Meditation for November 23rd
Facebook’s Spiritual Plague
People are dreading having dinner with their family for Thanksgiving and discussing politics. Families and friends will be sitting around the table, trying to parse what is happening in the world, and not everyone will have the same views. Part of the dread comes from not being behind the protection of the screen of a good Facebook comment argument.
Facebook is like a vacuum for a gentle spiritual life. It sucks.
Even the Bible foresaw the dread that is Facebook. Paul writes in his letter to the Galatians 5:25-26, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking, and envying each other.” Facebook is precisely that, a tool of the conceited to provoke and cause envy in others. It’s sickening, but we can’t turn away.
You get all your news from Facebook. Most news sites on Facebook aren’t even real; they’re fake. They feed on your emotional connection to what you believe to be true. Instead of telling the facts of a situation, it provokes emotions. It is so bad that it has caused the mainstream media to cut back on their fourth estate responsibilities to compete with Facebook clickbait.
Everyone has a statement to make. Any event happens, and in seconds we need to have a take. There is no time for thoughtful research or insight; we must tell the world what we think. There’s competition to get a meme making fun of a real-life tragedy as fast as possible. We make a statement. Then the comments go against the statement. People who don’t even know the person somehow jump on and make an argument. We think this is dialogue.
No one will actually have their opinions changed. A strong statement or idea only reinforces the psyche of those who already feel the same way. The people who don’t share your view of the world don’t even follow you anymore because of how annoying you are, so the people you are thinking you might be changing with your hard-hitting statement or the link that will change everything aren’t even getting your posts, except the assholes waiting online for a post to comment on an argument.
Facebook has ruined the element of surprise.
“Hey.”
“What’s up?”
“Not much, having a kid.”
“Yeah, read that.”
“Oh, yeah. Anything new with you?”
“Moving to Florida for a new job.”
“I read that, congratulations.”
“Thanks. Hey, that spaghetti with meatballs you had three days ago looked great. Was that garnished with sage?”
“Oh yeah, that is sage, thanks! Oh, yeah, what’s up with your cancer? I saw you were doing a fundraiser, but I couldn’t give any money because I’m having my own to travel to the Congo to fight poachers.”
“It’s cool, I already gave you $20 for your African trip. I’ll be fine. See you…”
“…on Saturday at that event we both said we were going to.”
There is no mystery between two people anymore. When you stalk someone on Facebook and you finally meet them, you have to pretend they are a mystery, but they aren’t.
It has ruined communication between people. It might have raised the voices of the marginalized, but we have to deal with the big mouths who have had all the already. People sit at dinner looking down at their phones instead of engaging with their loved ones, too afraid to try and experience real life.
It has become almost impossible not to have a Facebook account. Everyone uses it to set up social lives. If you aren’t on Facebook, you won’t get any invites anymore. You will become out of sight, out of mind. You will cease to exist. A mystery is too much for people to want to solve by calling that person and asking what is new. People who you don’t live near will fade away from memory. Your childhood will become a foggy nothing. You will look at your Facebook feed to see what you did last year on New Year’s Eve.
Do I quit Facebook, or do I perpetuate the billionaire’s white supremacy and their desired culture, live as an anonymous asshole using fake news to spit my venomous hate on other people’s profile pages, and walk away from all that is real and decent when it comes to human-to-human interaction?
Prayer
God,
Where is Erin Jones? (a made-up name to protect the innocent)
I had a crush on her from kindergarten to 3rd grade before moving away.
She even came to one of my birthday parties,
Where everyone had to dress up as cowboys.
Where is she?
She’s not on Facebook.
She’s not on Instagram
She’s not on LinkedIn
She’s not on Mugsshawtys
She’s not on OnlyFans
Was she real?
Did I make up a person?
If they aren’t on the socials, then are they even real?
Amen
Craft
If you wouldn’t say something to a person in real life, like you don’t know them in real life, they are scary, they are a better in real life arguer than you, or some other reason you wouldn’t go spouting off at this person in real life, then you shouldn’t be doing it on the Internet.
But, if you do think you would go toe to toe with them in real life, then give Thanksgiving with them and bring it up. See if you can spar in real life over the mashed potatoes and cranberries.
Goal
Social Media is not that great, but we are really good at accepting things that suck as gospel.