Why I No Longer Tweet in Church

A few months ago, I made the decision not to tweet during church. I’m not saying it’s wrong for you, but here are four reasons I made this decision.

1. When I hear a point and immediately tweet it, I’m saying sharing this insight with the world is more important than internalizing the truth. In reality, I need to hear the message before sharing it with anyone. Thinking about my fans and followers causes me to think about them, rather than my own life. Sharing content in real time is an amazing thing. But following along with a hashtag instead of listening to a presentation might keep you from truly experiencing or internalizing a message.

2. My phone is distracting to me. I’m fairly sure I’ve got ADD and it’s hard for me to focus. Before I know it, instead of typing out a quick point, I’m checking Facebook, responding to a quick email or googling a restaurant. It’s why I can’t read the Bible on my phone. I mean well, but before I…squirrel. On a side note, I’m distracted when people around me are on their phones, so I don’t want to be that type of distraction for them.

3. I struggle with being present. Because it’s hard for me to focus, it’s hard for me to be present in the moment. A constant connection to a virtual audience makes engaging in the moment really difficult. Whether I’m at the dinner table or listening to a sermon, I need to be with the real people around me, not fans and friends on the Internet.

4. What I have to say really isn’t that important. There’s something inherently arrogant about social media, where I think what I have to say is really important. If all of my tweets disappeared, the world would go on just fine. People will manage without my quote or retweet. If I don’t tweet a perfectly alliterated sermon point, people will be just fine.

As someone who is fairly connected to his phone, this was hard for me. In fact, some Sundays I don’t even take my phone into church. I’m trying to get better at this.