The Pitfalls of Social Media
Social media profiles can never capture every facet of a person—but they should above all reflect our union with Christ.
Something I noticed as Holy Week transpired last week was the lack of posting about Christ in certain pockets of the Reformed world, especially those who are part of the New Christian Right. Granted, my timelines on X and Facebook certainly don’t capture everything—the algorithms will see to that. But it was striking to see many of the same kind of posts I see on a daily basis.
Political debates raged about the latest per curiam opinion from the Supreme Court and the controversy, real or imagined, swirling around Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Newly minted geopolitical experts emerged to discuss how to deal with the Iranian regime or end the Russia-Ukraine War.
And the Reformed world looked much like it always does: drama unfolded about what was said on a podcast or during the latest hours-long “debate” that was probably watched by a couple hundred people at most. And conversations better left for group chats spilled out in public.
The dog that didn’t bark was a focus on Easter. From my vantage point, I saw far fewer posts featuring Christ’s life, death, burial, and resurrection than I was expecting. Only on Easter Day itself, the Sabbath, did it seem like most Christians, Reformed and otherwise, were focused on Christ (and even many in broader dissident Right circles, of course, said the right buzzwords). As Christians, after all, we are called to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).
Denominational differences certainly exist regarding the celebration of Easter and the surrounding weeks. There are real, unbridgeable divides over how different traditions even within the Reformed world treat, or even acknowledge, holy days. While Anglicans and those (like me) who greatly appreciate the English conformist tradition of worship and follow the church calendar, this is anathema to other Christian traditions.
The lack of focus on Jesus last week points to a larger problem: the social media capture of Christians. The medium, while helpful for a variety of reasons, also has the very real potential of capturing its users. You either use social media or get used by it.
Capture Culture
While there are many positives X offers—especially after Elon’s takeover—the platform’s downsides must be discussed as well. There’s a proliferation of MAGA content generators that produce nothing but slop. The site seems more awash in porn and bots than ever. X’s general incentive structure is very much set against the formation of long-lasting friendships in favor of stoking constant controversy and drama. Many times, the algorithm passes over substance from those with premium accounts while promoting those who are looking to fill up their bank accounts.
At IM—1776, founding editor and publisher Mark Granza recently commented on another serious drawback: interactions on X are actually contributing to the general crisis of masculinity: “Self-importance, contempt, and arrogance is rewarded online. Virtue rarely is. In this way, technology is inverting many of the incentives for developing character. No wonder that society is now instead fixated on identities. When discerning character and reputation becomes impossible, the only form of judgement left is based on signifiers.”
Men who in real life would have settled disputes like men—getting into each other’s faces, and possibly even having a short fight—now block each other. The agonism at the center of male interactions is replaced with feminine modes of interacting—subtweeting, gossiping, and doxxing have become art forms for some in the Reformed camp. The opportunity for direct confrontations that can then produce real and abiding friendships is rapidly diminishing.
As Granza concludes,
The risk that we run whenever we’re interacting online is that the platforms we use are subtly reverse-engineering us; causing us to misunderstand compliments as insults and insults as compliments; making enemies out of people who could have been friends, and poisoning interactions with women that could have been wives—all for the sake of just one more hit of dopamine.
The New Christian Right needs to think far more about the downsides of the medium. Use X and other social media sites for your purposes—but don’t be a slave to the machine.
Though it’s tempting to be pulled along by the inertia of social media, NCR will not reach its goals without regularly putting a focus on Christ. On and around Easter, Christmas, and every Sabbath, Reformed and NCR accounts with large followings, pastors, and parishioners should focus more on the church and its head, Christ.
On Easter, for example, post excerpts from the canonical Gospels on the crucifixion, quotes from Reformed divines on Christ’s work on the cross, and Puritan prayers about the resurrection. Balance your political takes and cultural commentary with content from the Reformed confessions and catechisms and quotes from the theologians and pastors of our great tradition.
You don’t necessarily need to cease posting about other topics altogether—but when other Christians or those who are curious about the faith see your posts, they should be able to tell that you are a Christian. Something is better than nothing—and nothing speaks volumes. If you’ve recently been going on and on about politics or another subject with nary a mention of Jesus, there’s a problem.
I say this as a friend of the New Christian Right: do not make it easy for your enemies to point to your social media accounts and ask where Christ is. I understand that Sunday worship, private Bible reading and devotions, family gatherings, and much more happen mostly offline. But posts on social media should show the world at least some element of those things—not out of vanity but because we are in Christ and should be looking for ways to proclaim His glory and truth to all the world.
Honoring Christ
As Aristotle taught, habits are the gateway to virtue. For starters, I would strongly advise posting only about the things of God on the Sabbath. As I’ve mentioned before,
Christians [should] use social media on the Lord’s Day to promote nothing else but the glories of the Triune God. Tweet out verses from Scripture and quotes from the saints throughout Church history. Reflect upon what was taught from the pulpit that day. Share stories about the saints who have influenced you and how you were brought to saving faith in Christ.
According to the “Homily of the Time and Place of Prayer” from the Second Book of Homilies, “God’s obedient people” on the Sabbath should “rest from their common and daily business, and also give themselves wholly to heavenly exercises of God’s true religion and service.”
Though it teaches that we should no longer keep the ceremonies that were given to the Jews in the Old Testament, yet “whatsoever is found in the commandment appertaining to the law of nature, as a thing most godly, most just, and needful for the setting forth of God’s glory, it ought to be retained and kept of all good Christian people.” This is because “God doth not only command the observation of this holy day, but also by his own example doth stir and provoke us to the diligent keeping of the same.”
“So if we will be the children of our heavenly Father, we must be careful to keep the Christian sabbath-day, which is the Sunday,” the homily continues, “not only for that it is God’s express commandment, but also to declare ourselves to be loving children, in following the example of our gracious Lord and Father.”
And though this is a drastic step in our age of content churn, during certain times of the year, you may want to take a break from social media. If you follow the church calendar, you should think about taking all of Lent off. Or, if you don’t, you should think about taking a week or two off before Easter. But in any case, putting more focus on Christ and His work will never return void.
Image Credit: Unsplash
