Social Media is anything but...

I believe that this video has a critically important message for our era - one that is not only important for mental health of individuals, but for the health and freedom of whole societies (for democracy does not function well when whole swaths of the population are living in perpetual distraction).

The sort of anecdotal evidence of the negative suggested by this video has also been vindicated by academic studies as well.  I personally try to use social media as a communication tool - rather like email - combined with a sort of "online" magazine in which I may find interesting articles or videos about (usually ministry-related, but sometimes hobby-related) significant subjects;  I certainly try to avoid "living my life" through posts; and am becoming more and more aware of my need to limit how much time I spend "chasing links."

I'll not forget my days in campus ministry going to eat with a dozen students and watching some of them looking down at their phones the whole meal, and missing out almost entirely on the real life camaraderie that was happening all around them.  If that sort of thing becomes more predominant - then perhaps the church can be a life-giving and counter-cultural influence precisely by embodying a non-digital, real, and local fellowship.