Can Social Media Be Redeemed?
Feature by Josh Alves
I was recently preparing a sermon from the book of James where he urges his readers to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” After affirming human anger’s inability to accomplish God’s righteousness, he continues with encouragement to actively be “ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent.” The first thing one application of this passage that came to mind, was to get rid of social media.
Online discourse has become associated with anger and hatred. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s description of Mos Eisley as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy,” could easily describe many social platforms. In what Ed Stetzer identifies as the “Age of Outrage,” it’s natural to wonder; can the use of social media be redeemed?
When thinking about this question, my gut reaction is, “NOPE. Not a chance.” My less cynical, thoughtful response is, “possibly,” but it depends on how the redeemed use social media.
It’s another afternoon. I’m scrolling Facebook to see yet another Christian leader sharing a conservative political meme. The image (hopefully unintentionally) boasts misleading information and seems to support physically fighting those they consider to be the opposition. Another Christian pastor replies, their comment insinuates a call to arms. Another person adds, “Don’t get me started.”
Is this how the redeemed are using the tools at their fingertips? At times, it seems as if social media is where we post about our idols, and others encourage us in them.
The polarization and dissension social media platforms seem to cultivate are no surprise. How they are forming (or deforming) Christians might be. It’s less shocking for those familiar with how these tools work.
Do Not Be Conformed to this World
When we engage on social media, it’s essential to understand it is not a neutral activity. Please do not underestimate the currents of the waters we swim in. We are constantly being formed. Our online participation moves us towards the love of God and others or away. Paul’s warning to the Romans of the dangers of being conformed by the patterns of this world is as applicable today as when he wrote them. Often our activity online reflects the methods and motivations of people around us more than having Christ formed in us.
At the heart of these platforms is the mysterious and omnipresent algorithm. These lines of code inform what is presented to us in our newsfeeds. Its purpose is intentional, keep your attention for as long as possible. It’s good at what it does.
The familiar adage, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” applies here. Particularly online, if the platform is “free,” you are the product. Every click, like and interaction contributes to a technical calculus to cater to you personally. Nearly every news site, search query and online shopping trip builds a profile on which companies intend to profit. For the first time in a consumerist society, it seems the consumer is being consumed. Show me your newsfeed and I’ll show you the sum of your attention. You teach the algorithm what to feed you.
Social media companies profit from your attention in a significant way. These “harmless” clicks are often tied to advertising – either selling you a product or service or bringing you to another site to deliver more advertising. Unfortunately, these algorithms exploit the fallen part of our human nature in the quest to steal your time. Typically, the more afraid, angry or self-righteous you feel – the more attention you give and the more time you’ll spend online. The more time you spend online, the more you feel afraid, angry or self-righteous. It’s a vicious cycle, but it doesn’t have to be this way.
There's Nothing New Under the Sun
“Declinism” is the tendency to see the past in an overly positive light and to view the present or future in an overly negative light. Certain theological views can contribute to this tendency. With the ever-present reminders of the brokenness in our world constantly front and center in our newsfeeds, we might feel justified in believing the world is becoming increasingly worse. The way people mistreat each other and objectify one another in their online engagement proves our fear. This perspective is solidified when we observe the vitriol of online interaction spilling over into “real” life.
I find a strange comfort in the realization that as much as technology has advanced, people are pretty much the same. The same base motivators drive us. You don’t need to look far in history to see the variety of ways sin has influenced our interactions with one another. The numerous ways devised to dehumanize one another are stomach-churning. Our fallen nature will utilize any available tools to our own, often mutual, destruction. While the regular theological flame wars on Twitter are vicious and characteristically un-Christlike, so is burning theological dissidents at the stake.
While the methods and means of our interactions have changed, people haven’t. For those who have given their allegiance to Christ, the call to follow in the footsteps of Jesus – empowered by the Holy Spirit – is the same. Online or off, we are to walk with the mind of Christ, clothed in his compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Tame the Tongue, Fetter the Fingers
Technology allows us to connect with those around us, and beyond, in amazing ways. Yet, too often, the opportunity is squandered to create echo chambers of our own likeness. Christians can be a redemptive presence in online spaces, but it takes awareness and intentionality. It’s not for the faint of heart.
Along with his teaching on being slow to speak, James also includes a lengthy description of the importance of taming the tongue. While a small part of our body, it possesses a powerful ability for good or for evil. Reflecting the image of a God who spoke creation into existence, our words have a similar shaping power. I believe the importance of our words is one of the reasons James directly addresses the things we say immediately after identifying how “faith without works is dead.” The words we “say” include the things we type and post online.
One of my favorite hymns uses a few uncommon words. Realizing how we are prone to wander, one of the verses earnestly requests for our hearts to be bound to God’s and asks for his goodness to be that “fetter.” Typically used to shackle and restrain the feet of a prisoner, it’s essential to recognize our need to be fettered to Christ’s heart. At times, our fingers need this same restraint.
Reliance on the Holy Spirit for wisdom and discernment is necessary. It’s one thing to know what to say, it’s another thing to know how to say it. When to say what you know how to say also matters. Embodying grace AND truth is a challenge in person; it’s even more challenging online.
A helpful framework for redemptive interaction online could be; PAUSE before you post.
Pray
This seems like a given, but I find reminders necessary. Prayer is at the heart of our life in Christ. Communing with God in this way informs our interactions with others. As it relates to engaging online, be mindful in prayer of the temptations constantly present. We are often quick to speak, slow to listen and quick to get angry; this does not reflect the heart of God.
Wisdom is one of the things James identifies as something God readily gives to those who ask. Pray for wisdom. As you take in various posts online, use them as requests in prayer. Keep in mind; you’ll likely be asking God to change your heart as much, or more, than changing others.
Assess
Social media regularly prompts you with a question. For example, Facebook asks, “What’s on your mind?” Twitter wonders, “What’s happening?” When interacting online, it’s beneficial to first self-assess with reflection questions. How are you feeling? What’s occupying your thoughts? People tend to bring – and impose – their personal context into what they read. Growing in self-awareness moves us toward beneficial interactions.
Assessing also includes processing the information we are reading. Is what I’m reading actually true? How do we know? Are we aware of our biases that we regularly, subconsciously, confirm?
While we would like to assume we respond to others from logic and reasoning, the reality is we often react from what we are feeling. As we read, we assess; how does this make me feel? Am I getting angry? Am I getting anxious? As emotions are identified, we can prayerfully untangle our thoughts.
Untangle
It’s easy to spot the fruit of a problem, but God invites us to address the root of the problem. We have been gifted with the capacity to be able to process why we are feeling what we are feeling. Psalm 139:23-24 includes the prayerful desire to be searched from within, to have our thoughts revealed before God.
As the Holy Spirit reveals what’s inside, we have the opportunity to process where our emotions are rooted. We begin to untangle our thoughts and feelings from the context of the interaction. Often, when becoming more aware of why we are feeling what we are feeling, God reveals an area of our life we are exalting above him. As Jesus identifies in Matthew 7, this process of “plank” removal is necessary for constructively participating with others.
Seek
Once we’ve taken those first three steps, we’re ready to seek to understand. Realizing the context we find ourselves in isn’t always the context someone posts in moves us toward asking questions. Similar to how Jesus responded to people with questions, we move from interacting with concepts broadly to relating with people specifically.
Many posts tend to be understood from the reader’s perspective without any clarification of what was intended by the person who wrote them. Asking questions moves us toward dialogue and conversation. Statements move us toward debate. After we understand, then we are ready to:
Engage
I have had my mind changed regarding a variety of topics. Perhaps I’m misremembering, but I can’t recall ever having my mind changed because of a sarcastic comment, witty retort or anger-fueled diatribe. However, I DO remember times those things stroked my ego and inflated my sense of self-righteousness.
Online, as in life offline, how we engage with those around us matters.
Being clothed in Christ’s compassion and humility moves us toward redemptive participation. From this posture, we can healthily share and interact with others. On our social media platforms, this often means we’re sharing personally and using our time online for encouragement and exhortation, not grumbling, complaining or even correction. We are graciously receiving others and mercifully responding.
Above All That We Ask or Think
Redemptive participation on social media platforms isn’t just plausible; I believe it is possible. But not in our own strength. A Christ-follower walking in the way of Jesus will receive, reflect and respond to the word around him like Christ.
I resonate with Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 and share similar sentiments. I hope God grants you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit and for Christ to dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints (online or off) what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Can the use of social media be redeemed? It’s hard for me to imagine, but I know who is able to enable his people to do far more than I think is possible.
Rev. Josh Alves and his wife Amy live with their children in Oxford, MA. They currently serve at Oak Hill Bible Church.
Rev. Josh Alves, “Can Social Media Be Redeemed?,” The Advent Christian Witness, Winter 2023