“The way information gets to you is more important than the information itself.” That is a quote from the book “Stolen Focus,” by Johann Hari.
Every medium that provides information also comes with a frame to use as a lens to look upon the world through, and messages about that world we oftentimes don’t realize are seducing us to accept when we use that medium.
For instance, Hari points out in his book that social media communicates messages to us about the world and how to see the world from that medium’s frame.
He first points out that the basic message of Twitter (now X) is that “people should not focus on any one thing for long because the world should be understood in short, simple statements of 280 characters or less.
Next, the world should be interpreted quickly. A successful statement on Twitter is one that a lot of people immediately agree with and applaud the short speedy statement. An unsuccessful one is a statement that people ignore.”
The message of Facebook according to Hari is that “your life exists to be displayed to other people. [Therefore] your aim each day is to show your friends edited highlights of your life. What matters is whether people like those edited and carefully selected highlights that you spend your life crafting?
[Finally], somebody is your friend on Facebook if they regularly look at your edited and crafted highlight reel and if you look at theirs. This is what friendship means on Facebook.”
Lastly, Hari examined the message of Instagram, or “the Gram” in Black parlance. The message of Instagram first of all is, “how you look on the outside. Second, how you look on the outside. Third, how you look on the outside. And fourth, whether or not people like how you look on the outside.”
I list these excerpts from this incredibly insightful book to illustrate first of all how masses of people are being, and have been carefully curated, to see the world in a certain superficial way, where everything is seen from a binary perspective, either right or wrong, black or white and either good or bad.
But life is not like that. I also list these excerpts to demonstrate how masses of people are being and have been persuaded to see the world from their limited, isolated and parochial mindset. Social media, AI and cyberspace don’t necessarily broaden one’s perspective but limit one’s ability to appreciate and have compassion for the rest of the planet.
Reading books, in particular novels, has the ability to help people understand others outside of the medium and boost the ability of a person to have a greater sense of empathy.
Reading books engages the creative portions of the brain to imagine, to dream and to focus for longer periods of time.
This is why the quote from the African Apostle Paul is so important. Paul wrote to the believers who worshipped in the Empire city of Rome these words:
“I beseech you my brothers and sisters to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and pleasing to God because this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you will be able to discern the will of God…”
We must remember that Paul is writing during the time of Rome’s “domination system,” to quote the late theologian Walter Wink. That domination system was designed to limit the opportunities of colonized people and to curb their creativity as well as their ability to act in self-determining ways.
Paul’s words are thus revolutionary and a form of resistance against that domination system. This once again is not to fight progress and technology but a wakeup call, to manage it as a tool to draw people together in physical, healing and whole communities and not as a way of escaping into the fantasy of community because of likes and clicks.
I write this not to resist technology or social media but to pull the covers off the facade of having a real and nurturing relationship on social media with people you may encounter in person sparingly, if at all.
Ultimately, one cannot be a social media Christian. One cannot be a social media follower of that brown-skinned African Jew from Palestine named Jesus of Nazareth.
A person cannot exercise faith and faithfulness by posting Bible verses or religious sayings on social media but ignore the suffering of people in real life.
And a person cannot authentically discern the will of God for their life if they spend much of their time exclusively scrolling through social media pages for inspiration. It is a façade.
Dr. Martin Luther King in some ways re-mixed Paul’s words to say that this world needs people who are “transformed nonconformists” therefore, “do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you can discern the will of God. The good pleasing and perfect will of God.”
Be transformed today!
Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ-Gary, 1276 W. 20th Ave. in Gary. “We are not just another church but we are a culturally conscious, Christ-centered church, committed to the community; we are unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian.” Contact the church by email at [email protected] or by phone at 219-944-0500.
