By Benjamin Fisher ’27

Social media is both a blessing and a curse. While it provides opportunities to connect with others and share ideas, it can also tempt us to consume and create bad content that pulls us away from God. From hate to illicit material, social media can disseminate anything and everything at the click of a button. How are we supposed to navigate this minefield of sin while still staying connected with our friends and family? In what ways can social media be used to spread positivity and share the Word? Is there a way to improve how we manage and use social media? In this post, I hope to reflect on these questions and how they could be answered through a Christian lens. My hope is that after reading this, you’ll gain a better understanding of social media and how we can use it to build others up instead of tearing them down. 

As a student at St. Olaf College, I use social media to stay connected with my friends and family through messaging and sharing pictures. This helps me keep strong ties with them when we are either far away or too busy to be together. I also use it to destress after classes and work by watching funny and inspiring content. While social media has helped me maintain my social web and take a break from thinking about the next exam, it’s also affected my relationship with God and His creation. Whether it’s comparing ourselves to the lives of others through social media or watching things that God doesn’t want us to see, the internet is full of material that can make us stray from Christ and become oblivious to the struggles of the world. I’ve experienced this more times than I can count, and it comes to the point where bad media starts to seem normal and okay even though I know deep down that it’s not. Social media makes accessing sinful content so much easier, especially since that opportunity is right next to the buttons we use to communicate with our loved ones. This has been a long struggle for me, and it’s frustrating to know that the line between using social media for good and bad is extremely thin and easy to cross. At the same time, I begin to spend my time looking at things that don’t matter when there’s so much work that needs to be done in this world. Reading His Word helps me realize what’s important and what I should be focusing my time on. Yes, I could be using my time doom scrolling through distracting content, but that’s not what God calls us to do. Instead, I could be learning something new that could better the world and God’s creation. 

However, it’s important to point out that social media isn’t inherently bad, as it can also be used to spread positivity and comfort others. For example, I’ve seen it be used to share God’s word and good news that build people up, rather than tear them down. I believe this is a huge advantage for using the internet because it connects people into these streams of positivity that can bring light into dark times. So how are Christians supposed to do this? Looking at the Word is a good start. One set of verses that really stuck with me was Proverbs 12:16-23, which says: 

“The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult. Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit. There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but those who plan peace have joy”.” 

What do these verses mean for using social media? The first takeaway is that we shouldn’t be hurtful to others when they’re hurtful to us, whether it be through cyberbullying, starting a virtual argument, or posting something that you don’t agree with. If we let these get to us, then we’ll only be reinforcing the problem and making the other person think it’s okay being hostile. Another takeaway from this verse is the importance of spreading the truth and avoiding misinformation. Since it’s so easy to post whatever we want regardless of if it’s true or not, we have a responsibility to post the truth so that we don’t deceive our neighbors. This is especially important with false rumors and news, which can spread quickly and trick others on a mass scale. Part of a way to combat this is to also do research on something before posting or commenting on it so that you don’t accidentally post something that’s untrue or biased. For me, this has been especially important with politics since there are so many rumors and nuggets of misinformation that take roots in the media. By posting and interacting with truthful and unbiased content, not only do we benefit ourselves by consuming the truth, but we also promote that truthful media to others as well. 

Another way we can use the media positively is by interacting with messages that build people up and find the silver lining in hardship while also acknowledging action that could be taken to better the situation. I was mainly inspired by Hebrews 10: 23-25, which says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near”.”I’ve seen this in my social media feed through daily prayers and encouraging messages that help me overcome certain sins such as jealousy or lust. 

I also like to follow accounts that post actions that can be taken to relieve crises in the world, such as the humanitarian crises in Gaza and Ukraine. While it’s obviously better to get news from official sources, I find it convenient to have highlights of the events come up so that I can go into further research. If we continue to engage with content like this, we can then begin to build a content identity that only shows us positive and Christian content that we can continue to promote. For me, this is challenging since there’s so many things to engage with that aren’t Christian or good for my well-being. However, if you continue to stick with the Word and engage with positive content, you can succeed in making social media become more of a blessing than a curse. 

I believe that by doing this en masse, we can build a network of good that overcomes all the sin that surrounds the internet. Even going beyond a Christian lens, doing this will help people focus more on the good than the bad, and how we can make the bad into good and make the good better.

This views in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lutheran Center or St. Olaf College