Are we trending toward triviality?

September 3, 2024

What makes social media so silly is that it encourages us to focus on the trivial while the weightier matters of life slip through our fingers.

If the apostle Paul had access to Twitter, I suspect his epistles might have looked slightly different. Imagine Paul, en route to Corinth, firing off tweets like, “Tough crowd in Ephesus today. #PreachingTheTruth” or “False apostles are trending again. #wolvesinsheepsclothing.” It’s a humorous thought, but only until you realize that what we have today is the equivalent of everyone believing they’re the next apostle, armed not with divine revelation but with a Wi-Fi connection and an abundance of opinions.

In the days before social media, we lived in a world where words had weight. They were spoken or written with intent, and their echoes could be felt long after they were said. Consider the words of James: “The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!” (Jas 3:5). If James were here today, I imagine he’d swap out “tongue” for “keyboard,” warning us of the dangers of a thoughtless tweet, a reckless post, or a mean-spirited comment.

But let’s not rush too quickly into judgment. We all know the allure of social media. Something is intoxicating about the instant validation a “like” can bring, the rush of being retweeted, or the thrill of a viral post. It’s as though the small, insecure child within each of us, the one who never got picked for dodgeball, suddenly finds themselves the center of attention. And oh, how intoxicating that attention can be.

Yet, the very same platform that can make us feel seen and heard can also turn on us, like a serpent offering forbidden fruit. The serpent, you’ll recall, had a way with words. “Did God actually say…?” (Ge 3:1). Social media, in its essence, is a collection of voices—some helpful, others not so much—all whispering, “Did God actually say…?” It’s a breeding ground for doubt, jealousy, and self-righteousness that Jesus warned against when He said, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them” (Mt 6:1).

Look at any comment section, and you’ll find what the Bible might call a “den of thieves,” but instead of money, what’s being stolen is dignity, respect, and the fruit of the Spirit (Mt 21:13). As Paul reminds us in Galatians 5, the fruit includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22, 23). Scroll through your feed, and you’ll find these virtues in short supply.

What makes social media so silly—sillier than the idea of a grown man spending hours perfecting a selfie—is that it encourages us to focus on the trivial while the weightier matters of life slip through our fingers. We’re more concerned with our number of followers than how well we’re following Christ. We worry about our online reputation, forgetting that the only reputation that truly matters is the one we have before God.

And then there’s the time. Oh, the time we waste. Paul writes to the Ephesians, urging them to “make the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:16). If Paul thought the days were evil then, imagine what he’d think now with us squandering hours on end scrolling through videos of cats and conspiracy theories. We’ve become like the man in Proverbs who “follows worthless pursuits,” trading the treasure of time for the cheap, temporary thrills of an online existence (Pr 12:11).

But the worst of it, the absolute bottom of this whole social media experiment, is how it can make us forget who we are and Whose we are. We lose ourselves in the cacophony of voices, the flood of opinions, the endless scroll of other people’s lives. And in that losing, we forget that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession (1Pe 2:9). Instead of proclaiming the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness, we’re busy proclaiming our opinions on the latest scandal or trending topic.

It’s not that social media is inherently evil, just as the tongue isn’t inherently evil. But, as James reminds us, both can “stain the whole body” and set our lives “on fire by hell” if we’re not careful (Jas 3:6). The solution, then, isn’t necessarily to abandon social media altogether—though for some, that might be the wisest choice—but rather to use it with holy discernment.

Before posting, tweeting, or sharing, perhaps we should ask ourselves a few simple questions: Does this glorify God? Does it build others up, or does it tear them down? Is this the best use of my time, energy, and words? If the answer is no, maybe it’s time to put the phone down and pick up the Word instead. After all, in a world that’s so focused on what’s trending, it’s easy to forget that the only thing worth following is Christ.

And so, while social media may have its place, let’s not be fooled into thinking it’s the most important place. As Christians, our identity isn’t found in our online persona but in our status as children of God. And that, my friends, is something worth posting about.

Are we trending toward triviality?

Recommended reading