at

least go where actual people are friends

this is not what God wants for us and

we're not flourishing we're increasingly

becoming lonely I feel it you feel it I

know it you know it is my phone making

me lonely yes so for the glory of God

for the good of your neighbor and for

your own personal Joy put it in a drawer

hey thanks so much for watching this

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