Social Media: Watching What We Post

First and foremost…while there is such thing as freedom of speech, I don’t think there is any need to tell everyone every time we do something. I’ve known a few people who post an update to their status nearly minute by minute, and quite frankly, I don’t want to know when you use the toilet.

This is way more about personal opinion, I know. Some people think all the little updates are amusing. And I even have times where I post a lot of updates because I’m bored. (Like right now, sitting in the hospital…it’s tempting to post every time someone comes in my room to check on my baby, to check my oxygen, to draw blood….and you know that stuff happens like every 5 minutes or less!!) But, I find myself asking, “What is the point?” I really like to find a purpose in many of my status updates…whether it is personal and expresses gratitude, or something like a verse from the bible in hopes of encouraging someone else.

Quotes from kids can be great, and even updates about the things we are going through are good. But the biggest question I ask when I’m looking at a picture to share, or thinking of things to write is how does this reflect on what I believe? I say I don’t believe in male bashing, but if every other joke or picture I share is bashing males, am I supporting my own belief? And how do my posts reflect my faith? Am I a Christian on the Internet, or do I pretend like God doesn’t see/know about/care about the content I’m posting and sharing?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t necessarily believe that every single post has to be “preachy” or only scriptures, or anything like that. Just that, if I wouldn’t tell that joke to Jesus, or I wouldn’t stare at that picture with Him sitting here, then why is it on my wall? We cannot truly separate God from any area of our life, including social media. He knows, and sees, and is worthy of our praise, honor, and obedience even when we get online.

The next threat I’ve noticed is spousal bashing, and whining, and complaining, and social media nagging. First off, we all get our feelings hurt, and sometimes we need to talk about it to work through it, I know this for a fact. Social media is not, however, a healthy outlet for this. It is best to choose a mentor, someone who is pro-marriage, and will give you sound, Godly advice. Occasionally in life we are blessed with a friend that will give us this kind of advice, but most often, we must be intentional about finding this type of person.

By posting on social media when things aren’t going our way, we open ourselves up to the advice of many people, and not all of that advice is good or healthy. Plus, put yourself in the other person’s shoes (and maybe you’ve really experienced this…) how bad does it hurt for the person you love most dearly to ridicule or put you down publicly? Whether online-public, or amongst a group of friends out to dinner, that is humiliating and instead of repairing the hurt feelings in the relationship, it makes them worse.

Pick positive things to post. Yet, I think it’s important to keep it realistic. Did your hubby bring you home flowers? A short post that displays gratitude for his thoughtfulness is great, but there is no need for a short novel about it. I think it’s important to not only focus on the good things our partner does when we are online, but also when we are talking to our friends, as well. It’s an everyday, all day, and conscious choice to edify our spouses, kids and friends. When we stop doing that, and instead tear them down, we destroy them, we destroy ourselves, and we destroy other people that are affected by our actions and relationship.

Has anyone ever ridiculed you on social media? How did you respond?