A Christian’s life on social media

Social media is a part of our daily life now. The data of Hootsuite in 2020 showed us that almost half of the earth’s population uses social media, and this percentage always increases. There are 5.2 billion people who have cell phones; 4.5 billion of them connect to the internet, and 3.8 billion of the number are active users of social media. Facebook is the biggest social media platform with 2.4 billion monthly active users, and YouTube is in second place with 2 billion monthly active users.

These data emphasize the importance of social media in people’s daily lives, including in Christians’ lives. Social media not only affects the way Christians communicate with each other but also affects the way they spread the gospel. We cannot apathetic to the effect of social media in pastoral ministry. We must use social media as a new opportunity in our ministry. Social media has some positive impacts on Christians’ life today. Every Christian can use social media as a new medium to spread the good news of the Lord and daily reflections with others.

Pope Benedict XVI emphasized this impact when he said that, “I want to watch the progress of social media as a new public space to share ideas, information, and opinion. All Christians must use social media with full of responsibility and respect.” Social media is a new bridge to reach out the people, to share experiences and empathy. Especially, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when people were not allowed to attend Mass in church, they can attend live streaming Mass on Facebook or YouTube.

However, on the other hand, social media has some negative impacts. Spending too much time on social media makes some of us have no time to visit our neighbors. As a result, we become strangers to each other. Pope Benedict XVI has warned about this before when he said that the relationship on social media cannot replace direct human relations. In addition, sadly, the antichrist uses social media to spread the wrong teachings about Jesus, gospel, theology, and Catholic life. It is very risky for a social media user who does not have good knowledge about Christianity.

So, what should Christians do? Pope Benedict XVI said, “It is not only about how a Christian communicates with others on social media but how a Christian understands his life and his existence on social media.” Based on this, a Christian should focus on the positive impacts of social media. The presence of a Christian on social media should be a presence of love, joy, and forgiveness; not a presence of hate and jealousy. All Christians should spread the good news not spread the bad news; spread the truth not spread the fake news.

All Christians must understand which one is allowed and which one is not allowed on social media. Jesus said in the gospel, “Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you live in love.” (Jn. 13:35). On social media, all Christians show their identity as Jesus' disciples by doing love.

It is so sad if our desire to build a new relationship on social media sacrifices opportunities for family, neighbors, and those we meet in our daily life. Moreover, if our desire to make a virtual relationship changes into obsession, that desire will marginalize us from our daily interaction.

For example, it is very easy now to find a family who shares a table during lunch or dinner, but they do not talk to each other because each of them still focuses on their cellphones. Another example is that it is very easy to find a Christian who posts his problem about his parish priest on Facebook but he does not try to meet the parish priest and solve the problem together. All Christians should prioritize face-to-face communication.

Fr. Kristo Suhardi, SVD