The Dark Side of Social Media

Darth Maul artwork credit

'Yes, in the past, you lived the way the world lives, following the ruler of the evil powers that are above the earth. That same spirit is now working in those who refuse to obey God.'~ Ephesians 2:2, NCV

This past week or so, I’ve found myself an unhappily captive audience to some ‘stuff’ that has been going down on the pages of several Facebook friends.

I use the word ‘captive’ quite loosely because in reality, I DO have the choice to just click off the page/site and do something else, like:

• Pray
• Take a walk
• Clean my toilet
• Or grab a cup of coffee and hunker down with a good book

Any one of those things or another would be a whole lot better than watching the sniping via status updates that come through my daily news feed, but often, I find it’s like a train wreck – you just can’t look away, although you desperately want to.

I know there are many positive things to be said about social media.  You can get to know and converse with people around the world, anytime day or night. You can make new friends, reconnect with old friends and family members, find MIA classmates, coworkers and lost pets. 

There are pages for reminiscing about happier times and places, for finding and sharing information and favorite photos, for posting links to funny videos, and pages on which to ask for and find prayer and community support.  These are just a small handful of the things I’ve found to be good and helpful and fun.

But social media does indeed have its Dark Side, with Facebook and Twitter, seemingly more and more often lately, serving as the virtual playground for cyber bullies and mean girl cliques.

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Over and over, people pick on and call out others in ways I believe they WOULD NEVER think of doing face-to-face, using the anonymity of their keyboard and computer/iPhone screen as their shield, and brandishing their words like Crocodile Dundee’s knife or Peter’s Narnian sword, even as they make feeble attempts to undercut their snarkiness and ill intent with well-placed terms of endearment (like ‘sweetie,’ ‘honey,’ ‘dearie,’ and the infamous, overly-used and totally worn out, ‘why, bless your heart’).

The playground then becomes the battlefield, and I’ve witnessed both the godly and the godless, Christian and carnal 'friends' warring and wounding one another.  And THIS, my friends, should not be.

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For others, when this occurs, the safest, easiest and best option would seem to be to retreat. Keep your head low and run away. Wave the white flag of surrender and give up. Kill the accounts and unplug from all things social media. To be honest, I consider doing this at least once a week. 

However, if you’re among those of us whom God has challenged to faithfully commit to shine His light into a ‘dark’ place by bringing His encouragement, joy, hope, support, compassion and understanding to the land of social media, then take a deep breath. Take heart. And remember the following things:

• Not everyone will like nor want to hear what you have to say. But we weren’t created to please man, but instead, to please God (Ezekiel 2:3-7; Galatians 1:10)

• Have confidence in your God given gifts and purpose (1 Thessalonians 2:4; 1 Peter 4:11; 2 Peter 1:3)

• Put on your armor daily. Not just pieces here and there, but the FULL armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17)

• Stand firm (Ephesians 6:11, 13; 1 Corinthians 15:58; 1 Corinthians 16:13)

• Don’t give up or lose heart (2 Corinthians 4:1; Galatians 6:9; Hebrews 12:3)

• Press on (Philippians 3:14)

• And stick close to the Lord, Who is Your Commander-In-Chief and your place of refuge and protection (Psalm 32:7; Psalm 61:3; Psalm 91:1-4; Romans 8:31-37)

Because while there are those out there on the virtual playground who seem to delight in pushing and kicking you around, and even more on the cyber battlefield who want to crush, 'kill,' and silence you – there are that many more who are hungry and thirsty and desperate for the message of hope, help and healing that is available through a life given over to Jesus Christ.

The message God has seen fit for you to carry on and hold out to them.

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'You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer. You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true—these are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.' ~Ephesians 5:8-10, The Message

The Snarkiness of Christianity

Wednesday, March 13, 2013, was certainly a day for the history books. After the siting of the white smoke rising out of the Sistine Chapel's chimney, social media sites, newsfeeds and blogs were all abuzz about the election of the Catholic Church’s new pontiff, Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now known as Pope Francis I, the pontiff of firsts. CNN's webpage reports that Pope Francis is

• the first non-European pope of the modern era
• the first Latin American pope
• the first Jesuit
• the first to take the name of Francis

As a former Catholic, I was delighted for my Catholic and Latin American friends, as it was such an exciting moment in history and the beginning of a new era for them! However, I was not so delighted, Christian and non-denominational gal that I am, over the many comments made by folks in response to the question posed on various news sites and social media pages after the announcement:

‘What do you think about the election of the new pope?’

I’m certain those who posted this question expected a plethora of responses ranging from hopeful and ecstatic to doubtful and indifferent .

But I’m guessing that the folks who maintain the social media page of a particular Christian organization NEVER expected the many, many negative and damaging comments made by....gulp...fellow Christians.

GASP!! The heck you say?

Yes, my friends. The snarkiness of Christianity came out in a big, ugly way on the Facebook page of  'I Am Second'. The folks at I Am Second describe themselves, as it states in the picture above, as ‘a movement meant to inspire people of all kinds to live for God and for others.’  They place much of their emphasis on humility, encouraging people to serve God by serving others FIRST, while humbly relegating themselves to second place.  That's some great stuff there, because that's what Jesus did. 

I’m not faulting those over at I Am Second for posting that question. I’m sure it was asked with good intentions and in all sincerity, as many of its page members are from the Catholic faith, as well as other faith denominations.  No doubt they may have expected some negativity and indifference here and there. But I truly don’t think they expected the onslaught of finger-pointing, name-calling and mockery that followed. 

Before I began writing out this post, I surfed over to their Facebook page and found that the post in question had been removed. I can’t say that I blame them and I actually applaud them for doing so. I must admit, I was appalled and saddened by the over-the-top mean-spiritedness and arrogance of people’s words and attitudes towards those within the Catholic faith.  So many spoke of the pope and Catholics with the same sneering contempt that one reserves for speaking of crack addicts, child molesters and Adolph Hitler. 

It was a prime example of Christians behaving badly.

And that prompted me to wonder what someone brand new to the Christian faith would have thought after reading such arrogant, sarcastic, self-righteous and hurtful comments.

Or how about someone who is seeking a relationship with Christ; or someone who has never felt the need or a desire for God but who perhaps stumbled upon I Am Second’s Facebook page or was encouraged by someone to check it out? What do you suppose they would have thought about those comments and, more importantly, about the Christians who posted them?

And what do you suppose….Jesus thought about them?

I’ll get to that and finish up in my next post. Stay tuned.