Shouting into the wind
I find it fascinating how many people I talk to have a strong sense that social media is kind of a cesspool, yet we all still carry on thinking that the problem is everyone else. But we are all everyone else. We collectively are the problem.
That's a daring way to open an essay, so let me rewind a bit, and maybe I can explain myself. I've been very open with my dissatisfaction about social media during the pandemic and lockdowns, but the truth is much bigger than that. I've long watched very alarming attitudes and ideas spread like wildfire through social media and into my real-life interactions. Complete lunacy has become mainstream, not because it was persuasive or compelling, but because it was repeated enough on social media to vulnerable brains willing to listen. Even worse, some of that complete lunacy has become a tribalistic litmus test. If you don't believe what I believe about politics or the pandemic or the outcome of the 2020 US election, then you are an enemy or just plain stupid. Or so I'm told. I guess the pandemic was just my breaking point. I cut my own social media habit down to some quick check-ins, and I'm beginning to think that even that is too much.
My comments today are inspired by a recent essay titled Ten Reasons That You’ll Never Believe Why Social Media Is Terrible For Any Kind Of Serious Discussion And Pretty Bad In Lots Of Other Ways, Along With A Brief Word In Defense Of Some Notable Exceptions, written by Pastor Steve Jeffery of All Saints Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth, TX. Reading this essay, I found myself nodding vigorously in agreement. I encourage you to read the whole essay for yourself, but here's a quick synopsis of his reasons:
- It's addictive - social media is designed to work just like a drug. That feeling of anxiety you get when you haven't checked your phone in a while? That's your addiction.
- It messes up your brain - like other addictions, the constant "rewards" of social media reduce your ability to experience pleasure from other sources.
- It creates ideological bubbles - tribalism is dangerous.
- It replaces people with avatars - Human beings are more than just ideas, but social media robs us of our humanity.
- It distorts our priorities - We think expressing our opinion about a matter is important. It's not.
- It distracts us from greater things - that's obvious. The time we spend on social media could be spent on an endless list of real world tasks that could truly enrich our lives. But we just scroll on instead...
- It conveys toxic content - The first six are bad enough, but add to it the vulgarity of a lot of the content, and you get a concoction that will slowly destroy your humanity. I'm not just talking about salty or risqué language. One emailed response to my COVID articles was that we should remember that most fatalities were old or frail people who were going to die anyway. What does one say to that kind of cruel inhumanity?
- It's instant, global, and permanent - Maybe not so permanent, since these companies can take down whatever they want, but there's definitely a loss of the basic filter of real, human interactions. Even the most godly, sensible people can say the most horrible things in the heat of the moment.
(Yes, that's only eight. Read the article.)
The one that really stuck in my mind from this is #5: That overinflated sense of importance. Jeffery writes,
The answer is less obvious than we might think, for at least two reasons. First, people enjoy the feeling of making a contribution to the Big Issues Of The Day, when in reality the actual effect of their contributions is practically nonexistent. I’m sorry to break this to you, but the President isn’t reading your tweets. It’s not even likely that whatever theologian you’ve just set straight is paying much attention. You’re just ranting at the screen along with everyone else.
I've really become acutely aware of this lately, in many different ways. Maybe the most personal to my situation is the ongoing complaints I get about comments on my blog or Youtube channel. I've never allowed readers to post their own comments on my work, and I have no intention to start. My reason is simple: if you want to post sarcastic nonsense, blasphemy, heresy, or any other toxicity, you can go to your own website or social media page and do it there. I don't have to give you that platform, and I won't. If you have a real question and actually want to engage with me, send me an email. I am regularly criticized for this policy, because I'm supposedly suppressing dissent and afraid of debate or whatever. What a lot of rubbish that is. Anticreationist material is EVERYWHERE and readily available. The first page of Google results for "creationism" is entirely antagonistic to creationism. I'm not suppressing anything by not allowing you to say what you want on my site. I'm just offending your egotistical, inflated sense of entitlement. Get over yourself.
On the other hand, I've also been aware of my own online activity, as I wonder how much of what I'm doing is just shouting into the wind. Oh I know there are good friends, supporters, and scholars out there who are interested in what I think and genuinely thankful for my work, but nearly all of them that I can think of interact differently with social media than the average person. My supporters tend to be willing to read longer pieces and think carefully before just shooting their mouths off. So that's great. But when I direct comments at critics or respond to ideas I think are bad or dangerous, what larger good to I contribute to? COVID conspiracies continue to spread, despite my warnings. I keep telling people where Cain got his wife, but they keep asking me as if they've discovered a fatal vulnerability in my worldview. Folklore has a life of its own, despite my efforts to the contrary.
Now, understand, I'm not being fatalistic about my work online or off, but I want to be realistic and to channel my time into things that really matter and might actually make a difference. Over the past decade, I think I've spent far too much time cultivating an online presence that never really took off, and in doing so, I've neglected other things that might actually make a difference. And that's where I think changes are in order.
Thankfully, God has brought me to a place where I've stumbled into what might be genuinely meaningful contributions. One of those is the "Let's Talk Creation" podcast, which you should check out if you haven't. I've been impressed by the feedback we've been getting from that work, which easily outpaces most of what I've been trying to do in other online endeavors. I've gotten a lot of good feedback from people I never dreamed I could reach, and I'm thankful. I never imagined that a podcast would have this kind of impact.
Another opportunity I've come across is a couple book-writing projects. I've turned out two books in the past three years, and they've been very well-received. But I've also been too distracted with "other work" and "ministry outreach" to work on any of my other five book projects that exist in various incomplete forms. I have a 100-page outline for a book on creation biology! I have other notes for a book on human origins and a book of devotional theology. And just this past week, I churned out detailed outlines for another two books on creationist scholarship! I keep mentioning these works on my social media or my blog, but I've made little progress on them amidst the distractions of unimportant things. But here's the good news: As I become more aware of these unfruitful distractions, and as I've been encouraged by friends and supporters to get these books done, I'm becoming more resolved to do just that. Now that Core Academy has grown and become more stable, I am more free to work on these books, and God willing, you'll see the fruit of that labor in the very near future.
So what should you do? Remind yourself of your addiction. Shut off the wifi. Put down your phone. See what's happening in the real world around you. Remember that your opinion about hot-button politics is maybe not as important as you think. Pray to God to show you what really matters in your life, and treasure that. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. (Ps. 34:14).
Now I'm going to go post a link to this essay on Facebook. Yes, I'm drowning in the irony, but I'm still an addict. God help us all.
Have you read my book? You should check that out too!
