I do that with satire, which is a tremendous vehicle for truth. It’s like a big mirror: You take an issue and you blow it up so it’s big enough and obvious enough for everyone to see. Then you stand next to it and ask: “Is that us? Are we OK with that?
I love that quote from Jon Acuff in his Relevant Magazine article, Three Rules of Christian Satire. Jon happens to be speaking about Christians and the Church primarily in this article, but the reality is, satire is a great article for communicating truth in all facets of life.
One of those areas for me happens to be social media. Our online behavior, social media profiles, and tangling up of our identity with them are often that mirror that makes things obvious…most often to those around us, but unfortunately not very clearly to us. Unfortunately, we often live with many blind spots.
I came across this video (HT: Marc Payan) and it was the mirror that makes things obvious to everyone, if they are already not.
I’m on my own journey here with social media, and the mirror for me came in the form of a few different things:
- As a therapist, watching the havoc that a lack of social media boundaries played in my client’s relationships.
- As a husband, seeing how a lack of social media boundaries became a barrier to interpersonal relationality with my wife.
- As a father, seeing my daughter emulate my lack of social media boundaries. Scary.
- As a Christian, seeing my lack of social media boundaries dominate my activity, rather than spend time in prayer, reflection, worship, etc.
These have been some of my mirrors.
What have your mirrors been in the area of social media?
After watching the video above, how did you answer these questions: “Is that us? Are we OK with that?
Me: Yes…No.
