ChurchTechToday.com

My attention was grabbed recently by an article from the Spirituality & Practice website by Frederic A. Brussat entitled, “25 Reasons Why Twitter is Spiritual.” Honestly, I think any technology has the potential to be used for spiritual reasons if our hearts are in the right place. Brussat offered some very convicting reasons why Twitter can be used for good purposes, and here are a few of them:

5.) Twitter enables us to share our deepest dreams and to encourage others not to lose hope.
6.) Twitter prods us to find the divine energy of joy in our daily lives and to share it with others.
17.) Twitter encourages us to spell out all our days with a grammar of gratitude.
21.) Twitter gives us opportunities to bless others through our affirmations of who they are and what they do.
22.) Twitter challenges us to be mindful of every word we write and to honor others as best we can.

While the author comes at spirituality from an all-inclusive point of view, not particularly Christian, there are some nuggets of wisdom about encourging others, being grateful, and lifting one another up with thoughtfulness and praise that I find refreshing.

Here are some related posts on Twitter from the past few months at CTT:

Is Twitter Screwing Up Your Life?

Twitter and Your Church

While Twitter and other social networking solutions can be used for good, I still struggle with the “interruption factor” present with receiving tweets and updates on my phone and computer. I want to be fully-present in the activities in which I participate, so replying to tweets and posts on my phone when I’m with my kids, or at Bible study, or shopping, for example, is not my favorite thing.

How do you deal with these interruptions and still have a focused and fully-present life? Do you set aside time each day or hour to check in on Facebook, review Tweets? Do you check email/voicemail/Twitter/Facebook every day of the week, or do you take Sundays off from communication with everyone under the sun?

For me, there are times when I don’t feel like I want to necessarity communicate with everyone out there–I want to be quiet, still and ponder the days in prayer and meditation. It’s at these times that social media feels like more of a burden than a spiritual practice, but that can be true of almost anything. Thoughts?