During our focus groups for LYWB, I noticed two interesting trends in the area of media. First, the girls I talked to didn't seem to have a firm grasp on the amount of time they were actually spending watching television, talking/texting on the phone, watching movies, and online. I asked them to tell me how much time they thought they spent consuming media first. Most of them gave me a number somewhere in the ballpark of 10 hours a week.
Then I made them do the math and add up the time they actually spent consuming media. Many of them were shocked to realize that they spent closer to 40 hours per week consuming media. That's equivalent to a full-time job!
The second trend was a little more troubling. Many of the girls we interviewed recognized that there is an imbalance in this area of their lives, but they weren't willing to do anything about it.
In fact, one of the top 25 lies in Lies Young Women Believe is, "[Media] is not a waste of time ... even if it is, it's OK." I'm not for abandoning use of all forms of media. I am for establishing limits so that your media usage doesn't do damage to your spiritual life and relationships. This month, we're going to guide you through the process of establishing God-honoring parameters in your media habits. But before we can get there, we've all got to get real about how much time we're really spending plugged in. So let's keep track together.
Here's a media log that I'd love for you to keep for the next four days. I know that we're heading into the weekend and I know that it's summer, so your media consumption might be higher. But this will give us a general idea of how much time we are generally spending investing into media. We'll use it as our plumb line as we seek to apply God's Word to this specific area of our lives.
For comparison sake, I'd also like you to keep track of the amount of time your spend reading your Bible daily.
- TV
- Phone
- TXTMsg.
- Online
Is this an area where you already realize the need for some boundaries?