True Identity Ministries Blog

It’s almost a laughable question isn’t it: Is Facebook ruining my life? Unless you have experienced the dangers of facebook as millions of people already have. In the culture of social networking you would be hard pressed to find someone without a social account such as facebook. Many studies have ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users, followed by MySpace. Listen to some of the statistics that can be found on facebook’s own website. They have More than 500 million active users and 50% of the active users log on to Facebook in any given day. The average user has 130 friends and all combined, people spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook. There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages) on facebook and the average user is connected to at least 80 community pages, groups and events. The average user creates 90 pieces of content each month and there are more than 30 billion pieces of combined content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month. With those types of statistics you and I would have to agree that there is definitely room for disaster and danger within our facebook frenzy.


I can’t tell you how many stories I have heard from people that have seen betrayal, discouragement, and very painful life changing experiences come into their life through the world of facebook. Now most of us are aware of some of the common sense dangers that we can find on facebook and any other social network. Things like identity theft, information that leads to burglaries, and open doors to sexual predators. But what about those hidden dangers? The ones you may have never paid much attention to? The ones that in the end have the potential to ruin your life. My hope is that as we expose those things today, you will be able to approach the facebook world with greater wisdom and prevent a facebook façade.

As I researched for this article I reached out to my facebook friends for help (I didn’t say facebook doesn’t also have its advantages!) and asked them to share with me some of the potential dangers facebook would hold for a Christian. Over and over they mentioned facebook and gossip. Let’s face it; facebook is another form of a social circle, and in any social circle there is the danger and likeliness of gossip. I honestly believe even more so for online networking. We tend to be a bit braver when we are sitting alone at home typing away at the keys than we would be with a face to face conversation. Don’t misunderstand what all fits into the category for gossip. Gossip is any information that is made spacious or wide whether it’s true or not. So anytime you and I take information about someone else and make it spread wide we are involved in gossip. God’s word says about gossip in Proverbs 11:13 in the Message bible that, “A gadabout gossip can’t be trusted with a secret, but someone of integrity won’t violate a confidence.” We need to be very careful about the information we spread around on facebook. Gossip will be sure to destroy relationships of all types.

Another danger I have seen on facebook comes with our status updates. Have you ever noticed how many people enjoy venting through their status update? It’s quite hysterical, but very dangerous. Especially when you consider that many times people are venting about their job, their marriage, or other relationships. It’s just not professional or honoring. Be very cautious about what you are putting in your status update. Wisdom will likely lead you towards keeping those updates very light hearted. Never use that feature to vent out your frustrations with your employers, employees, or your family members. Even if you leave them unnamed, trust me someone out there will know exactly what you are referring to. It will not only put your own career in jeopardy, but can also cause a relational blow up! Learn to trust God with those frustrations, he can handle them.

We also need to be very careful to not use those status updates as a form of incoming affirmation. Think about how many times you have posted something and then you wait to hear comments from all your friends. As my close friend put it, “we post things and expect for people to comment back because we think what we had to say was so very important that everyone should leave comments.” It is so true. Not only do we wait to hear everyone’s comments back to us, but we also start to base our “facebook” value off of those comments back. If no one comments we feel a little less valuable. It becomes a source of affirmation to us.

One of the most dangerous places of all that we can find ourselves in on facebook is in an emotional relationship outside of our marriage. Too many times I watch as married friends link up with men and women from past relationships and become facebook friends. In the beginning it seems so innocent. But a natural curiosity takes over and they begin to visit that person’s wall and look through their pictures or maybe even begin to make comments back and forth. Before they know it they are sending daily messages to one another. And so the emotional bond begins, and it won’t likely stay only emotional. It doesn’t have to be an ex or past relationship. It can be anyone of the opposite sex. We need to use wisdom with the friends we choose on facebook. Remember, it’s not a contest to see who can get the most friends. It is meant to be a way to keep in touch with the people you care about the most. Don’t wait until you are already in the middle of an ongoing “facebook” relationship to see the danger it poses to your marriage. Prevent it now by choosing your friends very carefully and steering clear from any hint of emotional bond to someone of the opposite sex.

Finally I have to mention the danger facebook poses as a time thief. How many of us can admit how much of our time facebook can consume. You log on for a quick check in the morning and before you know it you are still checking an hour later. So often we can become consumed with facebook world. We give it priority often over our marriages, our job, sometimes our children and most frequently it robs us of our own quite time with God. Do a self evaluation and see just how much of your time you are giving to the facebook frenzy. Is it the first thing you do each morning? The last thing you do before bed? Do you have facebook on your mobile so that you can stay connected at all times? There is another word for that…and it’s called an idol. God warns us about idols in scripture. Anytime we put something else in priority over Him we have ourselves an idol. Don’t allow facebook to continue to be a time thief in your world.

Although there are many undercover dangers with facebook, it can also be an amazing networking and connecting tool. If we apply a little wisdom to our social networking it really can be a blessing. But if we don’t heed the warning signs we could be left telling our own story of how facebook ruined our life.


xoxo
Justeina