My Thoughts On Social Media

 It has been made clear to me that our pastors are anti social media; Facebook, Instagram type connections. I have some thoughts that are strictly my thoughts on social media.

First, the dangerous hook-up myth. I remember chat rooms, where supposedly people were connecting with old friends and hooking up with them and by doing this destroying their marriages. Now I hear the same argument being made about current social media. That Facebook is the door to adultery. All I can say is that for me, social connections are not and have never been a way to hook up with someone I am not married to.

Second, the time waster myth. We all spend time doing what we must do and then we spend time doing what we love to do. Social media for me is not a substitution for real life. But it is a diversion from the hustle and bustle of life at times. I do not spend hours on my phone for anything except when I track my ride for exercise. Wasting time can be done in any pursuit. By helping me my phone apps help me be more effective with my time.

I know that I am not the target audience for social media. But I also know that it is a tempest in a teapot to blame Instagram and Facebook for every social ill imaginable.

For me, social media is like writing in a journal. I hate journaling. But I maintain two blogs and a Facebook and Instagram and Twitter accounts. And I still have never hooked up with a female predator or spent too much time scrolling through mindless stuff. So when I hear pastor complain about social media I just smile and nod and listen for more important truth from the Bible.

I learned years ago that the images on the movie screen or on the television screen are stylized and distorted images and not real life. This generation will learn that no one in real life lives or looks like the images on Instagram.