Why I’m Giving Up Social Media For Lent

Social media is a pretty broad term – it used to only mean things like MySpace and Facebook.  Now it means MySpace, Facebook, twitter, tumblr, blogs, Flickr, foursquare, text messaging, gchat, …and on and on ad nauseum.  I, obviously, am no stranger to how addicting these media can be – I’ve held at some point in time a Xanga, MySpace, and tumblr, and currently “communicate” using Facebook, twitter, texting, gchat, and blogging.

Five tools of communication.

Five.

Writing it down is actually embarrassing for me.  I’m not quite sure why, considering that this is a norm – I’m not technically doing anything wrong by connecting with other people on these platforms.  But the fact that we sometimes feel that we need to use these platforms to connect with other people is worth considering.

There’s a certain dependency on Facebook that is fascinating to me.  Why do I feel the need to keep it up in the tabs of my internet browser, even though I don’t use the chat function?  Because I’m waiting for that entirely-too-gratifying number in a set of parentheses – “Someone saw what you posted and has something to say about it!” or worse “Someone commented on something you commented on five years ago!”

I’ve talked with several people about how amazing it is that upon pulling up the internet, our fingers are automatically drawn to two things – our email and our Facebook accounts.  Load those up and we’re good to go.  Never mind if we’re actually looking at them.  It’s important that they’re there and waiting for us.

Only just recently have I caved into joining the twitterverse.  I follow several of my close friends, one of my favorite sports teams, and few humorous catch-all twitter-famous profiles that provide a good chuckle every now and then.  While it is nice to be able to control whose posts come up on my home page, I often find myself scrolling mindlessly through hashtags and shoutouts.  Before creating an account for myself, I thought twitter was the most narcissistic excuse for social media that had ever been invented.  I still think that.  So why do I have an account now…?  Why do I keep following more people if I’m not even reading some of the ones I follow now?

While I will not be abstaining from texting during Lent, I will be abstaining from gchat to a reasonable degree, namely while doing work, purposefully checking email, etc.  I’ve found that a lot of conversations on instant messaging programs can lack substance and depth, and consistently fall into a dangerous realm of misinterpretation.    These programs are undoubtedly intended to improve communication and conversation, but all too often end up damaging its significance, allowing us to become lazy and invest only some of our attention on the quick lines of text while we focus the rest of our attention on Facebook, twitter, and maybe the reading that’s due for class the next day.

Blogging has become a recent favorite of mine, from reading other people’s to writing my own.  I admit proudly that I’ve cut down my Blogs favorites tab from about 10 or 15 to only  7, 3 of which I check daily.  While there is nothing inherently wrong with blogging, I do find that it’s easy to get absorbed in several posts and lose track of time.  More notably, I’ve noticed a negative relationship between reading blogs and my attention span – as I read blogs more frequently, my attention span dwindles, and I find myself quickly glancing over posts, and moving on if the post seems to be “too long” (often meaning a paragraph or more at a time without picture interruptions).  That is horrifying to me.  Especially when I’ve read several books that criticize this generation, our generation, for being the laziest, dumbest, most intellectually-distracted generation yet.  I want to stand up and shout, “No, we’re not!” – but are we?  And what can do to fix it if it’s really true?

 

Ultimately, Lent is not a time to make “New Year’s Resolutions”.  It is time to unite ourselves with the suffering of Christ as we prepare our hearts for the joy that is the Easter season.  Fasting should not be about what we can do to test our willpower, but rather what we can do to strengthen ourselves as members of the Body of Christ.  What will draw us nearer to God and push us further from the world?

This year, I’ve decided that fasting from social media is the best way for me to achieve this.  Too often I find myself engrossed in things that are ever-changing, unpredictable, and yet flat, boring, and static.  Why not become engrossed with something never-changing, steady, and yet complicated, exciting, and dynamic?  Why not lose ourselves in a Love so amazing that words escape its description?  Why not find the time to sit and reflect on why we have such a privilege as to celebrate the Lenten season?

My favorite Christmas carol (but technically Advent song!) is “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”.  Emmanuel has indeed come.  During this season of Lent and throughout Easter, we journey with Him in an intimate way, reliving His last days on this earth, before He laughs at death and wins our salvation.  He conquers our darkest fears and seals our hope in His heart.  He holds us in a closer walk with Him, as we travel further up and further in to a Love that is unfathomable.

36 – 37

A few days ago, I got hit with a nasty stomach bug that has since digressed into a pretty standard head cold.  I woke up yesterday feeling groggy as a result of spending much of the night sick to my stomach and unable to sleep. I decided to skip my morning class, but knew I would have to go to Choral Conducting and USingers.  And of course, the night didn’t end there, as the USingers were committed to singing the National Anthem for the Wake Forest men’s basketball game, and CHoosE had rehearsal directly after.

Amidst the madness, I was able to grab a hot, indulgent meal of creamy tomato soup and mac&cheese from Panera.  I admit with no shame that, although it was by no means the healthiest thing I could have eaten, it was exactly what my body needed.

So much so that I decided to get a small cup of tomato basil bisque and a grilled cheese  from Rev Soup, easily the hippest (and hipster-ist) spot on the Corner.  It even has a lending library for anyone to use while they wait, or for those who would simply like to enjoy a quick read with their soup.

35.

I’ve always been amazed by the way nature can paint colors across any canvas – light or dark, cloudy or clear, there are always fantastic colors to behold.

As I walked home from my arts administration class, the colors playing at twilight compelled me to stop and attempt to capture them on camera.

I love that there is just enough light from the sunset to highlight the silhouettes of the trees against the background of the libraries.   The dim glow was like a good night kiss before fading to sleep…

34.

Meet Ellie, my new study buddy in good ol’ Clark Library.

After being away from the library until just a few days ago this semester, I was shocked to find this new addition in the Reading Room, which is, oddly enough, the quietest room aside from the stacks downstairs.  I didn’t get a chance to read Ellie’s descriptive sign, but perhaps this was someone’s attempt to make a loud statement in a quiet and tense environment?

31 – 32.

This past weekend, I was humbled to be a part of the Virginia Catholic Campus Ministry Summit hosted right here in Charlottesville.  The theme was Arise, based on the verse Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”  The weekend was filled with several keynotes, panels, breakout sessions, and workshops that helped us to see how we could “arise and shine” every day of our lives as Catholic college students.

Photo of the Day 31: I realized over the course of just a few short hours how much a part of me my faith has become as I’ve grown older.  Of my own volition, I decided to come to this conference, where I would know very few people, but where I also knew I would be experiencing God in a new way.

One thing that really stuck with me was something keynote speaker, Ennie Hickman, said in his second talk of the weekend: “It’s about knowing God to the point that we don’t care about anything else.”  He continued to give analogies, of course alluding to the story of leaving everything we have to follow Christ, something everyone struggles with every day.  But he also talked about, very simply, our relationship  with God as our Father.  So often, we find that we are praying to a God who is distant, far away, in some indiscriminate realm of the Heavens, where we couldn’t even imagine being right now.  But really, all God wants is for us to love on Him – He is our Father, our Creator, He made us and wants to be with us!  He wants to sit with us and cherish us and talk with us.  We do a lot to show others how much we love God, but how much do we do to show God that we love God?  Ennie offered, “God wants us more than He wants to use us.”

Photo of the Day 32: After a truly transformative period of Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, we prepared our hearts to celebrate Mass.  Mass at these conferences is always so inspiring because there are always a million priests and seminarians who process in at the beginning.  Such a long line of such holy men of God is incredibly awe-inspiring and never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

Here, you can see the candles, incense, plates, and chalices that were used during the Mass.  One of the beautiful things about the sacraments in the Catholic Church, the Mass being one of them, is that they make elements of grace miraculously tangible.  We feel the warmth of the candles, smell the smoke of the incense, and taste the goodness that is the Body and Blood of Christ.  Here, we become one body moving to serve Christ in love.

 

30.

Last Thursday, I was faced with this, along with several other construction obstacles, on my way to and from class.  Though I was in a hurry as I often am, I decided to take the bright orange cones and glaring yellow tape as a sign to slow down and appreciate the elusive beauty of it.  Sure, it was annoying to have to walk by pounding jackhammers and this mess, forcing me to walk in the road instead of on the sidewalk, but things could honestly be so much worse.

I realized that we are actually blessed to be able to afford such construction that will eventually lead to an even more beautiful University!

24 – 29, 33.

Hello dear readers!!

Thank you so much for bearing with me during my absence.  During CHoosE/a cappella auditions week, things turned into a surefire blur, and I wasn’t really sure what day it was anymore.  The only thing keeping me going was the knowledge that we would have NEWBIES very, very soon!!

Photo of the Day 24: We held auditions on a Thursday and Friday, along with the other a cappella groups on grounds.  I admit, it was very nerve-wracking knowing that I was in charge of the auditions and callbacks process – picking music that auditionees and callbackees would be learning was more difficult than I thought!   Nevertheless, I emerged relatively unscathed, having only one major stress incident to speak of.

Photo of the Day 25: Saturday proved to be our day of rest.  Several of us went over to the guys’ apartment, “The Bunker”, to enjoy a fun evening together. (It’s pretty standard at UVa to “name” the apartment/house you are living in.  Fun tradition!)  As you can see, we even had enough down time to sip on some tea and enjoy some good conversation.

Photo of the Day 26: Finally, Newbies!!!  The tradition of rolling at UVa is one of my absolute favorites.  (Jenny and I share this passion!)  Essentially, after a long night of deliberations and deciding on who we would like to welcome to the group, we head out in groups of 2 or 3 to “kidnap” our new members.  Blindfolded and disoriented, they sit in our cars while we drive them all around Grounds and up and down 29 until we get to our destination of the Rotunda.  This semester, we had a slight change of plans that put us in the Amphitheater for the final bit of the rolling process – that actually turned to be really fun!

We made the big “reveal” after singing our song, “Joy” by the Newsboys, sang two more songs, took some silly pictures, and were on our way to Baskin Robbins (open 24 hours on the Corner!) to celebrate.

Welcoming Newbies is always such an amazing time.  It is then that I remember how obsessed I am with CHoosE.  I remember the extremely profound love we all share, for each other, for the music we’re making, and for God.  I remember that the excitement of welcoming more people into your family is far more important than how tired you might be at 1 in the morning, how cold your hands are from conducting without any gloves on, or how silly the Newbies look in pajamas and scarf blindfolds.  None of that matters when you consider how instantaneous and contagious the love of a family is.

Photo of the Day 27: Last semester, my roommate, Ellen, and I were facing hellish finals weeks.  Mine had just finished up when hers was just picking up, so I decided to leave her this note on the bathroom mirror the day of her most difficult final.  I thought she might take it down after we both headed home for winter break, but it stayed up, and we still see it every day!  Even though it was intended to apply to a very specific day, I found that it was particularly encouraging going into our Newbie Week for CHoosE, when we would have an event every single night to help make all of the Newbies feel welcome and at home with all of us.

Photo of the Day 28: Every Tuesday and Thursday, I have my arts administration class in the A-School – and I walk by this assemblage of stone every time.  I always take a moment to look at it, trying to notice something different each time, but of course, I’ve never quite been able to figure out what it’s all about.  Perhaps it’s not about anything at all, but a rather a testament to the A-School and the idea that building starts from the ground up, a culmination of fragmented pieces that eventually find themselves as part of a whole.  None of these pieces really match or go together, and yet they are indisputably works of art that stand alone, and when brought together, make quite the spectacle.

As I write this, I realize that this is a clear emulation of my friends here at UVa.  One time, my friend Liz said to me, “If we weren’t friends…I don’t know if we’d be friends.”  At first I was a bit offended, but then I realized that it was kind of true!   It’s amazing to me to think about how we all became friends – we share the common bond of singing together in USingers, but outside of that, we all lead completely different lives.  It truly is a miracle that we found each other, especially considering the fact that we all seem to complete each other in some strange way.

Photo of the Day 29:  Meet Katherine, Claire, Paulius, and Ashley!  Aren’t they the most beautiful Newbies you’ve ever seen???

Photo of the Day 33: (I did take pictures on Days 30-32, never fear!  Those will be in separate posts.)  We wrapped up our Newbie Week with an abbreviated practice and viewing party of the Super Bowl!  We capped off the night with the oh-so-cleverly named Super Bowl “Sundaes”, provided by the Social Chair himself, Curtis.  Some people spent the night attempting to study, others chatting and catching up with others, and still others, of course, actually watching most of the game.   Gotta love social football!

 

After looking through my pictures of the past week and a half, I’ve realized that this 365 Project is turning into somewhat of a photo journal of every day.  I find myself walking from A to B, wondering what my photo of the day could be to help summarize that day on the blog.  It’s been a great way to get through a semester that might otherwise have flown by unnoticed.