Ugh. That’s the sense I get these days when I think of social media. It wasn’t always like this. I worked directly in the “social media industry” for over 10 years and have been an avid user of these tools for ~10 years prior to that. At one time I thought social media was a pretty solid tool – you could get your message out there into the world and people could engage with you on it. It served as a sort of town square for virtual communities. Social media was largely responsible for alerting the world of real-time events that led to the Arab Spring, leading to the overthrow of several authoritarian governments and widespread political and social unrest. During the pandemic, social media was our main medium for getting important public health messaging out to the world. And it worked wonderfully. Honestly, it had such incredible potential.

But then something happened.

Algorithms began to change. Echo chambers began to form. No longer did it feel like it was an even-playing field where everyone’s voice had the same potential or opportunity to be heard. Large media companies began to exploit social media’s organic social component, gaming it to work in their favour with big budgets and click-baity tactics. The social media companies themselves hired the smartest minds in psychology and neurology to find ways of exploiting our mental make-up in order to keep us glued to the platforms. Why? So our eyes would be exposed to the maximum amount of ads for the maximum amount of time. Yeah, something happened alright, and as we continue to observe this social media trainwreck in real time, we’re finally able to see that we’re left with a net-negative impact on our society and you’d be hard-pressed to see anyone disagree with this assessment. And yet… most of us continue to use it. Grassroots Church uses it to spread the word of our ministry and let you all–and the world at large–know what it is we’re up to these days. Personally, I still post family photos on our Instagram account and, sadly, I still spend far too much time in my week watching reels or scrolling BlueSky (the Twitter alternative that hasn’t lost its mind…. yet) then I’d care to confess to you. And so again: ugh.

As much as I feel the ugh of social media, I recognize it’s not going anywhere. It’s woven into our lives, our conversations, our culture. So as Christians, the question for most of us* isn’t should we use social media? but rather how should we use it? If we’re going to continue to engage with these platforms, we need to do so with wisdom, discernment, and so much grace it’ll feel uncomfortable.

Consider your own social media feeds of friends. Have you noticed how, content-wise, social media has become less of a tool for connection and more of a battlefield? I can’t be the only one who has picked up on this. Political memes dominate timelines, and many of them don’t just present an opinion—they actively tear down the other side. Subtle and not-so-subtle jabs implying mental and moral superiority fill comment sections. Now, let me be clear: I’m not saying Christians shouldn’t engage politically online or that strong opinions are wrong. Far from it. I think Putin’s tactics are evil. I think tyranny and authoritarianism should be called out and I think the values of God’s Kingdom should always, always, always be championed by Jesus followers (i.e. protect the vulnerable and care for the powerless, etc.). The question we need to be asking ourselves is: What fruit will yield from our online engagement? In other words, what is the objective in my opting to engage on the social media battleground?

[Fair warning, this next paragraph has a bunch of questions that made me feel SUPER uncomfortable and I didn’t like writing it so there’s a chance you might not like reading it. Can’t say I didn’t warn you. Ready? Proceed…]

Are we using our online voices to build up or to tear down? Can we actually point to our contributions in meaningful discussion that has resulted in changed minds that in turn led to increased care and concern for the least of these and for a better society overall? Or are we merely adding to the noise and adding to the polarization? Does posting this merely serve as a form of catharsis? And is that enough of a reason to continue? Do we engage with the other person because we earnestly believe we might change their views or do we just want to assert ourselves as mentally superior? Do our social media battles serve to alleviate our guilt for not doing something more tangible and sacrificial in the first place? And then on the other end of this spectrum it’s only fair to ask: Is posting something better than posting nothing? Are we at least pushing against the tidal wave of misinformation that continues to tear apart society? And overall, Are we representing Christ well in the digital world regardless of how we engage? These are hard questions, but they’re ones we need to wrestle with earnestly and honestly both individually and as a community. Because while it might feel good to “own” the opposition in a comment section or share a meme that perfectly captures our frustration, we need to consider its impact. If our posts create more division than understanding, if they make us feel morally superior while dismissing the humanity of those we don’t see eye to eye with—then we might need to take a step back and reevaluate.

If you think I’m “both-and”-ing this, you’re probably right. I don’t have a simple answer here. I struggle with this, too. Don’t believe me? Scroll through my BlueSky feed and you’ll see I am speaking directly of myself here. There aren’t clear answers in my mind other than to say that if we’re called to be salt and light in the world then I’m convinced this includes the world of social media. Therefore, however we proceed, it needs to be done in this light. At the very least it certainly means pausing before we post and asking, Does this reflect the vibe of Jesus? It will also mean engaging in conversations with humility instead of hostility. Or maybe it even means—dare I say it—logging off  for a season. Lent’s coming up (March 5) and could serve as a time to fast from social media and the online world in general. Whatever we do, friends, my hope is that as individuals and as a community, our participation in the social media battlefield will be intentional and well thought out and will use Jesus’ heart as our guide. That means moving forward with wisdom and loads and loads of grace baked into every click and keystroke along the way.

* Actually, the question for some of us might in fact be should I use social media? And maybe the answer is “Noooooo…. not any time soon.”