so, about social media

let me tell you a little story. 

one day last week, i texted a verse to a handful of friends. just that. and the tiny replies i got encouraged me to think about sending another the next day. 

that morning, i was doing a quick scroll down facebook and saw this:

By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.    Luke 1:78-79

Good Morning

 

this verse and morning wish were shared by a friend i have actually never met in real life.  {ben has known her since he was a kid.  i have known her on facebook for a few years.}  and i thought, this. i need to share this verse today.  so, i have texted this blessing of mercy and light and peace out into the world.  and as another friend who i know because of instagram says, if one person is touched, the Word has done its job. today, i can name at least nine people who have been touched by this Word this morning.  

 

in the last few days there has been more talk of the power that facebook and instagram have to negatively impact individuals, families, communities, and the world.  

there is the potential.  i have dear friends who won't use facebook for a variety of reasons.  and i respect their reasons.

i think i felt the negative most deeply when i started using pinterest. i was building my boards and i built one that i named realistic exercise. i had some friends that i was following who posted workout ideas and i thought that these were helpful. 'ten minutes to a more toned stomach'. 'these five exercise five times for firmer triceps'.  'this three minute exercise for a shapely butt'. just a few minutes; just a few exercises; i should be able to take the time for these things. and at the end of each day, when i hadn't done the ten minutes and the five sets and the three minutes, etc., i felt like a failure. i tried doing sets of exercises in the bathroom before i hopped in the shower. i tried doing workouts in the middle of the day, early in the morning, in the evening - and i always came up short. or so it seemed. i coudln't keep up with my pinterest board and the friends who were posting these tips and tricks. 

so you know what i did? i unfollowed every board that had exercises. i unfollowed every board that had workout clothes. i unfollowed some friends' whole pinterest accounts. i cleaned up my board - so it includes few exercises and some encouragement. i reaffirmed myself in going for walks and bike rides and swims with my kids and husband. i reaffirmed myself in gardening and cleaning my house and mowing my lawn. i reaffirmed myself in breathing fresh air and playing. 

when i joined facebook - back when status updates were simply typed lines and pictures had to be uploaded in albums and everything was chronological - when i joined facebook, i would sit down for a few minutes, or longer, and simply read friends' status updates and leave them little messages on their walls. i would write an encouragement, a happy thought, a wish for a wonderful weekend. 

when i started blogging (in 2008), ben helped me come up with the name bits of sunshine because that is what i wanted to share, what i look for.  

when i joined instagram, i did so because all my friends from flickr had moved to instagram and i missed them. some of them who had been blogging regularly weren't blogging regularly any longer - but they were posting to instagram. i found my way into instagram and connected with blog friends and flickr friends and real life friends and branched out to find new friends.

i cannot tell you how very rich my life is because of the way i have interected with people through social media. i don't {usually} mindlessly scroll. i read. i comment. i continue conversations. i actively follow new accounts that bring me joy, teach me something new, and some that introduce discomfort into my thought process. i unfollow accounts that i find myself quickly scrolling past or that always put me in a critical mindset. if i can't interact with the account owner and learn from them and with them or mutually encourage or share joy and beauty, then i don't need to have that account in my feed. i rarely view the explore option or reels. when my feed on facebook or instagram shows more adds than posts from my friends, i sign off. 

because of this blog and instagram, i have friends all over the world. we send mail and packages and books from our homes to each other. we have real conversations in our posts and comments. we send email. we sometimes have phone call chats. i have met a few in person and hope to meet many more. 

because of the blogs i have read over the years and because of instagram and a few facebook groups, i have had the opportunity to learn and learn and learn. 

i am very thoughtful about how i interact with all of this internet-land. i look for opportunities to learn opportunities to be encouraged. opportunities to encourage. ephesians 4:25-29 and philippians 1:2-11 and 4:4-8 and colossians 4:6 and first peter 3:15 are all guides for my mind and heart in how i use social media. 

i work to focus on encouragement and joy and truth and real, raw life and hope and finding the beauty and making a way for the light to shine. 

the article below highlights some of the comments from frances haugen's testimony. i agree with so much of this. i miss the days of chronological facebook and instagram. i feel like that did allow for a more human experience. if that ever were to be brought back, i would love it. but, if not, i think the awareness that the algorythm tires to drive how people interact with your posts - the knowledge is helpful. and we can go find our friends' posts and interact with them on our own terms - it takes some effort, but everything good takes some effort. and there is satisfaction in putting forth the effort, there is satisfaction in beating the algorythm. 

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{From the article Facebook Whistleblower Testifies by Barbara Ortutay and David Klepper on October 5, 2021}

 

Former Facebook data scientist Frances Haugen told lawmakers that new regulations are needed to force Facebook to improve its platforms. But she stopped short of calling for a breakup of the company, saying it wouldn’t fix existing problems, instead calling for small changes that could bring the needed results.

Making changes to reduce the spread of misinformation and other harmful content wouldn’t require a wholesale reinvention of social media, Haugen said. One of the simplest changes could be to just organize posts in chronological order instead of letting computers predict what people want to see based on how much engagement — good or bad — it might attract.

Another was to add one more click before users can easily share content, which she said Facebook knows can dramatically reduce misinformation and hate speech.

“A lot of the changes that I’m talking about are not going to make Facebook an unprofitable company, it just won’t be a ludicrously profitable company like it is today,” she said.

She said Facebook won’t make those changes on its own if it might halt growth, even though the company’s own research showed that people use the platform less when they’re exposed to more toxic content.

“One could reason a kinder, friendlier, more collaborative Facebook might actually have more users five years from now, so it’s in everyone’s interest,” she said.

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a kinder, friendlier, more collaborative facebook would be fantastic. but for now, we can be the kind, friendly, collaborative humans who connect over social media.