Is Social Media Discipling You?

As someone whose work and ministry depend so much on social media, I spend more time there than I sometimes want to admit.

I often open an app with a purpose: to share something meaningful, answer a message, respond to a customer, or check on my business.

But often, without consciously deciding to, I stay.

A few minutes become much longer. I move from something I needed to see to dozens of things I never intended to see. And when I finally put my phone down, I sometimes notice that something within me has shifted.

I feel more restless. Something in my home suddenly seems unfinished. Something I own no longer feels sufficient. A fear I had barely considered now feels urgent. Or my mind simply feels crowded—with other people’s homes, opinions, purchases, problems, and lives.

Lately, I have been wondering not only how much time I spend on social media, but what all that time is doing within me.

What is it teaching me to notice?

What is it making me desire?

What begins to feel important—or normal—simply because I see it so often?

What Receives My Attention Is Forming Me

I usually think of discipleship as something that happens through Scripture, the church, or another believer.

Discipleship, in the biblical sense, means learning to follow Christ—to see, love, and live increasingly like Him. Social media cannot disciple me as Christ does.

But it can function like a teacher.

It trains my attention. It shapes my desires. It influences how I see the world.

If something regularly teaches me what to notice, desire, fear, celebrate, and believe, then it is forming me—even if I never consciously chose it as my teacher.

My Feed Is Both a Mirror and a Teacher

Looking honestly at my own feed has been revealing.

It holds Scripture, beauty, thoughtful conversations, stories that help me understand the world, and people whose needs move me to pray.

It also reflects many ordinary—and often good—desires within me. The desire to care well for my family. To make our home beautiful and welcoming.

None of this appeared randomly. My feed has been learning from me—what makes me pause, what I click, what I watch again, and what keeps me scrolling.

My feed is a mirror. It reflects what has already captured my attention.

But it is also a teacher. It learns what holds my attention and gives me more of it.

But when the algorithm continually feeds them, something good can quietly become disordered. Care can become anxiety. Appreciation can become comparison. Interest can become appetite.

But what repeatedly holds my attention can quietly begin shaping my heart.

Paul writes:

“And we all… beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image.”
—2 Corinthians 3:18

In this passage, beholding Christ transforms us into His likeness. The object of our attention matters because attention is rarely passive. What we repeatedly behold begins to influence what feels beautiful, desirable, important, and normal.

What we behold, we begin to become.

When Ordinary Desires Become Constant Appetites

Shopping, beauty, creativity, humor, and entertainment are not automatically wrong. They can be good gifts. I do not believe faithfulness requires us to reject everything lighthearted or stop enjoying beautiful things.

But I have noticed how quickly enjoyment can become restlessness when I am continually shown what I could buy, improve, and experience. Before I have time to enjoy what I already possess, I am shown what I should want next.

Repeated exposure can quietly redefine what feels normal and necessary. A beautiful home becomes the standard mine fails to meet. Someone else’s appearance becomes the measure of my own. Another person’s carefully presented life becomes evidence that I am behind.

The desire itself may not be sinful. But when my attention continually feeds it, the desire grows. An ordinary desire can become an appetite that never rests.

I have had to ask myself:

Am I becoming more grateful—or more dissatisfied?
More present—or more restless?
More able to enjoy what God has given me—or more convinced that something in my life always needs upgrading?

These are uncomfortable questions. But the answers reveal something about where my attention has been leading me.

Christian Content Is Not the Same as Christian Formation

Perhaps the most uncomfortable realization has been that even Christian content can give me the feeling of drawing near to God without requiring me to be still before Him.

I can listen to a short teaching, save a beautiful verse, agree with something true, and move immediately to the next post. I can consume information about God without spending time with God. I can listen to endless teaching without obeying what I have already heard. I can mistake agreement for obedience—and information for transformation.

Christian content can encourage me and remind me of truth. I am grateful for the many faithful voices God uses online.

But it cannot replace Scripture slowly read, prayer honestly offered, truth faithfully practiced, and life lived among God’s people.

James writes:

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
—James 1:22

Hearing more truth is not necessarily the same as being formed by it. True formation does more than add information to my mind. It changes how I live, how I love, how I respond, and who I am becoming.

So I am learning not only to ask, “Is this Christian content?”

I also want to ask: What kind of fruit is it producing in me?

Is it leading me toward Christ, Scripture, prayer, humility, obedience, and the church? Is it helping me love God and others more faithfully? Or is it giving me the feeling of spiritual growth while allowing me to avoid the slower, quieter work of abiding in Christ?

When Awareness Becomes Consumption

Social media has helped me see needs I might never have known about. It has led me to pray, give, learn, and care. It has helped me see parts of the world and the body of Christ that I might otherwise have overlooked.

That is a gift.

But even awareness can become another form of consumption.

I can see something heartbreaking, feel deeply for a few seconds, and then scroll directly into an advertisement, a recipe, or something funny. I can become familiar with tragedy without allowing it to interrupt me. And I can know more about the needs of the world while becoming less attentive to the person directly in front of me.

When every tragedy appears beside entertainment and advertisements, I may begin to feel everything for a moment but carry almost nothing into faithful action.

The question is not simply whether I saw someone else’s suffering.

Did what I saw move me toward love? Did it lead me to pray? To carry another person’s burden beyond the few seconds they appeared on my screen?

Information may capture my attention. But love asks something of me.

This Is Not About Guilt

I am not writing this from a place of mastery. And this is not an invitation to feel ashamed every time we enjoy something lighthearted, discover a useful product, or spend a few quiet minutes scrolling. I am vulnerable to the same distractions, cravings, comparisons, fears, and endless scrolling.

Social media is woven into my work, my ministry, and many relationships I value. I do not believe the answer is simply to log off.

I know I am not alone in this.

This is simply an invitation to pay attention.

Formation often happens before we realize it is happening.

We open an app for a few minutes. We scroll through the quiet spaces of our day. We absorb images, desires, opinions, and assumptions. Little by little, they influence what feels important, what feels normal, and what we believe we need.

The effects may be subtle, but they are not neutral.

Pay Attention to What Has Your Attention

Jesus said:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:21

Our attention often reveals what we treasure. Over time, what we repeatedly attend to can also deepen what our hearts desire.

Paul gives us this instruction:

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
Colossians 3:2

Scripture does not treat the direction of our minds as insignificant. What occupies our thoughts matters because it influences what we treasure, desire, and pursue.

So I am learning to look at my feed honestly—not to condemn myself, but to understand what has been shaping me.

Not only at the accounts I follow, but at what makes me pause.

What has my attention?
What has my heart?
What is discipling me?

I do not expect to answer these questions perfectly. But I want to become more honest about what happens within me while I am online.

And then, I want to bring my attention back to Christ—to His Word, His presence, and His people.

Not simply so I can become a better social media user.

But so I can become more like the One I follow.