Review: The 40-Day Social Media Fast

The 40-Day Social Media Fast book cover on blue background

I really wasn't expecting to do this fast concurrently with The 40-Day Sugar Fast, but I'm very grateful that I was challenged to do The 40-Day Social Media Fast during this past Lent as well as I found both to be helpful in focusing my time and attention on God.

Book Synopsis

Are you addicted to your phone? Do you find yourself engaging online but unengaged at home with the people right in front of you? Do you spend hours scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, newsfeeds, and YouTube videos? Have your devices become divisive--dividing you from family and friends and, most importantly, God? What would happen if you took some time to fast from social media in order to get social with God and others once more?

In the pattern of her popular 40-Day Sugar Fast, Wendy Speake offers you The 40-Day Social Media Fast. This "screen sabbatical" is designed to help you become fully conscious of your dependence on social media so you can purposefully unplug from screens and plug into real life with the help of a very real God. Take a break from everyone and everything you follow online. Disconnect in order to reconnect with the only One who said "follow me."

Source: Amazon

Book Thoughts

I'll be honest in that I had no idea how much time I was spending on social media until I started getting wellness alerts on my phone. As a result, this book came at just the right time. More than simply focusing on the amount of time we spend online, I appreciate that this book also delved into topics regarding our attention, the impact of comparison on our mental and spiritual health, and our self-worth. This is a book and a fast that I would repeat again based on the powerful reminders of living life offline. It's shocking that though I left social media for almost a decade and only returned to it to share book reviews that it has started to shape my behaviour and thinking. I'm grateful that this devotional book acted as an antidote to that for the 40 days I was engaged in reading it.

Since this book seems to complement The 40-Day Sugar Fast, readers will see parallels between the content of the books where the sugar fast book does recommend cutting out social media and the social media book recommends cutting out sugar or other possible idols in our lives. I can see how these books reinforce how anything can tempt us away from being fully devoted to God. My prayer is that I can heed the lessons learnt in this book and continually apply the messages of God's acceptance and love as a way to combat the messages I see online.

Book Summary

Format of book: 🎧
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Recommendation: 👍

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