Questions to ponder before you post
May 23rd, 2011 by Kristi Stephens
Social media is such a fascinating phenomenon. In just a few short years, facebook and twitter, myspace pages and blogging have completely transformed the way we communicate with others. More easily than ever before, we can communicate with hundreds or even thousands of people with a few strokes of the keyboard.
According to facebook, there are over 500 million active facebook users, with over 250 million users logging on each day. The average user creates over 90 pieces of content each month. One billion tweets are posted on twitter each week. That, my friends, is a lot of words. So, so many words.
When words are many, sin is not absent,
but he who holds his tongue is wise.Proverbs 10:19
How do we wisely use our words in this culture addicted to sharing every personal thought and mundane detail of their lives? This week for One Small Spark, we will be considering some basic Biblical principles to give us a framework for using social media in an uplifting and God-honoring way. It is my hope to give us some basic questions to ponder before we hit “send,” “share,” “tweet,” or “publish.”
Today’s question: WHO is this about?
What if, before we posted anything anywhere online, we asked ourselves, “Who am I bringing glory and attention to? Who am I painting as the hero? Who is this really about?”
From reading facebook posts and blogs, I often wonder if people realize what the message is that they’re sending. Sometimes the message is, “My kids are the best, most beautiful, most idyllic beings in the world.” {We talked about this syndrome last week!} Sometimes the message is, “My life is so terrible. Nothing goes well for me. I’m posting this as a desperate plea for attention and sympathy.” Or perhaps it is, “I am a superhuman parent/wife/cook/athlete/etc. Gather ’round and shower me with praise.” Maybe even, “My ex-husband is such a jerk and I’m going to tell you all about why you should hate him, too.”
I am the LORD; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.Isaiah 42:8
Idolatry is rampant today, just as it was thousands of years ago. The interesting thing is that today, we don’t just set our idols on a table or hang them on a wall in our homes – we put them on our facebook wall and invite all to worship along with us.
If the only thing people knew about your life was from your facebook posts, your tweets, maybe your blog – what is the message? Who are you bringing glory and attention to? Who are you painting as the hero? Who is this really about? You? Your opinions, hobbies, or talents? Your children? Your spouse? The people who have wronged you? What is the message of your life, written out for you on the walls of these online spaces?
I’m not saying it’s wrong to post a cute picture of your kids or rave about the amazing lunch you had at your favorite restaurant. But what is the theme of your life, of your words? Who is it really about?
A challenge for today – the image at the top of this post was created from facebook status updates and tweets that I saw posted yesterday. Today, to consider the content of what you are saying and posting online, consider making a “wordle” of your own facebook statuses/ tweets or perhaps even your blog! Go here to create one free – copy and paste in your posts/tweets for the last few days or weeks… and take a look at what the recurring themes are. Who are your words consistently about?
If this has given you something to think about, would you consider sharing this post with others on facebook or twitter? Join us for the rest of this week as we consider other questions to ponder before you post! All of the One Small Spark posts from this series will also be indexed here for your convenience and later reference.
- 6 Comments »
- Posted in One Small Spark
May 23rd, 2011 at 9:44 am
So good Kristi. Just the other day, a friend of a friend posted on Facebook that she couldn’t imagine how parents could allow their children to hit one another. *ahem*
Two things popped out to me in this statement:
1. My children hit each other every day. EVERY DAY. Do I “allow” this to happen? No. Do I discipline for it? Yes. My boys both know that hitting isn’t tolerated in our home, but they’re boys, and they’re aggressive and it happens. My husband and I are working hard to tackle the issue and address their hearts in this, but they’re little sinners. And that’s the key, isn’t it? They’re sinners.
2. I grow weary of the “my children would NEVER do (fill in the blank)” or “I would NEVER let my children do (fill in the blank). It’s judgment, plain and simple. Elevating our kids and ourselves to the place of God, as if we can change and control their hearts ourselves.
OK…rant over :) I’m behind you 100% in this. And while I’ve made social media mistakes myself, I’m praying that God will continue to change my heart and help me look at everything I say and write through His loving eyes.
May 23rd, 2011 at 9:48 am
Thank you for posting this.
I think it is a great reminder to stop and think about how we are living our lives… and how we want to live our lives.
May 23rd, 2011 at 3:04 pm
Well said!! A very good reminder and great scripture. :)
May 24th, 2011 at 6:02 am
[...] Yesterday, we began focusing on the power of our speech in social media, beginning a series of 5 questions to ponder before we hit “send,” “share,” “tweet,” or “publish.” Yesterday’s question: WHO is this really about? [...]
May 25th, 2011 at 10:36 am
Fantastic reminders-this is an ongoing theme that I’ve seen being expressed by Pastors and when you shared,”Idolatry is rampant today, just as it was thousands of years ago. The interesting thing is that today, we don’t just set our idols on a table or hang them on a wall in our homes – we put them on our facebook wall and invite all to worship along with us.”…isn’t pride a form of idolatry?
I think there is a delicate line when it comes to using social medias of any form. I saw posted about the priorities in life and someone made a great point, the first priority in anything, should be “God”, then our husbands, then our family, then our ministries/community/etc….
I think there is a lure of “instant celebrity” that the social media promises to people and this is a dangerous lure that can cause us to forget that humility is also being careful not to be building “us” up too much, when the end game, its all about God, bringing Glory to God, and what He does, not what we do, but Him.
But that is a hard thing too, to say or do or think about because we live in a “me” society where we are taught, to be competitive and its all about us and we have the right and we deserve to “have it our way” and to feel good, but in the process…back to…it seems easy to slip into idoltry, even of the self without realizing it and as humans, don’t we bristle at the idea we may have cross the line without thinking.
It was so great that you share this today, because social media seems to be replacing so much of real relationships and real friendships….it seems to be giving people, too much comfortability to act in ways that they may not otherwise act in person and even then…its so easy to get so distracted and miss the bigger picture that in the end, it’s not about us or what we do on Earth, but what our Father in Heaven does.
There was an article called, <a href="http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2011/02/30-day-facebook-fast/""30 Day Facebook Fast" and from it goes, “Social networking makes it easy to become socially lazy. With a few clicks, you can delude yourself into thinking you have an active social life.”
I can’t help but wonder…can social medias make us also not just lazy socially, but as far as our growth as Chrisitans, can it make our growth, lazy too? Or maybe make it too much, “validation based/if it makes you feel good its okay” versus strengthen that if His calling means walking down a hard road that isn’t worldy or worldly accepted that we could?
May 27th, 2011 at 6:02 am
[...] asked ourselves WHO our words are about – who are we bringing glory [...]