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    Unfriend Yourself: Three Days to Detox, Discern, and Decide About Social Media
    Unfriend Yourself: Three Days to Detox, Discern, and Decide About Social Media
    Unfriend Yourself: Three Days to Detox, Discern, and Decide About Social Media
    Ebook80 pages1 hour

    Unfriend Yourself: Three Days to Detox, Discern, and Decide About Social Media

    By Kyle Tennant

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Three days. No Facebook. No Twitter. No social media. Just time to detox, discern, and decide.

    Take a three-day social media fast with Unfriend Yourself and learn to examine your use of social media from a Christian perspective. This book will guide you in evaluating your fast by asking challenging questions such as:

    • What happens when I broadcast myself on the Internet?
    • Do I see a difference between my interactions on social media and my interactions face-to-face?
    • Do I rule my media, or do my media rule me?


    While reading Unfriend Yourself, you will learn to think critically, biblically, and practically about social media. Whether you choose to leave the social media scene, engage in it less, or engage in it more after your social media fast, your perspective on social media will never be the same.

    “Without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, Kyle challenges the Christian to a God-honoring approach to social media involvement. Well researched and thought through, Unfriend Yourself avoids the emotional arguments and instead presents a provocative ‘must read’ for any students, young adults, and generations beyond who want to be responsible in approaching social media from a biblical worldview.”

     – Dr. Bob MacRae, Professor of Youth Ministry at Moody Bible Institute

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMoody Publishers
    Release dateJan 1, 2012
    ISBN9780802479402
    Unfriend Yourself: Three Days to Detox, Discern, and Decide About Social Media
    Author

    Kyle Tennant

    KYLE TENNANT is the Director of Student Ministries at the Village Church of Bartlett in Bartlett, IL. He is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute and is currently pursuing an M.A. in Christian Formation and Ministry from Wheaton Graduate School. Kyle lives in Chicago's west suburbs, and enjoys reading, writing, preaching, eating, cooking, and good conversation.

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    Reviews for Unfriend Yourself

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      This was a good read that made very nice points.

    Book preview

    Unfriend Yourself - Kyle Tennant

    Kyle has written a very timely and necessary work addressing our attachment to social media. Without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, Kyle challenges the Christian to a God-honoring approach to social media involvement. Well researched and thought through, Unfriend Yourself avoids the emotional arguments and instead presents a provocative ‘must read’ for any students, young adults, and generations beyond who want to be responsible in approaching social media from a biblical worldview. This book will make you think! Thanks, Kyle, for this much needed, practical, and contemplative work.

    Dr. Bob MacRae

    Professor of Youth Ministry

    Moody Bible Institute

    With Unfriend Yourself Kyle strikes a resonate chord with his generation and provides needed leadership through the wonders and warnings of social media relationships. Kyle’s compelling research and personal insight successfully equip the reader with an effective biblical framework through which to address the growing place social media is taking in our daily lives. Embrace Kyle’s relevant and thought-provoking challenge, and find yourself better off for it.

    Brian Kammerzelt

    Communications Department Chair

    Moody Bible Institute

    unfriend

    yourself

    THREE DAYS TO DETOX, DISCERN,

    AND DECIDE ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA

    KYLE TENNANT

    MOODY PUBLISHERS

    CHICAGO

    © 2012 by

    KYLE TENNANT

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

    Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright © 2000, 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    Edited by Brandon O’Brien

    Cover design: Kathryn Joachim

    Interior design: Smart Guys design

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Tennant, Kyle.

     Unfriend yourself : three days to detox, discern, and decide about social media / by Kyle Tennant.

       p. cm.

     Includes bibliographical references.

     ISBN 978-0-8024-0953-9

    1. Social media. 2. Online social networks. 3. Interpersonal relations. I. Title.

    HM742.T46 2012

    302.23’1–dc23

    2011043190

    All websites and phone numbers listed herein are accurate at the time of publication, but may change in the future or cease to exist. The listing of website references and resources does not imply publisher endorsement of the site’s entire contents. Groups and organizations are listed for informational purposes, and listing does not imply publisher endorsement of their activities.

    We hope you enjoy this book from Moody Publishers. Our goal is to provide high-quality, thought-provoking books and products that connect truth to your real needs

       and challenges. For more information on other books and products written and produced from a biblical perspective, go to www.moodypublishers.com or write to:

    Moody Publishers

    820 N. LaSalle Boulevard

    Chicago, IL 60610

    1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

    Printed in the United States of America

    To my professors,

    who taught me how to think

    Contents

    Introduction

    1. Detox

    2. Discern

    3. Decide

    Conclusion

    Afterword

    Notes

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction

    My name is Kyle, and over a year ago, I said farewell to Facebook. Well, at least I tried.

    It all started in a class. (How often do we start stories like that?) I wanted to study how Christians and churches should use Facebook, so for my independent study course I planned to write a paper called The Application of Social Media in the Local Church. At the time, I was going to a rather net-savvy church and wanted to explore more fully how we could use these new technologies.

    Then I met with my professor. Only a few years older than me and well-versed in the goings-on of communication theory, he seemed like the perfect fit. Except for when he told me that I was asking the wrong question. I was asking, "How should the church be using social media?" My professor kindly removed that first word, and in so doing, launched me on a journey that would change the way I think about the world. It’s funny how changing one little word, how, could do so much.

    So I began my study, seeking to answer my new question, Should the church be using social media at all? To answer this question, I had to create a new reading list. Instead of reading only works fresh off the presses of Christian publishing houses everywhere, I started reading works by authors who had been buried over a decade ago. Instead of only reading books on ministry practice, I started reading communications theory and texts on sociology, technology, and culture. While I did spend a significant amount of time reading contemporary works, I started with the dead guys, who provided me the framework to understand the newer stuff.

    Before I knew it, the project was practically running away from me. I could barely keep up with the unending flow of data found in books, journal articles, magazines, newspapers, and, of course, blogs. Soon the magnum opus of my undergraduate career

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