I love Facebook.
I love Twitter.
I love Facebook and Twitter on my iPhone no matter where I am in the world (almost)!
But I’m a little worried. To tell you the truth, I’m a lot worried. I’m worried about what’s going to happen to a whole generation of young people when Facebook catches up with them. If you’re under 20, you’re a member of the iGeneration, who along with us GenXers, could also be called the Facebook Generation.
If you use Facebook, I wonder how much thought you’ve given to what impact the information you post on your profile and on other people’s walls will have on you later in life. Remember last week when Facebook asked you “What’s on your mind?” and you wrote that funny comment (or so it seemed at the time)? Just because that comment has slipped off the bottom of your wall, doesn’t mean that it’s gone forever. In fact, it almost certainly hasn’t. Think also of your comments on other people’s walls or photos; even if you close your Facebook account and formally request Facebook to delete your page, these comments will remain, since they are information that you have “shared with third parties.”
And here’s the issue – what seemed like a smart comment or a funny photo last week, or when you were 15, or 18 or when you’d just come back from that great camp or after that big night out will look entirely different to a potential employer, or to your family (or even future in-laws). An even greater question exists for Christians who use social networking sites – how does my holy life extend into this sphere? What words are appropriate? What sort of speech or activity is inappropriate?
This week I’ve blocked from my Facebook News Feed “results” from the following applications along with the comments Christian Facebook users made about them:
The fairly innocuous:
Do people really like you?
Are you a good catch?
Through to the ‘I probably shouldn’t have done that’
How evil are you?
What interests you during a lecture?
How Asian are you?
How gay are you?
How hot is your body?
To the ‘this could possibly stop me getting a job (or getting married)’
Can you flirt?
How addicted to Facebook are you?
How is your road rage?
What bra size are you?
What drug are you?
What sort of drunk are you?
What alcoholic beverage suits you best?
Do we really think that finding a “match” between me and an illegal drug is the sort of talk that we as Christians should be engaging in?
Do we think that it’s wise to boast in how our level of Facebook use affects (detrimentally) other areas of our lives?
A recent survey found that 44% of employers use sites like Facebook to find out about potential employees. Anita Ramasastry, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Washington observes, “College and even high school students thus may want to beware of what they post, for it may impede their ability to gain employment five or even ten years in the future.” Whatever the legal implications of this for the employers (and this varies between juristictions), my question is: Are your comments and photos suitable for public consumption. If they’re not, and you’re a Christian, they shouldn’t be on Facebook – even without the possible risk to your future relationships and employability, what do they say about you as a follower of Jesus?
Can I encourage you, think before you post! For those of you who read this, for whom I am your pastor, would you say to my face the things you (indirectly) write on my Facebook wall? I think, often not. It seems that we often think the same standards of holiness and purity don’t apply if we type it on our Wall at midnight than if we were speaking fact to face in the clear light of day.
As Paul said to his friend, the young church leader Timothy, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12