The world of social media has been taking some hits lately. Facebook,
Twitter, and their friends have become prime targets for the internet backlash crowd. Most recently, there was the
broadcast and print media’s gleeful snickering about Facebook’s stock market
woes (relative to the overblown expectations). Several books hit the market
last year full of dire warnings about where all this social networking is
taking us. This spring, a number of commencement addresses exhorted graduates
to look away from their smartphones and into the eyes of their loved ones.
Perhaps most compelling (and controversial) was a recent article in The Atlantic magazine by Stephen Marche
titled “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” (May 2012). In the article, Marche
distilled current research that suggests social media involvement might actually
make people feel less connected to
others.
Up until a few weeks ago, I might have agreed with every word.
Then I joined Facebook. I know – I’m not exactly on the cutting edge of the
digital revolution. Here I am, joining Facebook just as many of my friends are
thinking of ditching it. My buddies were shocked when I joined. There was some
debate about whether or not hell had frozen over.
Truth be told, I’m not a complete newbie. I’ve been living
vicariously through my husband’s Facebook page for more than a year now. So I
am aware that Facebook involves a lot of self-promotion and encourages
narcissism. Many people are self-flatteringly selective about the information
they share. Exclamation point usage is completely out of control! But there is
also this: the midnight post from Portland, “I just got some bad news, please pray for me,” and all the
responses from people who promised they would.
It is posts like that last one, and so many similar ones
I’ve read in the last few weeks, that have caused me to reconsider my previous
criticism of the social network. So Facebook has lost some of its luster. It’s
no longer the bright and shiny toy it once was. Maybe now we can have the perspective
to view social media as just another piece to the puzzle of living a fruitful
and satisfying life. Which brings us to
the counter-intuitive truth that a satisfying life comes, not from what we get,
but from what we give. What are we called to give our Facebook friends? Ultimately,
each of us has to answer that for ourselves – but I have a few ideas. Sign up
to think more about this with me in coming posts, then accept my four days of
Facebook Friend Challenges.
Very well thought-out, Lisa. So true--like anything else, social media is what you make of it. yes, I often write down prayer requests that come through FB or others, even take them to church so the whole congregation can pray. I think it's important.
ReplyDeleteSocial Media that is anything but social, Web Bugs that track our every purchase, software that fill people in on everyplace we are, or go, or do...i feel like our culture is losing any sense of privacy, and it doesn't care. It seems potentially destructive to many elements of our lives; financial, emotional, relational, even physical as we sedentarily sit around perusing our ipads at the Starbucks drinking 400 calories of "coffee". If it was just a toy, where I could toss a sheep at someone or buy the occasional virtual martini, that's one thing. But now, all of this is much more. I'm scared.
ReplyDelete