I was thinking about the phrase used in the bible to "Come, follow me". The Savior uses this phrase as He is calling to fishermen and inviting them to leave their work and to instead fish for men. He asks them to Follow Him.
That is the most important thing, to follow Christ. Why do we follow Him? Because He is good. He helps us become better. He reminds us of who we are and our divine potential. He is our Savior and knows us in a profound way through His suffering of the Atonement. We learn from His example of goodness.
I was thinking about social media and how we follow people on instagram, facebook, twitter, etc. We follow them. We may follow celebrities, talk show hosts, magazine editors, or old high school friends.
We are influenced by what they post. The pictures are stuck in our mind, the things they say bug us or inspire us. But by following someone we are in fact being influenced by them in a negative or positive way.
If we are asked to follow our Savior so that we can become more like Him and learn from Him, then wouldn't there be a correlation between who we are following or watching on social media? We are influenced by the people we follow, either in reality and who we spend real time with, or in virtual non reality.
So stop following people who make you feel bad. Stop following people who you compare yourself with. Stop following people who make you feel arrogant.
A few months ago I stopped following old high school friends who posted pictures that made me feel uncomfortable in any way. I wanted to feel uplifted by the people I follow and the people I associate with, even if it's only on Instagram or Facebook. I even stopped following people who posted pictures of babies with stats or accomplishments in the description. P.S. Totally fine for people to do this, it just wasn't okay for me to be comparing myself with them or feeling negative for seeing those things.
I chose to stop following people who weren't helping me become better and I feel like it clicked for me today. By doing that and by surrounding myself with uplifting images (like the editor of Bon Appetite posting what he's eating for dinner...yes please)! I was actually following my Savior more.
So stop following people if you want to. Here's your push. Go through your friends and delete those who make you compare yourself, who make you get angry because of the things they post, who post pictures that aren't appropriate.
Instead follow people who help you feel better about yourself, who you feel happy for in their happiness, and set good examples for you. By doing so, you are following our Savior who asks us to come and follow Him.