 Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to today's video. Today I'm going to be talking about why I didn't get on Instagram till I was 18 years old. And when I say that, your mind might be blown. You might be like, who is this guy? Where? What? Like, was he homeschooled? Yeah, I was homeschooled. But he may just be confused because that's pretty unusual. People get social media when they're like 11, 12, 13, especially nowadays. There's eight year olds running around with Snapchat, you know, accounts. And so it's kind of weird to not be on Instagram until you're 18 years old. And there are reasons behind that. And I just want to fill you in on some of the reasons and tell you a little bit of the story around that. So social media, like it wasn't like I didn't have social media growing up because I actually had a Twitter at like 13 years old. It was it was like, I don't even know why I got I think my older brother had a Twitter. And so I was like, I want a Twitter account because that seems like the fun thing to do. And and I'm sure you could probably find my Twitter somewhere out there. I'm sure there's lots of cringey stuff that I posted on there. And maybe one day I'll actually pull that up and read some of the stuff. I had a Facebook account at probably like 17 years old. But why didn't I have an Instagram account? And to me, Instagram seemed like the funnest thing to be on like all the pictures. It seems really like more entertaining than like Twitter where just like quick quotes or quick, you know, tidbits or whatever. It doesn't seem as cool as Instagram. But actually my reasoning and why I didn't get an Instagram was what kind of thought out, you know, I did think it out. And there were a couple reasons. And the first reason was really I knew my struggles. I knew that I would be tempted to find pictures on there that wouldn't be appropriate, right? And that would give me another avenue to have to fight against that struggle, that struggle with lust, right? So in my decision to not get Instagram, that was a decision to not put another place where I could be tempted. Because if I didn't have an Instagram, I wouldn't be tempted to try to find pictures on wherever it would just be more available if I was on Instagram. And I knew that. And that's that's one of the biggest reason, the biggest reason that I didn't get on Instagram until I was 18 years old. And you may be asking, Isaac, why did you get on Instagram now if that's still a struggle for you? And I think there's always times in our lives where, you know, we really need to weigh the pros versus the cons. And like the pros going on Instagram, it was, okay, I can continue to develop my platform, continue to talk to you guys, continue to be able to post content and be creative on there. And then the cons were, yeah, then I'm opening myself to that temptation. And at the end of the day, I needed to weigh that. And at that point in my life, 18 years old, I felt like, okay, that was something that I could step into very cautiously, but continuing to understand the reasons that I wasn't on it in the first place. And I think that's pretty, that's pretty smart for all of us to do. We all have temptations. And maybe for you, it's not, you know, looking at pictures on Instagram that you shouldn't be looking at or dwelling on those things. Maybe it's not lust in that way. So it's not a big deal for you to be on Instagram and that's not a temptation for you. That's great. I'm glad that that's true. But it's understanding the places where you are tempted and then really evaluating the wisdom of going into those places. If you're, if you're struggling with alcoholism, are you going to go into a liquor store? Maybe there's things in liquor store that you like that are apart from alcohol. I don't know. I'm not frequent in liquor stores, but maybe there's something in there that you really like that's apart from alcohol. But there's that temptation there still. Maybe it's just wiser not to go in there. And I think that's something that we should all be evaluating. It's what I try to evaluate is, am I really wise in going into this area? And I'm continuing to evaluate that for Instagram. If the temptation becomes too strong, if I'm losing more than I'm winning against the struggle, maybe I'll need to step back from Instagram. And I encourage you guys, a lot of guys I know struggle with the same thing. It's easier just not to acknowledge it, continue on like it's no big deal. But if you continue, if your eyes continue to wander, I would really, really thoroughly consider stepping back from Instagram in places like that where you're going to be tempted. The other reason isn't as big, but it was just about time wasting. We waste a lot of time on social media. And to be honest, it was one of those things where if I'm not on Instagram, I'm not tempted to waste time on Instagram. Now I still have to fight against that temptation to just keep scrolling, keep scrolling, keep scrolling, because it can really take control of our lives. And nobody wants that. Nobody wants to just continue, let their life be taken away by social media just being totally consumed with it. Because, you know, there's a lot of issues where we can be just totally consumed with what is on social media when we're letting that be a distraction to us. Another reason was this idea of FOMO, maybe you've heard it, fear of missing out. And I knew by going on Instagram, there would be a heightened dose of FOMO consistently where I would see my friends or people that I admired doing all this cool stuff. And they'd just be on surfboards and they'd be on the beach or they'd be, you know, excelling in business and they'd be successful entrepreneurs and they're just living life amazingly for God and just doing amazing things. And I know I would look at that. I knew I would look at that and just feel bad and just feel depressed honestly because I had that tendency to be the look at other people's lives and say, oh man, my life's not that great. You know, I'm not doing that cool stuff. And that's part of the reason I didn't get on Instagram for so long is because I didn't want to have to battle against that FOMO, that fear of missing out. But now, as I'm on Instagram and the social media in general really, I need to be aware of that. I need to be aware that, yeah, I'm going to kind of see people's Instagram and I'm going to kind of feel bad about myself. And that's not really how we want to be using social media. I don't. That's not how I want to use social media. I want to use it as a place to express creativity and just to, you know, share life, you know, out. And I don't know, have fun with it. And that's kind of the idea is an outreach, you know, with ministry and just life in general. And that's kind of what I want to use it as. But at the end of the day, if those other things that I struggle with, whether it's maybe I'm wasting too much time on it, or I'm struggling too much with lust on there, or I'm struggling too much with, you know, the fear of missing out. That's becoming a discouragement to me. I need to consider stepping back. And that's just kind of what I want you guys to get out of this video is if you're struggling with these things, more than you're winning with these, like more than the pros of being on these platforms really provide you, I would seriously consider stepping back. That's kind of my story. I'm on Instagram now. It's not a perfect platform. It's not a perfect place to just express creativity and have it as an outlet because there are temptations of whether time wasting or, you know, last or whatever it is. And we all need to be aware of those things. These things aren't perfect, but they're good tools that we can use. And I'm happy that I get to use it. So all that being said was this was just a big plug for my Instagram. I'm just kidding. It's not actually, but you can check out my Instagram if you want to and see what I'm up on there up to on there. And like this video if you enjoyed this video and let me know what you guys think in the comments down below. I think this can be a really good topic that we should talk through as a community. Really understand the pros and cons in social media and understanding our struggles going into them and whether we should be engaged on these platforms at all. I think it's an important discussion to have and be discerning in those things. Thanks for watching guys and I'll see you next time. Bye!