Social media has exposed many legitimate abuses of authority and trust, but it has also caused us to question authority in every sphere of our lives, and undermine our trust in others. Christians need to understand that we can mend division caused by social media and rebuild trust in our churches and communities by imitating Jesus Christ and how he exercised his authority with humility and convictional kindness.
Social media has sowed the seeds of cynicism, and an intimate relationship with social media can fertilize weeds and thorns of cynicism such that they choke out faith and hope and love. As Christians, we have to do what we can to expel cynicism from our own hearts and to trust Christ even as the world descends more deeply into brokenness and sin.
Social media can present us with many wonderful things to appreciate and enjoy, and it can lead us to an idolatrous view of ourselves and the purpose of our lives. All idolatry destroys us, because we were created to know and worship the Lord, and the best solution to social media’s idolatrous influence is to have a strong and clear desire to worship the Lord.
One of the most divisive aspects of social media has nothing to do with social media content, but division that is caused by an increasingly fractured internet and social media landscape. Understanding the big-picture landscape of the social media industry is vital to understanding how social media continues to be such a divisive force in our communities and churches. The good news is that despite this fracturing landscape, there are still plenty of opportunities for connection and understanding once we understand our social media vantage points and where/how they differ from others!
Social media is now “old” enough that we can see very clear generational differences in social media usage. Not only does this contribute to division caused by social media, but it creates a new type of division of its own: generational division. There is no shortage of alarm and concern about the dangerous effects of children and teenagers using social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, but in order to address the dangers of these divisions, the adults in the room need to embrace a hard truth: they cannot disciple their kids in an area that they’ve never been discipled in themselves. If we are concerned about our kids and their relationship to technology and media, we must be proactive in creating a technological vision for our families - and it starts by modeling the behavior you wish your children to imitate!
Books, Articles, Organizations, and Substacks our faculty recommend on this topic.