CREEDE HINSHAW: Time used on social media could be better spent

The Economist reports (April 9, 2016, page 11) that 1 billion people worldwide visit Facebook, the world’s largest social network, for an average of 20 minutes per day. This means that roughly one-seventh of the world’s population (7.4 billion people) use Facebook daily.

Let’s play around with those figures: multiply those 1 billion users by their 20 minutes. That comes out to 20 billion minutes spent every day of the year on Facebook. Now divide 20 billion minutes by 60 minutes in an hour and we arrive at 33 1/3 million hours spent on Facebook each day.

Now let’s make one more assumption: that these 1 billion Facebook users could be convinced to eschew using Facebook for three days per week. That would free up roughly 100 million additional hours every week to do something other than visit Facebook.

Finally, let’s assume that we could convince these 1 billion users to set aside that extra one hour per week doing good for humankind. One hundred million additional hours of good serving others every single week!

I know these are faulty calculations. Most Facebook users may not be on that site for 20 straight minutes, but are in and out of the network throughout the day. Furthermore, some Facebook users are doing good by the very fact of being on Facebook.

But I still suggest that the world could change for the better if 1 billion of us didn’t spend so much time photographing and posting our latest meal, vacation, selfie or link to somebody else’s rant or slogan. Depending on how you view this social network, Facebook is either a vital link or an addictive habit. Either way, I am only suggesting that people give it up three days per week, leaving the other four days to stay connected to myriad friends.

What could you do for 20 minutes per day for three days per week or, by combining your time, what could you do that extra one hour per week?

Here are some suggestions: volunteer in a homeless shelter, visit the homebound, write or phone your congressperson about a vital local or national issue, write thank-you notes, visit somebody in the hospital, become involved in prison ministry, lead a Bible study, pray, join an advocacy group whose mission is improving life in our world, work in a community garden, etc.

Those who faithfully devoted themselves to others would give four hours per month to make our world a better place to live: 1 billion persons giving four hours per month to love God’s world and God’s people. Such a priority shift could be one of the most transformative events in the history of the world!

We spend so much time in self-care, absorbed in self-improvement projects. What I am suggesting is a simple form – I’m willing to admit a simplistic form – of world change.

Maybe somebody ought to start a Facebook page dedicated to the proposition.

Email columnist Creede Hinshaw at [email protected].