Olen Britnell
We live in an amazing age. A generation or two ago, communications with family and friends were either by slow letters (now known as “snail mail”), or by expensive long-distance telephone calls. Now, we have instantaneous email and relatively inexpensive telephone services. In addition, there is the popular “social media,” such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs, and various text messaging systems. These are useful in making it easier to keep in touch with family and friends, to renew old friendships, and to seek out new friends with common interests. That is good.
There are other good things now available by the wide distribution of information on social media. These online opportunities can be used to promote the church and activities of the church, including gospel meetings. We can welcome newcomers to our community. We can share joyful events, such as baptisms, engagements, births, and so on.
But there is another side to the story. These services also provide a forum that is more impersonal than traditional one-to-one letters and calls. Because of that, it is easy – and oftentimes, tempting – to say something that would not be said in someone’s presence. It is easy to post messages that are harmful to friendships and reputations. It is easy to post gossip. It’s easy, under the name of “maddog,” maybe, to incite discontented people to riot against authority or perceived injustices. This has been recently demonstrated multiple times in our country.
It is easy to post pictures, for example, that ought NOT to be posted on the internet. Many of the pictures should never have been taken at all, and certainly not shared. It is easy to be influenced by the carnal world around us. That influence is generally bad.
It is easy for User A to complain to User B about the behavior of User C, or to complain about some presumed affront. Frequently, it’s all open to the other users of Facebook, Twitter, or some other system.
And the particularly diabolical nature of all this is that messages and pictures, for all practical purposes, must be considered open to the public, and permanent. If you send it, you can assume it’s there forever… even if you later regret your decision to share.
And these can, indeed, spread like viruses. All that is needed is a short address and a simple “click” to forward the trash that you received to another person, or to a long list of persons. Those recipients, in turn, can immediately distribute to others, with exponential growth.
Young people are fascinated with social media technology, and they have a keen social curiosity. They certainly have the intellect to use these tools, so much so that teenagers have become the “tech support” resource for the rest of us. But frequently, they lack the mature judgment that is needed to use the tools wisely.
All of those comments lead to the following observations:
Christians should be very careful in their talk, and in pictures they might post. This is one of the ways that others evaluate Christians and our judgment and behavior. To let our light shine in a dark world, it is necessary for those around us to see and to appreciate our wisdom in our communications with friends and neighbors.
To be blunt… don’t hide behind the impersonal hedge of social media to criticize your friends, don’t use the anonymity of made-up names to criticize your school and teachers, don’t use social media to criticize the church and its leaders, and don’t post pictures of yourself or others that you will later regret.
There is an old adage that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” And so, a moment of reflection may avoid hours of regret. It’s a good idea to re-read notes carefully and critically before actually posting them. While reading, pretend that the readers know nothing about your good reputation, and thus be sure that everything will be interpreted as you wish. That is, use prudence in posting, so that something posted for “insiders” is not easily misinterpreted by everyone else.
So… think about these matters and use the technology that we have to influence others for good.
And here’s a little challenge for all of us: This week, write a letter, by hand, to someone who you admire, or to someone who has done something to help you. Express your appreciation. Be specific. Put it in an envelope, put a USPS stamp on it, and drop it in the mail. They will appreciate it (it will “make their day”), and you will feel good about having done that. And then… do it again next week.
Your friends will remember your words of appreciation and encouragement, the smile on your face, or the genuineness of your handshake long after text messages have disappeared into the black hole of digital doom. And they will know that you have “friended” them!
