In the past few months I have considered deleting my facebook account. I have begun to dislike scrolling through my wall and reading the different statuses of my friends. This does not point the figure at everybody or really anybody all of the time. But I find myself reading more passive aggressive statements about their children, parents and friends. There are rants about political alliances and more memes than I am able to count. As much as I am tiring of the trends of facebook statuses, I can also be encouraged and challenged by others. Heartland (the church I pastor) has a group page. On this page there are prayer requests, people sharing Bible verses and overall a lot of encouragement. So here are some tips to consider before typing out the status. Some of these tips may look familiar, as I borrowed them from a famous quote.
1. Is it kind?
What I dont understand about facebook is that people are willing to say things they would never say in person. I would not consider it bravery, but rather closer to cowardice. These comments are meant to hurt, divide, torment and dare I use the token word of the year, bully someone else. Ask yourself does this help my situation or does this bring more drama. Does this bring us closer to a resolution or to World War 3. Once your status has been posted you never know what damage it could do.
2. Is it true?
Is this something that you know is correct? Who is your source? Have you verified the facts? Journalists can be sued for defamation of character if they were to write an article, but yet anyone on facebook can write unverified gossip and destroy the perception of someone else's character in a matter of seconds. But even if it is true please refer to #1.
3. Is it necessary?
What good does it do to shame your child, neighbor or friend on facebook? It does not solve anything except show your nature to your network of friends and family members. The comment rarely does anything except for the small percentage of your friends who like the status and the even smaller percentage of those who had something similar happen to them.
Wouldn't you rather encourage and build up your friends? Dont you want to be a safe place for your child to come to you when they are hurt? Rather than feel that if they were to come to you they would end up being one of your statuses? We have a long way to go build boundaries in our culture today. I do believe if we did facebook would be a better, safer place to go.
2 comments:
Amazingly simple (without actually ranting!)
Thanks. One would think that it should be simple.
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