Some Christians in the United States logged out of social media platforms, particularly Facebook and Twitter, in observance of Lent.
According to a poll by decisiondata.org, a website that takes a survey of Americans to see what they are giving up for Lent, social media takes first place, followed by alcohol.
In the survey published on www.christiantoday.com, out of 586 American Christian adults interviewed, 21 per cent of them (that is, about 123 persons) said they had given up social media for the period.
Eighteen per cent of the Christians said they had given up alcohol, while 13 per cent said they had given up chocolate/sweets.
Other items given up by the interviewees were: soda/coffee (11 per cent); junk snacks/fast food (8 per cent); pornography (6 per cent); marijuana/tobacco (4 per cent); and others (7 per cent).
According to decisiondata.org, “Religious or not, Lent can be a great time of the year to give up a distraction and refocus on other things that might be more important in our lives.
“While popularised in religious circles, Lent is spreading into the secular world, as more people participate in the fasting of some specific thing over the 40 days that lead up to the Easter holiday.”
By comparison, decisiondata.org explained that in 2017, alcohol topped the list of items being given up during Lent, at 20 per cent, junk snacks at 15 per cent, while social media came third at 14 per cent.
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