Social Media and Insecurity

In a day and age when we are rightly concerned about nurturing our children and teens into using God’s good gift of technology in ways that glorify God rather than self, we need to engage in some healthy parental self-evaluation. In his insightful and challenging book, Twelve Ways Your Phone Is Changing You, Tony Reinke writes, Nothing traps people in unhealthy social media patterns like personal insecurity. Our self-examination should include a look at our own parental insecurities and how they evidence themselves in our use of social media. Reinke reminds us that as Christians, we should find our satisfaction in who we are in Christ, not in the affirmation of others. If we crave and seek the affirmation of others, we are turning away from Jesus. And, as we learn in Romans 2:29, we should quietly and humbly be seeking the approval of God rather than the applause of man. Parents, where does your security lie? And what does the answer to that question reveal about what you’re modeling to your kids?