I have been on a social media fast (with the exception of YouTube) for one month.
What I have discovered is that no matter how great your intentions are of guarding your heart, mind, and soul from the influence that is social media, the counterinfluence still seeps into each of these departments by way of regular usage.
Just as walking into a rain storm with an umbrella, raincoat, rain boots, and a water proof hat doesn’t keep you free from getting wet, so does scrolling social media regularly with the intention of blocking negative influence doesn’t protect you from something negative seeping into your subconscious.
As a constant user of social media, my perception of the purpose of life started to become distorted and I didn’t even realize it was happening.
Before my fast, I unintentionally held the belief that the purpose of life was what I could accomplish, the items I gained that were more valuable than what others had, and the amount of renown I could gain by the accumulation of materials and accomplishments.
During my fast, my Spirit raised the question, “What is the purpose of life?”
Social Media’s Distortion of Life
Close to 70% of the world’s population utilizes some form of social media but most studies and social media usage controls are aimed toward children, but what about the adults that are raising the children?
Helpguide.org reports that adults 30 and up compare their parenting, careers, and financial status to those online which promote feelings of inadequacy, envy, and life dissatisfaction.
The Associated Clinic of Psychology confirmed that algorithms promote negative content as they keep the user on the platform for longer periods of time. Baptist Health revealed that social media leads to an increase in anxiety, depression, fear and a decrease in feelings of well-being.
Using social media can come with laughter and joy, but studies declare that negative influence far outweighs the positive impact social media can have. As previously stated, even when we prepare our inner being to avoid negativity, the malevolent control behind the social media engine intends to exert itself upon our subconscious by all means; and that it does.
When our perception of the purpose of life begins to skew toward the material, and when our daily tools confirm the misconception, it can become very difficult to see what is the purpose of life.
What Is The Purpose of Life?
In the beginning of this article, I introduced fasting from social media. What I didn’t include is that it was very difficult initially.
When I woke up, I would check my social media accounts and when I got in bed, I would scroll social media. I would use social media on my breaks and when I had downtime. I would use social media when I was unwinding and when I wanted to add my opinion to the latest news update.
Breaking from these routine actions were quite difficult, but I noticed that I could hear the Holy Spirit more clearly.
Before my fast, I was concerned with making more money, doing something within my city to gain attention and praise, working toward some grandiose plan that would bring me into some sort of recognition and all these desires were vain; I only wanted them because in my mind I started to believe that this was the purpose of life. I started to accept that life was for showcasing on social media and proving something to spectators who really don’t care what I am doing.
When the Spirit asked me recently, “What is the Purpose of Life’, I was able to clearly and understandably write that the purpose of life is the service to others. I am a wife, mother, and apart of a family. God has blessed us all to be apart of a people group where we can give from our hearts, work through the most difficult of issues, and move forward in life with other people. We have all been blessed in that regard.
What we do in our homes and with those closest to us, how we serve the people in our community utilizing whatever gift and talent we have been blessed to hold, that is the purpose of life. Don’t ever think that your talent isn’t big enough because I guarantee, it is helping someone’s life and that is what life is all about.
Isaiah 58:10
If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
Proverbs 19:21
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.
Psalm 138:8
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
With Love,
Mother Ocia 
P.S. Don’t forget to start a Gratitude Journal; it will help you with neuroplasticity 