Likes and Likes and Likes

“No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” // Luke 16:13

“Ugh, I barely had any ‘views,’” I lamented to my husband one night a couple of years ago. He looked over at me with puzzled eyes and asked me what I was talking about. I had posted an Instagram reel that flopped. I was discouraged and annoyed. My husband is not active on social media and he just didn’t understand. 

Get with the times, dude. 

But there was something to his social media ignorance. It took me a while to understand it fully, but I was addicted to social media. I was constantly checking Instagram and Twitter. I needed that dopamine hit from seeing likes and views. I craved the validation that came from social media. 

And it was making me uncharitable. Yes, I wanted to feel liked and seen, but I was also spending time judging others. I’d see someone’s take on Twitter and feel pity, rage, judgment, or disdain. I was becoming someone I did not recognize.

But my husband’s nonchalance about “views” and “likes” opened my eyes. Did it really matter? Nope. And even more so, I was trying to serve the wrong master. So I had to spend time away from social media and reevaluate my relationship with it. In reality, social media is neutral but how I used it was turning my heart away from loving others. After a year or so of sporadic use, I was able to pour myself into the relationships in my real life. Eventually, I was able to utilize social media again—not as my personal dopamine hit, but as a way to actually be social. I wanted connection and friendship, not just superficial “likes” for their own sake.

Sometimes I catch myself aching for that validation. But I remember I cannot serve two masters. 

Sister, what habits can you examine today? Whether it is social media, gaming, binging shows, online shopping, or gossip, make some time to see how these activities are serving your best interest by leading you to better love God. Where can you make space for meaningful connection in other relationships and evaluate what master you are serving?