There’s a consistent debate about the role of social media in our lives today.
There’s no doubt that I’ve embraced the cultural shift of socail media, but because of it, I have received criticism as if that means I’m not doing other things I should be doing. I’ve been online doing ministry for over 16 years and have developed good systems that allow me to do much online efficiently, but I knew it was “catching on” when my mother got on Facebook. Still, it does take time and, with limited time for all of us, that time has to take away from something else.
I’ve heard people say it would have been better for the family had the television never been invented. I wonder what the same people would say of social media. Some feel we shouldn’t be doing it all at all.
More importantly, I’m wondering today what you will say.
Let’s discuss the role of social media. Consider these questions, then add your thoughts in a comment.
- Should the church be involved in social media?
- Does social media help or hurt a relationship?
- Are Facebook or Twitter beneficial to a relationship or is a distraction in building true friendships?
- In a perfect world, would we have social media?
- Does it add to or take away from the quality of our lives?
- Is it an unavoidable evil or a blessing for us all?
Be honest!
I think that social media is not bad it just depends on the person using it and for what purpose from what ive recently experienced i boulieve that it could be useful to edifying encouragement finding and helping people who got problems not judging them mocking or criticism but realizing that their are people out there with so many different problems or sickness that they’ve been hiding since they were a kid because of something they probably went threw and inside themselves they are begging to be cured and feel set free but not by judging them for it because it will only make things worse and depressing wich i have seen recently what jesus about love towards the end was going. To grow cold .
I agree with what I think a lot of people are also saying – that it's not necessarily good or bad, it depends on how we use it. It is just a type of media. Once upon a time books weren't wide spread, but we never really question "Are books a good or bad form of media".
I think it is something that should be embraced and learned – if people ignore it, it will grow and evolve without us anyway, and then we'll be left behind and not have any say in how it grows and what direction it takes.
I think it only becomes a problem if it takes the place of any other form of communication – such as isolating yourself from family to sit on your computer, which is easy to get caught up in. Or having an entire social life on the computer, that never translates to conversations face to face or with real people. But social media isn't the only thing that has dangers of being misused.
Otherwise, I think it can be an amazing tool to connect with and interact with a far vaster range of people than has ever been possible before.
I know God has used blogs and other forms of media to speak to me a lot recently, especially during a time when I was geographically isolated from normal networks and resources. It has been a blessing.
And in my work as a school chaplain, social media allows me to connect with young people in a way that they relate to and is natural in their lives. But I always follow up contact they make onlie with personal contact as well.
Thanks for sharing. Good thoughts.
Response to your questions –
* Should the church be involved in social media? – Yes. It's an opportunity to share our message.
* Does social media help or hurt a relationship? – Helps. Gives opportunity to establish many new young relationships & can deepen relationships with those you already know.
* Are Facebook or Twitter beneficial to a relationship or is a distraction in building true friendships? – Beneficial in sense of gaining a better understanding of what an individual is really about & sometimes where they are really at spirituallyl
* In a perfect world, would we have social media? – People have to find a way to connect & discover.
* Does it add to or take away from the quality of our lives? – It should add by expanding our friendship base & by deepening relationships already in existence.
* Is it an unavoidable evil or a blessing for us all? – I don't see it as an evil, just as another method of communicating. I view it as similar to a printing press, a television, a PA system, a CD player, a DVD player,
… all methods of communicating faster, more effectively, to a larger audience.
My take on your questions:
◦Should the church be involved in social media? – Church can be involved in social media.
◦Does social media help or hurt a relationship? – Many times, it heps relationship
◦Are Facebook or Twitter beneficial to a relationship or is a distraction in building true friendships? – They are beneficial to relationship.
◦In a perfect world, would we have social media? – There may not be the need to use it.
◦Does it add to or take away from the quality of our lives? – Of course, it adds value. I learn many things from you through your blog and twitter.
◦Is it an unavoidable evil or a blessing for us all? – It's a blessing. But, we need to handle it with discernment.
Thank you.
Uma Maheswaran S
Good answers.
Moderation is key. The world is changing, we (the church) have to keep up.
Absolutely!
Pastor Ron – we must go where the people are if we have a message for them. You, and many other servants of the Lord, have that call and mandate from Him… to share the life giving Word.
A Pastor recently said to me – "If I were living in the time, or a place, where walking was the norm – I would walk. If I lived during the time of the circuit riders, I would ride a horse. But I live in a time, and in a place, where the internet is where the people are, so I use the internet as a means to reach those The Lord called me to reach"
I'm not sure how people argue with that…
Blessings Brother
Thank you Kevin. You made my day!
I think social media is both blessing and curse. I can remember being in high school in 1998, when the internet was still in its "toddler" stage and DSL was the hot new item. We could never have imagined the kind of digital world we are immersed in now. I think it is better to say that social media has made the world "different," rather than say it is a good or bad thing.
I think the connectivity that social media fosters embodies the desire of my generation and onward to have community and to share one another's lives. Of course, in the infancy of social media, we had to experiment with what the mores and folkways would be of engaging our digital selves, but I think we are starting to define parameters nicely. I think we are discovering so much about people and what is going in their lives (event wise) through social media. I hate phone convos, so social media allows we to keep in touch with college friends on a regular basis (something impossible when I was in high school). Social media gives a marketplace for a pop-culture exchange of ideas and opportunities to present the Gospel. Social media is also a great way of communicating small details to a lot of people relatively quickly; it is very efficient.
However, in our zeal to grab community back we did not realize that we were actually becoming escapists who were less than authentic about who we really are. We now tend to do most of our primary communication through social media, which is really not such a great thing. Having gone through a phase of poor social media etiquette and fire starting…it is so much better to communicate important things in person. There are people addicted to social media…they must be in the know about every little thing. I forcibly go off of social media sometimes to avoid dependence; to avoid addiction. Social media, if not disciplined properly, can become a huge waste of time (especially with all the applications). I have made the statement that if most of my friends joined Twitter, I would leave Facebook. Why? Because Twitter is not nearly as distracting and potentially addictive as what Facebook offers.
My suggestion, Ron, is to continue to discipline yourself; if you feel like you need to pull out, pull out for awhile. I took a Thanksgiving to New Years break on all forms of social media (even my blog) just to unplug and try to invest more with who was in front of me. I will say this, if you are giving the people online more time than the people where you are at…that is an issue. God calls us to be his witnesses and to invest ourselves in his local church where we live.
Good suggestions. Great though process in your comment. Thank you.
Twitter: tijuanabecky
says:
In the world of an offline (or in person) introvert social networking is a blessing. It gives me a way to communicate and have friends when if there was no internet I'd be lost and silent. For me it's a blessing. I also believe that being that we're in the 21st century now that if you want to go with the flow and be where the people are the church should be online as well. Personally I'm more likely to visit your church if you're active on Facebook or Twitter, have a good website, or have a good blog. If I can't find anything on you, I probably won't show up. My thoughts.
I agree….Introverts rule online!
"Does it add to or take away from the quality of our lives?"
As some have already mentioned, social media is a tool. I'm somewhat of an introvert by nature; however, because I am in the publishing business, building relationships is a necessity. Social media allows me to be a bit more passive on the front end of establishing those relationships that are integral to our ministry.
Thanks Shannon. I believe the same is true in my business. 🙂
Social media in the realm of personal life, is like a coffee shop, club or other social venue, it is only one tool for enhancing or impacting (positively or negatively) our relationships. If we expect social media to be the "all in all" for our relationships, we'll come up short.
In the realm of ministry, it is a tremendously powerful tool for communication and connection. It opens doors of communication and relationship that would never be possible without it. My life and ministry have been enriched by it, but I, by no means, think it is EVERYTHING RELATIONAL.
I wrote a related post on the use of social media in ministry and life here. http://bit.ly/fGlusc
That's a good take on it Randy
I think we would be in error to suggest that we aren't to "shine a light" in the social networking world.
However, I don't think the best way to do that is posting 45 Scripture references a day or continuous "5 ways to be a better…"
Substance is equally as important as content.
Good thoughts. Thanks.
Social Media and just the advancement of technology is here to stay. I would agree that when raising your family, as a Christian and good steward of those arrows, you should be pick and choose what you will and will not have active in your home.
In ministry context and as a pastor, I am convinced that social media and technology, while ever changing, has and will have a profound impact on the next generation church. It is key in contextualizing the Gospel and any church who turns their back on maximizing their use of social media and technology in Evangelism is just setting the date of their irrelevance.
Unfortunately, many of these leaders and churches have while unintentially led many people in my generation (I'm 26) and in that generation before me to view the church as old and outdated which has definately affected the Churches ability to spread the Gospel.
Good thoughts. Thank you.
Like any thing else there are good points and bad points to social media. The key with most things seems to be moderation. To much of (almost) anything is bad.
Absolutely.
Wow. That's tough. Here are my thoughts:
It's so prevalent, that it's almost necessary.
In teen ministry, like I am, it's impossible not to be involved. That's where they live now, it seems.
I've noticed people can say things in social media that they would never say face to face, so it's kinda harmful there.
I've reconnected with several old friends from high school, some I'm glad I found, some, not so glad…
It provides the opportnity to have conversations you'd not normanlly have, for good or bad.
It offers global communication instantly.
I guess after all that, I agree with the first commenter…. Moderation, Consideration, Motivation. Good thoughts…
Thanks for sharing. Good thoughts as always
Thanks for creating some great content!
I think it's important to acknowledge it is being used to make money, not connect people.
The connecting of people is a by product of the desire to make money.
As for it being good or bad…let's take a Proverb into account.
Don't talk too much, for it fosters sin. Be sensible and turn off the flow!
Proverbs 10:19 NLT
Great verse
A good resource on this topic is a book called Prophetically Incorrect: A Christian introduction to media criticism. Very accessible, yet very provoking.
Thanks for sharing that resource.
I think it is a great asset to older citizens if they would embrace it. I am almost 70 and really enjoy it. I saw people getting in trouble with it, but those people had that same sin tendency without it. i have taken great pains to keep my Facebook as a ministry, only having people whom behave and respect the site.
Some try to use it to push thier political agenda. Some have an opinion, even if they can't spell it, that they are just wanting a platform to show thier ignorance.
I beleive it can be used for good or evil. I caution people to be carefull who they add, especially high profile who I see adding 20 or 20 at a time. One dear friend adding a woman, whom when you went into her wall, you could see she was soliciting. I sent the brother a private message and he de-faced her.
God can really use this. Preachers need to hone thier skills as they have a lot of GOOD COMPETITION to moticate people to have "Sunday Headaches". God Bless
Thanks for sharing. Those are good thoughts. I am blessed by your weekly prayers for my ministry.
Is it really possible to have a balanced discussion ABOUT social media while USING social media? Anyone who truly objects and chooses to abstain will not be here to give their point of view.
But obviously, I'm not one who abstains 🙂 So here are my thoughts:
Social media is a tool, not inherently good or evil. It can be used effectively, or abused horribly. Social media is not a substitute for "face time," but it can be a great supplement — especially when people are separated by long distances. I use it to help me keep in touch with friends who are now scattered all over the world, in many different time zones… people I would have otherwise lost touch with years ago.
I've seen churches use social media very effectively. It is unbeatable for quickly communicating info to a large number of people simultaneously, especially in this day of smartphones and integrated apps. I believe it is most effective as a tool for building genuine community when it is used to promote "real life" meetings. It's a great way to remind folks about events and encourage them to attend. It's also great for situations that would benefit from a quick response: eg, when there's a need within the church family.
It's also a great way for churches to keep ideas and goals in front of folks. For example, if the Sunday message challenged folks to apply something to their lives, tweeting/facebooking/blogging about that during the week can help keep it fresh in people's minds.
With or without social media, our culture is much less physically connected than cultures of the past. We're not forced to be in relationship with the folks around us anymore. We don't need to trade with our neighbors for staples of daily life. We don't need to band together as communities to protect eachother. So when there's conflict, we don't need to resolve it because we don't really need that person anyway. The same holds true for churches. When we get offended, we can church shop and drive 30 miles to attend a church rather than working through whatever issues we had with the church around the corner.
We're self-sufficient islands. And we were already islands long before Facebook and Twitter came along. Social media didn't cause our disconnectedness… it just allowed us to broadcast it more effectively.
Just my $.02!
I think that's a great question… It's interesting that the critics I have about social media criticize through social media.
As with most things, it's both a blessing and a curse. I am a very technical guy; an old-school gear-head. I love technology and what it does and where it can take us. I do not have a Twitter account and from what I've seen of it I will never ever have one; think it's a waste; personal opinion. I have a Facebook account that I am on perhaps once every week or two and almost never ever comment on. Still, I find more value to it than I ever will with Twitter.
Obviously things like this blog have been beneficial to me in my struggles. Ron, I so appreciate the way you've reached out to me, and others, with advice and prayer support; wish I could get this kind of involvement from my church leaders. And I've made use of other forums like this one to get much needed support in my struggles and I hope to lend support to others in similar situations. Another nice thing about sites such as FB is that it's so well-known and huge that it's easy to find resources that you might want to connect with instead of spending huge amounts of time searching. And I'll tell you that search engines don't work near as well as they do in the movies or on TV.
I've resisted letting my younger kids have FB accounts and they do not have Twitter accounts. But the one son got involved in football last year; a home-school team. All of the friends he has made on the team have FB accounts and this is a great way for him to stay in touch. We did insist that he make his mom and I friends so that we can at least monitor what's going on.
I think that Eliza pointed out some of the pitfalls of these things. They can be overused. I have a friend on FB who posts his every action. Does anyone really care that you just went to Dennys? I think that these can expose our children, and us, to an element that we would not normally associate with. I think this is especially true of Twitter. I went to Twitter one day and you can, without signing up, look at tweets. I spent a little time looking randomly through them and most were pointless stupid and vulgar. I realize that not all tweets are like this, but again, we take time to protect our kids and ourselves from porn and other inappropriate things and then we expose ourselves to this.
And then there are the privacy issues. We worry about identity theft, and then give detailed information about our activities.
As with most things, it's what you make of it. As Artie said, you almost have to be a part of it anymore to get around and stay in touch.
Thanks Jon. Good thoughts.
The church should absolutely be involved. We have to stay in touch with where people are if we are going to represent Jesus. I have "connections" and friendships via Twitter for example, with people I have never met. In some ways, it is the modern version of "pen-pals". Are these friendships "deep" – no. Yet, I have encouraged and been encouraged from many. I have learned and I have taught. So, social media certainly has value.
It all comes back to balance. Social media is not going away, so I say embrace it with balance!
Thanks David for sharing. I agree…it's here to stay.
Does it help or hurt relationships?
Both. It can help those relationships that may otherwise be non-existent. I have had the opportunity to be more a part of peoples lives because of social media where otherwise this would have been impossible. But it can really take away from the more familiar relationships. For example just last night 4 of our 5 family members were in the same room. Each with a screen in front of their face interacting in some way on social media. So there we all were home at the same time, in the same room, and no one was talking to each other.
Ultimately I think the relationship it hurts the most is our relationship with God. It is so easy to get caught up reading good blogs, responding to articles, tweeting profound quotes, putting scripture as our status updates that we don't spend time with our God.
"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time." – John Piper
The solution in my opinion is not to cut it out but to begin to promote and encourage boundaries. Here are some I have had to apply.
-Don't turn on anything in the morning until I have spent time with the Lord
-Go offline when important people are around (hint hint…the family)
-Get some accountability. Trust me someone else out there needs to limited it too. Strength in numbers.
Any others?
OK- enough here…I got to update my status 😉
Eliza, these are really great thoughts. And, yes, everything (at least I can't think of any exceptions right now) that can be used for good can be used for bad also.
Social Media to me has become such a huge part of our culture, that you almost have to be involved. I remember some friends searing they would never have a cell phone…Ha!
I think like anything, it's all about Moderation, Consideration & Motivation!
Good Q- Bro
Yea, me too about the cell phone. Now everyone's grandmama has one…
Moderation…I agree. That's true with everything.
Yes