This is a guest post, By: Jenni Taylor
Despite the fact that it is the primary form of communication for our life group, I’m always a little flabbergasted at how often Facebook comes up as a source of controversy in our Sunday morning discussions.
From political rants, and most recently the killing of a gorilla (to save a human’s life), friends around me always seem to be upset, or at the very least agitated, by what others are posting on social media.
I’m not bothered by their being bothered.
I’m bothered that Facebook, in general, gets painted with a broad brush and labeled as the problem.
Since I joined Facebook well over a decade ago (back in the days when you had to have a legit .edu email address to even join) I’ve seen it morph in significant ways.
What used to be a silly way to keep up with classmates is now a major source of networking for many people.
Probably one of my favorite ways that the site has changed is the ability to follow celebrities, news outlets, authors, etc.
I try to remember back to the days pre-social networking and think about how one would follow so many online personalities.
Sure you could subscribe to individual blogs (which I’ll add is still a viable tool), but reading and subscribing to a blog feels a little more like a full-on commitment; whereas, it’s really easy to read a few poignant thoughts by many people in one day as I’m scrolling through my feed.
The problem lies within the users in your particular network, and the resulting content clogging up your feed.
From a Christian perspective, I find it refreshing to login and see daily verses or inspiring quotes from Christian personalities such as Jenn Hatmaker, Ann Voskamp, and Lisa Jo Baker.
The Bible has much to say about how we as Christians are to be in the world and not of it.
Jesus went so far as to call us “temporary residents and foreigners.”
Why then are we surprised when a medium or network that largely represents “the world” upsets us and seems to go against everything that we love and believe?
I personally am not.
Sure, I’m guilty of being agitated by things that I’ve seen or read online, but I can’t say I’m surprised.
My point is that social media, Facebook, in particular, is merely a symptom of the world we live in.
On Facebook, for instance, I have over 700 friends.
This seems completely absurd to me as I think anyone who truly knows me would say that I am the ultimate homebody.
Of my 700 friends, I speak to probably 15 on a regular basis – and a large part of that is comprised of family members.
So again, I challenge you to really evaluate the weight you place in reading and worrying about what your remaining 650 closest friends are posting online.
The views and misguidedly disturbing beliefs of this world are of concern, but social media is not the culprit.
