Dancing. There’s nothing more fascinating than watching someone do a ten-second dance that everyone else is doing. Or is there?
TikTok came on the scene and quickly moved its way up the Social Media ladder. It was never impressive, to me. You have to have a short attention span to be on the app. Oh, wait. You probably do and don’t even realize it. I’m not insulting you. It wasn’t created to make you smarter. TikTok isn’t here to help you find out who you really are.
TikTok fulfills many people’s burning desire to be famous or at least know what it feels like to be famous. Are you able to live a life that you’re genuinely born to live and be on TikTok? Maybe. Or maybe, you’re meant to live a life that’s free from any amount of time you can spend scrolling on a social media platform. It’s where you get to take control of your life.
While TikTok can be very entertaining, those short clips we watch, even on IG, shorten our already short-term memory. There are several medical terms for this, including “addiction”. Other names are “internet use disorder”, “smartphone use disorder”, and “TikTok Use Disorder (TTUD)”, which is known to be linked to memory loss. You could be aging faster than your grandma, unless she’s on TikTok, too!
No matter the medical term, they all lead to depression and anxiety, more in girls than in boys. Social Media is designed to keep you spending all of your time on it. Otherwise, how are they creators making money? Your psychological and emotional development are in jeopardy, and you need them! Your brain is still growing and can be heavily influenced in a negative or positive way.
You have a God who loves you and created you for something other than twerking and visually inhaling content that does nothing for your beautiful mind and soul.
People create great lives and make lots of money on TikTok and other social media platforms, but at what cost? I’m not saying it’s wrong to make money, but making money doesn’t make you successful. Selling your body (even visually) and your reputation for a quick attention fix isn’t worth it. Success shouldn’t be determined by how much money you make. Money doesn’t equal happiness. You can have the gift of happiness within you. Has anyone ever said that to you? Well, it’s true.
True happiness comes from within, not because of who we are but because of who made us. God made you, and He has a purpose for your life – one that’s bigger than TikTok.
Most forms of entertainment were developed with you and me in mind as a commodity. We’re bought by TV and social media ads, making money off of us while we watch things that don’t nourish us. Meanwhile, we’re feeding our hungry desires to be validated. Have you seen the movie “The Matrix”? Social media is like the matrix, and living life without it is like being outside the matrix. You are free without it, and, without that dependency, you can do things you never thought possible.
There are whole organizations who want you hooked on their agenda. Ever heard of indoctrination? It’s when you’re told something over and over again until it gets in you and you believe it. You aren’t even given the chance to know who you are before a phone or tablet is put in your hand. It’s a form of abuse that adults are afraid to talk about because they’re addicted to their phones, too. That’s right, you’re addicted to your phone. Guess what? So am I! I have to make a conscious decision to put down my phone and spend time with my kids. Otherwise, I’m scrolling like a fifteen year old, no offense.
You are capable of living without your phone. You’re capable of living without social media, or at least limiting the time you spend on it, each week.
Trust God to help you make another decision.
Realizing your creativity is outside the mold people have already created will free you up to do things differently. I guarantee it. Your safety is in doing what God tells you to do and not what Social Media or anyone says you should be doing. You were born with a mind, heart, and soul, and those things need nothing but you and your relationship with God to accomplish anything.
TikTok has been designed to dumb you down. Did you know that? The TikTok in China, called Duoying, is controlled by the Chinese government and shows cool videos on Engineering, Math, and Science. These aren’t just boring classroom videos. They’re fun and interesting to watch. Meanwhile, the US and other parts of the world get the twerking, half-naked, gender-focused TikTok.
Why would China make a totally different TikTok for its country than it does for everyone else? Well, because China’s goal is to be the dominant country on the planet, and, if there’s a way to do it, it’s through the brain development of girls like you. TikTok is teaching young girls how to catch hotdogs in their mouths and young boys how to salivate over half-naked women, both highly sexual things. But, I’m telling you there is another life you can live – one that says you can run companies and help others who need you without wasting time on any social media platform.
Pray about it and keep your eyes open. God will show you what’s been true all along. Many of you are looking for your identity, but it’s not in changing sexes. It’s not getting the most likes. It’s in Jesus, the One who created you in the first place. What were you born to create? Do? You’re certainly not born to make the world worse. As you grow in Christ, you learn that we are to bring Kingdom (Heavenly) things to Earth as they are already existing in Heaven. We can truly live like Heaven on Earth when we do our part to discover God’s will for our lives.
How do I find what I’m meant to do?
Prayer is always the best first step. It gives you the space to hear from God when He speaks to you. You might already know what brings you joy that goes beyond being on, or scrolling through, social media; consider that. Does it bring you delight? Hope? Peace? Then, maybe that’s the thing(s) you should be doing. You’re not meant to spend your life scrolling on TikTok and imitating what others are doing, You have a whole life to live that’s better than the one you’re looking with you live through your phone. What you have to offer is so much more. You have to believe that. I do.
Love you!
