IS THIS REAL-LIFE? ACTORS ON A DIGITAL STAGE
“My cousin John and I sat around my Aunt Debbie’s farm one evening laughing about social media updates when we invented a grand scheme. We were going to make up a person. Not any person, but an extraordinary person named “Renaldo” and try to pass him on to as many Facebook friends as possible. Renaldo was going to churn out the most captivating status updates on planet earth: He would jog up Mount Kilimanjaro on Monday morning, take a flight home, and...
Discipleship Might Be Boring?
Apopular journalist commented recently that, “… in today’s culture, everyoneis a publicist.” In his estimation, social media allows us to release several “press updates” a day detailing our trials or victories to the world. Last week, I wrote about our romance with social media and the temptation of aggrandizing our “digital personas” in a blog titled, “What Would Jesus’ Digital Life Look Like?” http://bit.ly/n76zoL...
What Would Jesus’ “Digital Life” (Facebook and Twitter Updates) Look Like?
I wrote a piece several months ago titled “I Am Not My Facebook Status” where I explored the spiritual side of social media and the easy narcissism brought on by our digital profiles (you can read the full piece here: http://mattlitton.com/2011/02/03/some-thoughts-on-the-spiritual-side-of-social-media-i-am-not-my-facebook-status/). Don’t get me wrong. I think everyone should live an extraordinary life; in fact, if you are truly pursuing God’s call…it...
Is Facebook a lifeline to Community or an escape from it?
It was well after the Academy Awards that I sat down to watch The Social Network. The movie portrayed computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg as a rather unlikable character that was driven by his longing for acceptance to create this new online platform for connection. It is remarkable to think about the powerful role his offering has played in shaping the fate of the revolution in Egypt and social change in other parts of the world…by aninvention born out of loneliness....
Some thoughts on the Spiritual Side of Social Media: I am NOT my Facebook status!
I found this cool thing on Facebook a month ago that combined all the keywords of status updates from the whole year into a neat little collage. It only took a minute looking at the artistic rendition of my year in updates to break out in laughter. Who is the guy who jacks my phone to post on Facebook? It made me wonder if God might have to open up a Facebook division to keep track of all the saintly people showing up there. I wrote an entire chapter on communication in The Mockingbird...
