It's the rage of the whole country and culture. It's man's new best friend. It's America's new national past time. It is social networking at it's greatest achievement. It is neo-voyeurism. And we're hooked on it. And it is quite disgusting that it has done these things to us. Yet, we let it go on because we have become so complacent with the things we do, nothing disturbs us and nothing we do (especially on a personal basis) seems to be wrong. Facebook. Myspace. Twitter. Even blogs. The desocialization of society has begun. Maybe Wall*E isn't that far fetched from reality. Here are the results from last month's poll: How do you view things like Facebook and MySpace?
- 3% said these things are great. How in the world are these things great? Because they get info out to people? So can a TV, radio, newspaper, and hmmm... a phone. Because it can get a lot of information fast to a lot of people? So what?
- 53% said these things can be great but can be abused. "Can be" is the most important phrase of this choice. Anything has the potential to be a good thing.
- 32% said these things are abused more than being used for beneficial reasons and need to be monitored. More than not. Don't people know that most sex crimes start with the smallest of imagery and then lead up to worse things? Ask NBC when they do their Dateline episodes on Internet stings and pedophiles.
- 10% said these things are detestable and need to be abolished. Well at least some people know how to think.
It may be a passing phase that the world is going through but it doesn't seem like this type of community service is going away anytime soon. In fact it looks like it may usher in a whole new way of life; the kind of life where no one really has to deal with anyone else except through their avatars. TRUE STORY: There was a young child who was addicted to this stuff. The parents decided they had to ban their child from using it and they felt like it was a bear trying to get the child to understand why it was not needed. But the parent was doing the same thing. It is kind of hard to teach a child these things when so many adults are doing it and the adults are thinking they need to do it too. It's just another thing in this life that says "look how important I am. I have a Facebook account".
Cell phones, blue tooth ear pieces are the same way. Sure they can be used for positive things but in reality they are something to showcase who we are, hmmm...something prideful maybe. Something that takes us away from important things in life. If they are used as a witnessing tool fine, but that is not what we (99.99%) do it for and we know it. It's not just Facebook. It's our whole culture. You walk into Walmart and see people with blue tooth in their ears. And you think to yourself, "how important do you think you are that you have to answer that thing in Walmart? I mean if it was Macy's or something, okay, but you're in Walmart". Now that is kind of facetious but when you look deeper at the person, watch how they hold themselves when they have this thing on. They seriously take on a superiority complex attitude. Why can't they just have a phone? And of course they have to have it on "ring" so people can hear them when they get a call instead of vibrate. This is a pet peeve. But it does remind us of the culture we live in. Anything to bring attention to ourselves. But the Facebook thing...some will say it's a way to keep in touch with friends. That's why there are phones. If it's a friend from high school, and if you don't have their phone then apparently they weren't that close to them anyway.
Posting things twitter-like? Who cares if someone is eating at that time? And then the teenager way of doing it...posting things they don't think anyone will see. They hide their parents from seeing by hitting the hide button on their personal settings page. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. Parents don't know what their own child is saying, or worse yet, they do know and don't care.
There is an addiction to these things. This following commercial seems harmless and is trying to be humorous but in reality is it really portraying how pathetic we have become?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQR67HXVt14. Notice everyone has their phone out while they are supposed to be in communication with the one they are with. This is actually quite sickening if you think about it. Our society has deteriorated because no one knows how to talk to each other. Could it be this bad as the commercial shows? have we gotten that dependant upon this little thing called the cell phone (mini-macro-world-communicator-entertainer)? Students in school don't know how to handle each other anymore when they walk down the halls together because they don't know how to actually talk in a correct way. Conversations are shortened to IDK, LOL, ROFL, NVM, BTW, WTF, OMG. So when real crisis happen, no one knows how to deal with it, because typing something won't cause the problem to go away. Students don't do homework anymore because they are talking on Facebook all night long.
It causes impatience, neglect, disappointment and even bullying and sexting. Nicely done. Parents don't even listen to their kids anymore, they're too busy downloading pictures and playing with apps.
BTW, Blogs? Same thing. Get a life. Those who blog must have nothing else to do with their life. That is why this writer has three. See the point?
It' not the technology that makes these things bad. It's the availability for anyone of any background to use that makes these things bad. Even Christians who have problems dealing with addictions can make these things have a negative impact on their witnessing. Some people may celebrate the name of Christ on their site and then in their photo sections have a picture of people in compromising and promiscuous positions. If you are a Christian and are not using it for real witnessing but for your own pleasure then you have lost all credibility to being a witness. And if you are one of those people, then shame on you.
8 comments:
Are you serious? What kind of crap is this?!!
"Look how important I am - I have a Facebook account"? Seriously?
That's like saying, "Look how unique I am - I'm one in 65 million..."
Facebook and other social media have almost buried email - and has made a huge dent in new website start ups. Opposing Facebook is roughly equal to those who opposed the telephone in the late 1800's -
ANYTHING can be misused and abuse - the key is to find a reasonable balance, not "outlaw" it.
Social media is here to stay - you can get involved and help serve as an example of proper, appropriate use, or you can bang your head against a brick wall.
I highly recommend the former - you will not turn back the clock
Why is it that some people will find evil in just about anything? Though it is true that facebook may be addicting for some people (and we won't bother to talk about forums), I have thoroughly enjoyed using facebook to find old friends from college and even high school days. I've reconnected with people from earlier ministries and it is great to take a peek at how their lives have turned out today.
Why cry out against things like facebook, cell phones, bluetooth, or other tools that can be extremely beneficial. I wish more people would use bluetooth and do less texting--especially when driving. People who get bent out of shape when they see someone sitting alone in a restaurant talking on their cell phones should think how ridiculous it is for them to talk to their friend sitting in the booth with them, about how rude it is for him to be talking to a friend who happens not to be in the booth with him. Is that just absurdity or what?
RE: Are you serious? What kind of crap is this?!!
Yes. I quite am very serious. Our culture has become more isolated and self-centered over the last 25-30 years and it's pathetic. People don't know how to deal with each other anymore. Someone gets mad just because they can't get instant gratification. For instance, I would almost bet that either you will never come back to this site again because you disagree or you are running out of patience waiting for me to respond. I also would bet that if this conversation was happening in real time and in a real place, not cyberspace, that our attitudes would be nicer or we would ignore each other completely.
That's like saying, "Look how unique I am - I'm one in 65 million..."
Actually I would say it is more like the teenager who feels like they have to wear gothic clothes or weird make-up to say that they are expressing their uniqueness when they don;t understand they look like everyone else who does the same goofy thing. They only do it because they see other people getting attention and they want some of it. We have to do things that others are doing or we feel out of place or unimportant.
As with all new technology, it can be used or abused. With that said, Can we not say....
If it glorifies G-d, then how can it be wrong?
I believe all things can be used to glorify G-d if done properly.
So when are you going to get on Facebook?
No Doubt,
Paul even tells us what you have said such as when he said in 1st Corinthians 10:23 "all things are permissible" but he also adds, "but not all is beneficial". What a smart man.
The problem is we are living in a society that does not glorify God when it comes to this. I have seen pages on facebook (by use of a friend mind you) of even Christians who share Christ on one of their pages but glorify sexual activity on another. Now we must all understand that we all have problems and deal with struggles in ouor lives. But when you actually promote these struggles then it becomes hypocrisy. Living with sruggles is one thing but helping to glorify it is another.
And you hit the nail on the head, WHEN DONE PROPERLY...Now when in the course of human existance has man ever done things completely proper? Oh yeah...Jesus Christ..., okay so beyond him????
Look. I understand some people will use this thing as a witness, just like you and I try to do so on our blogs. But the problem is when young kids get a hold of this stuff and are not watched. This can destroy a child more than we know.
The question remains...why do we feel the need to do these things? Again, many will say it is harmless and they only do it to find old friends. I think they are deceiving themselves.
Oops...forgot to add. I will never get a facebook, myspace or a twitter account.
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