Researchers and educators have found Instagram to be a key social platform that young people use (see Further Study section). Particularly one that can inhibit joy.   Other mediums such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter are used by young people and can negatively impact their lives, but Instagram is a different beast. Though there are features of Instagram strategically designed to allure young people—tapping in to their expectations and disappointments and thereby inhibiting joy, the focus of this lesson is on calling attention to how we use this platform and how we might use it more deliberately and joyfully. For many young people, the picture-culture of Instagram invites—even demands—them to compare their appearance to others. Users feel the need to “present” themselves (“selfies”), their significant other (e.g., “#mcm” = “Man Crush Monday” or “#wcw” = “Woman Crush Wednesday”), their environment, or their friends like everyone else. When they don’t match up to everyone else, as measured in “likes,” “comments,” or “shares,” young people get discouraged and even depressed. Idolizing oneself—or trying to set oneself up as an icon—on social media is easily caught by young people.  The culture of Instagram is one of a constant pull to present and the ever-present impulse to prepare, compare, and evaluate. This can take its toll on young people. Oftentimes they experience anxiety before they post—worrying which caption or filter will invite the most engagement with the post— and anger or frustration afterwards—if they don’t receive the kind of interaction they anticipated or expected. Alongside parents and educators, youth ministers are at the front lines of  young people’s use of social media platforms. Young people need to be taught and trained in how to wield their devices. How can they use it in a way that facilitates joy in their lives as opposed to anxiety and despair? How can they use it to glorify God and love their neighbor, as opposed to loving themselves and making everything about them?

For millennia, Christians have meditated on Scripture. God’s Word includes a lengthy and detailed account of who we are as creatures, our place in the world of creation, and our status before God.  In this lesson young people will be invited to look at this account anew, with digital eyes, and to meditate on its meaning and significance. The story God tells us about ourselves is that we are broken, disoriented, and even rebellious. We constantly turn inward and assert ourselves to others.  This brokenness, disorientation, and possibly even the rebellion many young people (and old!) feel and experience on a daily basis. Yet at the same time, we are told that we are God’s— that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14)—and that we don’t have to turn to ourselves. We don’t have to rely on ourselves. We don’t have to prove anything to anyone else.  And that there’s nothing we need to do or can do to make Him love us anymore than he already does. When we meditate, we consider these words of wisdom, these nuggets of truth—as difficult as it might be to believe them. Most importantly, we tell ourselves them. We speak the truth God has said to ourselves, and we put them into practice: by believing them and acting confidently out of them. These words and this account given by God to us should give us pause in the face of Instagram culture.  Maybe, deep, deep down young people already believe this. But we all tend to forget it in the patterns and practices of our platform usage. Meditation can reinforce this. It can lead us to think twice about what we’re posting and why we’re posting it when almost every user around us is “presenting,” “branding,” or in some way trying to prove their worth. The truth that we must practice on and offline is that we don’t have to “present.” We don’t have to impress. We don’t have to make our feed about ourselves. In a sense, this medium can foster society without our being in the picture, or at the center of it.