In a very short period of time, social media has become one of the dominant forces in our age. Who does not have a social media account of some kind? Your Grandmother knows how to use Facebook and teens use and switch social media platforms the way they choose fashions, rapidly. Every social media platform, however, is a trade-off. We use them to connect with friends and to communicate but the social media platforms are using us at the same time. They are ostensibly “free” but that is because we, the users, are the content. We are being marketed by the social media platforms to advertisers. Our information is collected and sold. The ability of the BigSocMedia companies to track our movements, interests, and communications would astound the average user.

Further, social media changes people. It is designed to be addictive. It is designed to set people at each other, to create controversy, to generate traffic and thus advertising revenue for the BigSocMedia platforms. It is also changing the nature of mass communication. There have always been chokepoints, i.e., places where a message could edited or filtered out but there were as many chokepoints as there were outlets. Now, all outlets are filtered by a few BigSocMedia platforms, essentially giving a small army of mostly young people an enormous degree of control over what messages may or may not be sent to the masses.

Thus it is essential that Christians think through their use of and dependence upon social media. We need to use it thoughtfully and with the full awareness of what it does to do as we use it. It is also worth reconsidering whether the trade offs are (e.g., the illusion of influence—”Look at all my TikTok followers!”—is worth it. Below are a collection of essays and interviews on social media.

On Social Media and Media Ecology

1. What Social Media Teaches Us About Law, Gospel, Forgiveness, And Grace
2. Millennial Perfectionism And The Social Media Covenant Of Works
3. Social Media Testifies To The Covenant Of Works
4. Social Media Puts Us All In A Covenant Of Works
5. The Fugitive, The Truth, And Social Media
6. How To Circumvent BigSocMedia Censorship
7. Re-Thinking Social Media
8. Time To Learn (Or Relearn) How To Communicate Without Big Social Media?
9. What If Big Social Media Told You What They Have Planned For You?
10. Getting Around The Censors: Host Your Own Content
11. How Does Facebook “Fact Checking” Work?
12. In Defense Of Twitter
13. Religious Freedom Watch: Feds to Force Schools to Monitor Facebook?
14. An Episode Illustrating What Social Media Is
15. The God Complex Of Social Elites
16. Next To Be Banned?
17. What The Louisville And Kirk Lives Matter Narratives Tell Us About Social And News Media
18. What Is Astroturfing And Why Does It Matter?
19. Discerning Truth And Error In The New Media Age
20. Another Reason Not To Rely On BigSocMedia
21. The Ninth Commandment And The New Media (UPDATED)
22. Free Speech Matters: BigSocMedia Bans New York Post Article
23. On Being Criticized (In The New Media Age)
24. Office Hours: Media Ecology And Ministry

Wikipedia

1. More Wikipedia Fraud: More Than 20,000 Scots Wikipedia Articles Written By North Carolina Teen
2. Reminder: Wikipedia Is Not A Reliable Resource. It is Just Another Social Media Platform
3. Wikipedia Co-Founder: Wikipedia Is Now Openly Biased By Policy
4. Why You Should Not Trust Wikipedia
5. The Cult of Wikipedia
6. Is Wikipedia Becoming a Fence for Stolen Goods?
7. Student Hoaxes “Reputable” Media Outlets Via Wikipedia

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