How Do We Transform The Social Media Culture And Become Responsible Towards This Great Phenomenon?

We must simply understand how it affects us and do something about it. Is that not what responsibility is all about? To be responsible simply means that we know we have a duty or task to deal with something.  

Psychology of Social Media

Let’s briefly begin this understanding by understanding how Social Media connects to our life. Social Media revolution has been driven by the human need to communicate. The need to communicate is an ancient need of humans. Man is born to communicate and that’s why while Adam couldn’t hear the language of other creatures, he was helpless and God made him a helper fit for him. Genesis 2:18. It is normal for humans to crave the need to talk to like-minded people, supporting one another, sharing life’s joy, interests and pain, spending time with each other and even watching each other.

Social Media technology has made all of these possible. These human needs made Social Media an instant hit, so it is a win-win for both humans and social media. Because it is rooted in human psychological need to belong and socialize, it has a tremendous impact in human life. These include positive effect like improving mental health, outlet for creativity, opportunities for networking, social awareness and educational opportunities amongst others. 

It also has its negative effects like addiction, cyber bulling, doxxing, exploitation, hate speech, misinformation and disinformation amongst others. Put briefly, Social Media exposes the problems humanity needs to solve as well as the pleasures to enjoy.

It is in this light that we must approach Social Media responsibly as an opportunity to show our Christian spirit.  

Christian Attitude to Social Media: Checking up on our Social Media Habits  

Social Media slavery or digital slavery refers to the state of being constantly connected to technology whether it’s through our smartphones, laptops or other digital devices. This has been the wrong attitude towards Social Media. We are constantly being bombarded with emails, notifications, alerts. The cost of this is burnout, anxiety, even depression.

This becomes worse when our self-esteem and self-ego is tied with numbers on Social Media (likes, views, followers etc.). Social Media app producers intentionally put the bells to the likes and views to raise up a psychological need of man, the feel-good hormone called the dopamine. So we are always connected to our Social Media to makes us feel good. It seems we live in a world of gratifications from likes, share and comments. This constant need for validation, another psychological need can become addictive and detrimental. Constant need for validation, comparison with others online leads to low self-esteem and depression. 

Research according to Addiction Centre have found out that constant interaction with Social Media apps triggers brain reward system in same way as drugs like cocaine since it is like a syringe of dopamine injected into the system. That is why you can feel good spending hours scrolling, texting, posting without bothering about other life activities or even interacting with others physically. Catherine Price in her book ‘How to Break Up with Your Phone’ explained that these technology producers have designed it in a way to keep us coming back.  

The uninterrupted, never-ending, plentiful availability of information called information overload and social interactions or social solicitations, plenty of friends request and sharing and oversharing of messages has created some significant challenges as well. All these websites, applications, platforms are preying on our attention for acknowledgment. It simply seems like we are the real product of Social Media, that is, we are paying with our minutes of attention as the most valuable commodity and asset of Social Media. 

This has led to all sorts of distractions and partial attention, our ability to focus is affected, we are psychologically hooked on constant stimulation and endless scrolling and frustrated by lack of updates. We can’t even think deeply or purposefully anymore. The space for intentional and deliberate, active listening, attentiveness and discernment is almost gone. 

For Pope Benedict XVI, ‘if we are to recognize and focus upon the truly important questions, then silence is a precious commodity that enables us to exercise proper discernment in the face of surcharge of stimuli and data that we receive. (2012; 47th World Communications Day message). There must be a need for what Pope Francis calls for disconnecting from Social Media as essential to Christian life. He gave this while addressing audience on December 10, 2023 at St Peter’s Square at the Vatican. “To connect with God, Christians must disconnect from the pollution of vain words and chatter that reach them through Social Media and instead seek silence in the desert. Silence and sobriety – from words, from using things, from media and social media – are not just sacrifices offered to God, he said, but essential elements of Christian life.

Silence here will act like digital detox or Screen sabbatical which is not simply a withdrawal of some sort but a better way of connecting with God and with others. Instead, we should go for real dopamine which includes morning sunlight, a walk or be with nature, cold shower, mediate, exercise or workout, reading, listening to music, helping others or complete a task, evening hot bath, stretching, breath work and other self-care activities. These things reset our mind-set and save us from Social Media addictions and distractions.   

Some like Steve Jobs have the habit of not touching their phone 1 hour from waking up. While Carl Newport, the author of ‘Deep Work’ in his ‘Digital Minimalism’ encourages that what we need of smartphones is less. St. Paul summarizes what should be the Christian approach to Social Media overload when he says in 1 Corinthians 6:12 “Someone may say ‘I’m allowed to do anything, but not everything is helpful. I’m allowed to do anything, but I won’t allow anything to gain control over my life’.

Social Media and our Relationship with Others

Social Media came with its almighty promise of bringing the entire world together shattering boundaries of time and space, creating communities etc. Has it delivered to its potential? With cyber bullying, misinformation or disinformation, hate speeches and even individualism and ostracizing others? What’s funny about Social Media is that we often isolate ourselves from others with it when we are in public, and yet we reach for it in private to be a part of a bigger crowd. Cyber bullying for instance is when someone uses technology to harass, threaten, embarrass or target another person. It has been observed that the root cause of cyber bullying is that people feel more powerful behind a screen to make them feel better about themselves. Misinformation and disinformation is also definitely a threat to community that Social Media promised to promote.

At the centre of Social Media interaction, the Dicastery for Communication asked: ‘Who Is My Neighbour?’ in reflecting on engagement with Social Media in the document ‘Towards Full Presence’. It states that we are to live as ‘loving neighbours’ who are genuinely present and attentive to each other on our common journey along the digital highways. (Towards Full Presence no 1). We cannot be said to loving neighbours when platforms that seek to unite us are intentionally leaving some out. 

In actual fact, we know those who are not part of the community are those who don’t participate in group discussions, or even comment on platforms. Social Media has to be a place for the culture of encounter which promotes friendship and peace even amongst strangers. This is only possible when digital encounters are geared towards forming real relationships, building real community, promoting true dialogue and engage in conversations to overcome disagreements with a spirit of mutual listening. 

“Recognizing our digital neighbour is about recognizing that every person’s life concerns us, even when his or her presence (or absence) is mediated by digital means. “Today’s media do enable us to communicate and to share our knowledge and affections,” as Pope Francis says in Laudato si’, “yet at times they also shield us from direct contact with the pain, the fears and the joys of others and the complexity of their personal experiences.” To be neighbourly on Social Media means being present to the stories of others, especially those who are suffering…. It means advocating for an integral vision of human life that, today, includes the digital realm. In fact, Social Media can be one way to draw more attention to these realities and build solidarity among those near and far.” - Towards full presence no 43.

Of course, the greatest commandment should be our guideline which is Love. Social Media must be approached with love, compassion and hope. This means our Social Media habit must be that of witnessing. Ephesians 4:29 ‘Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one who listens, so that it may give grace.’ How we respond and react and post speak a lot about our Christian message. Our concern should be how might one reflect God’s “style” on Social Media?

No 65 of ‘Towards Full Presence’ states that “First of all, we should remember that whatever we share in our posts, comments, and likes, in spoken or written words, in film or animated images, should align with the style that we learn from Christ who transmitted his message not only in speech but in the whole manner of his life, revealing that communication, at its most profound level, is the giving of self in love. Therefore, how we say something is just as important as what we say.” According to Francis de Sales “In order to speak well, it is enough to love well”.

We must then make sure that we are conveying truthful information; not only in creating content, but also in sharing it. We must make sure that we are a trusted source. To communicate goodness, we need quality content, a message that is oriented to help, not to harm; to promote positive action, not to waste time in useless discussions. To communicate beauty, we need to make sure that we are communicating a message in its entirety, which needs the art of contemplation – an art that enables us to see a reality or an event linked to many other realities and events. 

Why should we use or be on Social Media presence constitute? Should priests use social media? Our social media presence usually focuses on spreading information. Along these lines, presenting ideas, teachings, thoughts, spiritual reflections, and the likes on Social Media needs to be faithful to the Christian tradition. But that is not enough. 

In addition to our ability to reach others with interesting religious content, we Christians especially priests should be known for our availability to listen, to discern before acting, to treat all people with respect, to respond with a question rather than a judgment, to remain silent rather than trigger a controversy and to be “quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19).

Building community through Social Media. St. Paul has shown us the building of a community is not just physical but through letters. That should be the aim of our using Social Media. In 2 Corinthians 10:9-11, Paul noted that “he doesn’t want to frighten through his letters for some his letters are weighty and forceful but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing. Such people should realize that what we are what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present. There must not be dichotomy between our physical presence and our Social Media presence.  

Suzzane Harris in the article ‘Should priests be on Social Media? says “Use discretion. If you wouldn’t say it in public don’t post it on any Social Media outlet,” Likewise, Nadita Anne writes, “What would Jesus do? If you are there to belittle or attack any group of people or spread hate, you should not be online.” Message of Pope Francis for the 53rd World Communications Day, “We are members one of another (Eph 4:25). From social network communities to the human community” (24 January 2019). “The use of the social web is complementary to an encounter in the flesh that comes alive through the body, heart, eyes, gaze, and breath of the other. If the Net is used as an extension or expectation of such an encounter, then the network concept is not betrayed and remains a resource for communion”

Conclusion

 For Pope Benedict XVI in his message on 2013 World Communications Day, the challenge facing social networks is how to be truly inclusive: Thus they will benefit from the full participation of believers who desire to share the message of Jesus and the values of human dignity which his teaching promotes. There shouldn’t be anything like celebrity priests on Social Media because of viral videos or posts. Social Media only exposes who a priest or person is because he feels he is not seen. Unfortunately, that is not true because it shows his psychological drive and responsible nature. Social Media is just like the new public square where people are gathering virtually to discuss things meaningful to them. Because we are not physically present doesn’t mean we are absent or unseen. The presence of priests on Social Media is just like the presence of priests in other secular settings: we must represent the Church and the Sacred in the midst of the world.