To "Friend" or "Follow": Why I Don't Do Most Social Media

"The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever." I John 2:17

For those of you who know me, I don't tweet or do twitter or Facebook or post or whatever they call it these days.  I know that I'm missing out on the "it" trends when I refuse to embrace some of these new communication tools, but I have well thought-out reasons for abstaining from the Twitter/Facebook realm. 

I don't Tweet because I'm not into pithy one-liners.  In fact, when I am short and to-the-point, I'm often criticized as being too blunt.  So in my own opinion, since I can't be inspirational in a sentence or two, then Twitter is not the appropriate media for me.  That said, it's not appropriate for most people.  I mean, have you read other people's tweets?  Last week I perused tweets from many of my fellow church friends, and I was bored.  Like I care that you went running this morning or had a bagel for breakfast.  Here's my take on Twitter: if you can't be inspiring or encouraging in a phrase or two, then shut it down.  For those of you who are pithy geniuses, please continue to enlighten us...

As for Facebook, I have lots of reasons for not joining Facebook nation.  For starters, it's a privacy issue.  Yes, I am aware that I post information about myself regularly on my blog for all to see, but I have a little more control over what is on my blog.  I'm very intentional when I make posts, so there's plenty about my life that you'll never see on these pages.  Plus, the conversations that I have on my blog are very minimal.  Secondly, I don't have time for Facebook.  I don't need more emails rolling through my in-boxes.  I don't need to have to deal with gossip and fodder from high school "friends."  And I don't really have time to be distracted by other peoples' pages or walls or whatever they call it.

The other night, I watched The Social Network on cable (thank you FX and TNT for editing out the bad language or scenes from popular movies).  Anyway, as I watched the movie, I can honestly say that I am relieved that I have not joined Facebook.  The intent of the website is for people to get into other peoples' business.  And the guys behind it clearly did not have the best interests of anybody but themselves at heart.  They knew that Facebook would be a hit, and they knew that they could sucker people into "following" the Facebook trend so that they could make money.  And now the whole world is trending and "friending" each other.

Sometimes abstaining from the "it" trends has huge advantages.  I can honestly say that I feel slightly disengaged from worldly chatter because I'm not always in the know.  And I'm not obsessed with social media (as were all the people at church who moaned and groaned about their 21 day "unplugged" challenge when they gave up Facebook), thus it's one worldly thing that is a non-issue in my life.

I'm posting this purely to inform you why I do not engage in all the new social network trends. (I get funny looks from people all the time when I say I'm not on Facebook!!)  I don't care if you use all forms of social media, but my life is easier and less distracting because I don't.  For those of you who do utilize these tools, I just have to ask: Do your "Friends" and "Followers" know that you love Jesus as a result of what you post?  If yes, keep it up.  But if you're not sharing Jesus with these tools and are purely participating in this media out of personal or political motives, please reconsider how and why you're "connecting" with others online. 

Remember that the world is passing away, and our time on earth is short.  We've been called to share Jesus with others.  So please use your tools and time wisely to encourage others and to share the Good News of the One who has saved you!  If that is your goal, then Friending and Following might just be for you.