Welcome to another Thursday UNFILTERED blog post, the only blog that was given a business card at the nearby Chinese Buffet last week. The card read, “You have been cut off. Please leave quietly and no one will know. It’s been a pleasure to serve you, but it’s time for you to leave for the night.” Wasn’t it thoughtful of them to keep it all so quiet?
Today’s unfiltered rant is a postscript to last week’s article — Stop Rage-Scrolling Your Spiritual Life Away. I’m glad it resonated with so many of you, especially those who are in their 20s and 30s.
There is a Media Industrial Complex that we’ve all been indoctrinated by to become cynical, shortsighted, divisive, and angry. And also to believe whatever we read – even if it’s “fake news” and beyond.
The Internet Yesterday and Today
The early days of the Internet did it better. Back when dial-up modems sounded like robots dying, people actually thought before they hit “send.”
Not because they were scared, but because they understood something we’ve apparently forgotten—that words have weight. The power of life and death are in the tongue. And also in the keyboard.
The algorithms showed up and ruined everything.
Turns out, the secret to Internet success isn’t being thoughtful or interesting. It’s being loud. Ugly. Inflammatory. Vicious. Obnoxious. Even defamatory.
The platforms figured out that anger and false rumors get clicks, and clicks get money, so they started rewarding people who treated their keyboard or smart phone like a megaphone for their worst impulses.
Social media is basically a-24/7-outrage festival where everyone’s performing their unfiltered hot takes, and we’ve somehow convinced ourselves that it’s acceptable.
The biblical admonitions about slander are forgotten and ignored, either unwittingly or intentionally.
The data backs all this up. We say things online we’d never say to someone’s face. Not even to strangers at a coffee shop. Definitely not to our friends at dinner.
Which raises an uncomfortable question: Why is our standard for public behavior lower than our standard for people we actually know? This is true for Christians and non-believers alike.
The Problem with Social Media Today
People eviscerate one another online as sport. Even professing “Christians.” For this reason, I’ve checked out of most all social media. They are mostly place holders for me.
Social media is a punching match with strangers. There have always been bare-knuckle boxing matches that you could attend and witness a royal blood letting.
Entertaining, sure. For many, at least.
Personally, I find joy in ignoring it. My preference is to walk away from bare-knuckled fist fights.
But such online fights need an audience. And it doesn’t have to be you or me.
Add to that: Being “authentic” doesn’t mean vomiting every thought into the void. It means choosing which thoughts deserve oxygen. It means having the courage to be thoughtful in a world that rewards thoughtlessness.
The old Internet understood this. Maybe it’s time we who profess to follow Jesus remembered it.
Until next time.
Your brother in the deeper journey,
fv
Related: The Whisper Virus
Stop Rage-Scrolling Your Spiritual Life Away