(Minghui.org) I am a senior manager for a company in Beijing. One of my colleagues installed WeChat on my phone several years ago, and I used it to send messages and files, hold teleconferences, send group notices, and so on. I began to use it more and more at work or while I was relaxing. Friends, classmates, clients even people I didn't know added me as their contact. I used it every day, posting comments, emoticons and uploading pictures.
I soon began to use it to transfer money, make payments and shop online. WeChat became my most useful tool. The first thing I did every day was to check WeChat to see if there was any work or anything happening among my friends and relatives. When I finished reading one article, I would click the link and read another. I ended up spending hours using WeChat.
I knew it wasn't right and had wasted too much time on it, and sometimes I felt I wanted to get rid of it. But I thought that I had no choice because everyone was using it for work, chatting with family members, or for shopping and online courses. It seemed that it was impossible to not use WeChat.
Letting Go of the Addiction
When the Minghui website published the notice, “What All Dafa Disciples Must Know”, my first reaction was that I didn't need to delete WeChat since I never contacted practitioners through it and only used it to contact non-practitioners.
My boss sent messages daily on WeChat. More than twelve groups I was involved with used WeChat. How could I do my work without it? My child's teachers sent notifications on WeChat. My child had just finished his middle school entrance examinations, and we received many notifications for him. Where could I get this information without WeChat? My school alumni were organizing a visit to the school and they were sending messages on WeChat. I was also taking an online course on WeChat that wasn't finished yet. Shouldn't I wait until after I completed the course before deleting WeChat?
I read the Minghui notice several times and every time I thought of reasons not to delete WeChat, because it would be very inconvenient if I didn't have it. So, I delayed a few more days thinking the notice hadn't specified a deadline. I could decide when to delete it.
When I told my family that I was going to delete WeChat they said that I was going to extremes. I thought it was impossible to live without WeChat. I had many negative thoughts and became confused.
I re-read the Minghui notice several days later and also read other practitioners sharing articles on the topic. I realized that practitioners shouldn't be tied up with any worldly things. Imagine an ordinary person who was going to die the next day but was still reluctant to delete WeChat, tightly clinging on to it. Wasn't it laughable?
A practitioner shouldn't care about loss and gain in this world. Why couldn't I let go of a mobile application? Also, didn't my work environment reflect my cultivation? Shouldn't I be able to rectify it? When I came to this realization I decided to delete WeChat immediately.
The fact that I hesitated and found excuses for not deleting WeChat indicated that I was very attached to it.
Master said:
“It is not that Minghui Net does not make mistakes, however, on important matters, practitioners must pay attention to the attitude of Minghui Net.” (“Minghui Notice: A Second Authentic New Article of Master Li Since July 22, 1999 Will Be Published in a Few Days”)
“Then as Dafa disciples, you must have a positive view of Minghui, regardless of whatever ordinary people may think. There are some who don’t see Minghui in a positive light, and I would say they’ve got a problem. At least that much is certain. Since Minghui directly reports on the cultivation state of the main body of Dafa disciples...” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Fa Conference Marking the Tenth Anniversary of Minghui’s Founding” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference X)
Master must have seen that practitioners as a whole were deviating and needed to rectify their surroundings and behavior, thus Minghui issued this notice.
As practitioners we shouldn't look for excuses and should follow Master's requirements unconditionally, and harmonize what Master wants. We shouldn't just do whatever we want. In my understanding this is “helping Master rectify the Fa.”
No Great Deal in Deleting WeChat
After I deleted WeChat, I notified my boss, colleagues, important clients, school teachers and classmates. To my surprise, almost every one said they understood and agreed that I was right to delete it. They said that it was time consuming and tiresome to use WeChat. Also, my family didn't complain or find it inconvenient.
Most of the communications on WeChat are ineffective anyway. People just chat casually and important topics are not communicated well. It is far more effective to simply phone people.
As for communicating at work, a new online office system was recently installed, but only a few coworkers used it because our boss kept using WeChat. I invited more colleagues to use the new system and suggested my boss not overuse WeChat for the sake of security, efficiency and concerns about leaking sensitive business information. In his reply he didn't say anything negative, so we started to use the new online system.
Master laid the path for us a long time ago. Nothing is accidental.
After I had deleted WeChat, I felt relaxed and very focused on the things I was doing. I felt my righteous thoughts were more effective when I sent them. Master helped me break through a big tribulation.
I hope this article will help other practitioners. To be responsible to ourselves as well as the world's people, practitioners should delete WeChat and QQ. I feel ashamed of myself, as a veteran practitioner who has practiced Falun Dafa for more than 20 years, for continuing to use WeChat. I'd like to thank Minghui for notifying us.
Dafa practitioners are cultivating in this world and we should rectify this environment. Every level of society and all walks of life should return to traditional ways of life. Dafa disciples take the lead to stop the downward slide of society.
Category: Improving Oneself
