I was in so much pain, suffering, and embarrassment around the time of my divorce. I felt as if people felt sorry for me, and I don’t like feeling helpless and pitied. There are times, even now, that I have to temporarily deactivate my social-media account because it can be a bragging board. If it were not for my being a book author and using social media for advertisement and ministry, I would permanently deactivate it altogether. With that in mind, I can recall meeting a young lady I wanted to keep in touch with so I asked if she was on social media. She replied in disgust, “Girl, I don’t mess with that. All those people do on there is brag all day. I can’t even do it!” She had a point.
I can recall reading an article online that stated social media can lead to depressiveness. I did not bookmark the page so I can only tell you what I remember reading. The” “online article mentioned that it is not healthy to not engage in face-to-face social interaction and unfortunately many people substitute human contact with texting and messaging. Far worse, people begin looking at the snapshots of others people’s lives and begin making comparisons because their lives don’t seem to measure up to the lives of their family, friends, and acquaintances.
If you are unemployed or underemployed, it can be daunting to see people showcasing their houses, cars, family vacations, and career advancements. If you are barren and desperately desire to conceive, it can make you feel sorrowful to see the announcements of births and moms showcasing each stage of their babies’ lives. 
If you are single and/or divorced and desire companionship, it can deepen the wound of rejection to see others seemingly happy and in fulfilled relationships. If you are lonely and have few friends, it can make you feel a deep sense of uselessness and rejection from society to see groups of “friends enjoying each other’s company. 
The list goes on. What people don’t realize is you are only seeing a snapshot of other people’s lives. Quite naturally, if someone puts a camera in my face I am going to strike a pose and put on my best smile. I once heard someone say, “Fake it until you make it.”
You have to just be honest and do an overall assessment of your life and weed out what’s detrimental to your spiritual growth. I know of a person who is very depressed and it has been recommended that she see a psychiatrist. Well, she spends hours on social media. Most of it is negative interaction where she is venting or in some altercation or another with some woman over a guy they’re both interested in. I told her, “I want you to just go at least a month without logging into your social-media account.” She pathetically replied, “I can’t do it; it’s the only social interaction I have.” How sad.”
This is an excerpt from “Ishmael Is Gone-Now Where Is Isaac?
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