The flip side is that social media has enabled greater learning and Christian growth from good Lutheran videos like this one. Before social media I got one sermon a week from one church, now I listen to good Lutheran pastors all the time and hooked a fire stick into the TV so we can as a family watch and learn as a family. It (social media) is a double edged sword it is mostly bad stuff but the good is very good. Moderation and discernment are needed.
Thank you for the video. It's an important topic that needs to be addressed frequently. We must be aware of our own limits and constantly pray for grace when interacting online. I witness to LDS rather frequently online as I am a former Mormon. It requires extreme levels of patience and prayer for God to graciously keep you from wanting to say what your flesh wishes you could say. And when others blaspheme the Holy Trinity, Holy Baptism for your children, etc., it's even more difficult. I can't do this witnessing for extended periods because it can be so mentally and spiritually draining dealing with people who use mental gymnastics to defend someone who was clearly a philanderer and con man (Joseph Smith). I have to take breaks to remember why I do it: because I love them and want them to know the true and living Christ over a false one. It's too easy to go full "keyboard warrior" and treat people other than what God made them in his image.
Social media is like a firearm. Its not inherently evil but its easy to use for evil. Which wouldn't be a problem if people weren't so corrupt and evil. So really its a measure of whether the damage it causes is worth the benefits to use. Im not sure that it does though
That is a very good analogy. I think the internet is well worth it, if you, like with a firearm, always be careful and use it with the upmost responsibility.
Yes and no. We can definitely use it for good. I agree with that, but the technology of social media is intentionally designed to capture our attention, change how we think, affect our behavior, etc. It seems like a tool with inherent negative side effects, not entirely neutral.
@@colmortimer1066Which forces the question: how many people treat social media with the same care and extreme caution that responsible gun owners do with guns?
I've gotten off social all social media except UA-cam. It was genuinely unhealthy for me in a multiple ways, mentally/emotionally and spiritually. Y'all, I highly recommend life lived not entirely on the Internet.
Thanks. As an engineer I live and breathe I-it info processing and it’s tempting to never shift out for want of being ‘objective.’ This is making me rethink some recent conversations with my wife and how to be more loving in our interactions.
At beginning I was like "this is reminding me of Martin Buber" and then you mentioned him! Great author. I was suprised by how much he draws from the Gospels in his book, "I Thou"
Perfect timing. Was just trying to decide if I personally needed to delete some social media and was sitting on the fence about it. A lot of what you said hit home for me, not only am I no longer on the fence, but I should’ve gotten rid of it a while ago.
In the case of UA-cam, the content is a balance of information and entertainment. The informative aspect is a good thing, unless it's misinformation or confirmation bias. Some other platforms really have no redeeming aspects like Tumblr. It went from harmless entertainment to disgusting stuff very fast.
Your final thoughts about forming the internal life by something other than algorithms is very profound. Though you mentioned differences in how UA-cam may be more “humanizing” relative to other platforms, it also presents one of the easiest ways to digest information uncritically. Though I personally use the site for educational purposes, I have found beliefs emerge in my mind whose origin I cannot identify, and this subsequently leads to slow and occasionally painful deconstruction. Deliberate formation seems to be a key piece to avoid this scenario.
i agree. however paradoxically by watching and endless stream of slop, i have also learnt how to have compassion and understanding for some of these influencers in the sense that they are often religious in the fitness/narcissism/celeb sense and that prior to this i may have not had the kind of compassion i needed to interact with some of these people who id formerly treat with some level of distance and quasi-contempt
If you find tune your subscriptions and don’t click around because of algorithms, it can still be useful. I keep mine on Christian content, and I avoid the cat videos. Lol
Thanks for this! My dad always tells me to get off the screen. I do that now. And man am I a happier person. Who woulda thunk it? On that note however, I would be interested in a discussion of how to teach teenagers about it. Best answer (My answer) is don't, or avoid it. But here I am so. 😂
Yeah, that's a pretty good take. That's why I try to limit short-form social media to just sending memes back and forth between friends, admiring art made by others, and hobby related stuff.
Good case Dr Cooper. Do you have any recommendations for non-taxing alternatives? Im all for reading the Bible and good books and listening to people more, but when I'm too worn out for any of that twitter seems like such a good idea. Ironically when I'm tired is the absolute worst time to go on
I'll be a bad intellectual for a second and say that there's some good in entertainment, just good old fashioned low energy leisure. It's good for laughter with friends, a bit of rest for the weary, and sometimes for getting through the worst times in one's life. It's just difficult to use it well, and to keep it from becoming all one ever does. One step that I've found helps a lot to replace social media is finding some less soul crushing low energy leisure activities. We all have evenings where one simply doesn't have time or energy to sit down with one's copy of Homer in the original Greek. It's okay to read Homer in translation instead sometimes. More seriously, I've been keeping more than one book out at once, one of which is a book with simple sentences and style to read when I'm already exhausted. With Internet Archive, Hoopla, and Google Books out there, it's also easy to find a book to read on my phone to scroll through instead of social media. Poetry collections are good too for when time is the limiting factor. Audio is also fair game - audiobooks, sports, sitcoms, inexplicably long video essays, anything within reason that's not just replacing Twitter with Fox. And while the bar is set at "better for you than Twitter", there's a lot of really great video games out there that get sold in Steam sales for five bucks.
Dr Cooper how relevant is this conversation to life in academia? I'm not sure of your experience, but in doing my PhD I have found that most academics I know are nice people who are somehow very different to the general population. Not sure how to describe it, but maybe its like a general sense of cynicism towards other people that I think is rubbing off on me, and I'm wondering if this is connected to the fact that almost all of my engagement with other people through the day is via things they've written.
Well we where all just fighting on twitter yesterday over the ESV. Without social media, probably would have never seen Crossway post on the lords supper.
I find social media can be really bad, and yet it can be really good, it's all about being mindful and trying to get the most out of it. For example, I did not know too many church going Christians, I certainly did not know any Lutherans that i could talk to nor learn from. All I had was a bible to read, a willingness to try to understand Christ, and social media to help guide me to a real world church, that fits what I have been reading. I would say that was a very good use of social media. I will agree that it can be bad, you can forget you are talking to real people, but I have gotten quite good as remaining calm, and interacting with people online with respect, and understanding, by asking myself before start commenting, How would Christ want me to respond here? I also have given myself some rules, like if someone comments negatively on your video I won't engage, I try not to get mixed up in drama, though I will try to defend my statements if someone does engage my comments, but I very careful to do so in a respectful, loving way. I think as Christians we should really look at the value of social media, and try to parse out the good things from the bad, because there is a lot of value there, if you refrain from falling into some of the trappings of it.
Could this also be a good argument against car dependent infrastructure as well? Because too much of your day to day activity is spent treating other humans as information in your commute, not people?
1. Do you think this argument would work in an incarnational framework? Our relationships are meant to be with physical beings and the farther we get away from that physical person the more dehumanized our interactions necessarily become. 2. I'm thinking some seminary student out there just got some inspiration for a paper on the Lutheran doctrine of vocation/evangelism and social media. Also, based on other comments I'm seeing I'd like to assert that I believe social media is an inherent evil, or at least a net-negative product. Considering the algorithms and the worldview behind the creators that get put into these programs, the opposite of Christian virtues are built in. And if there is any validity to my 1st statement, I'm invoking the McLuhan principle of the message is the medium.
lutherans dont hold to "Total Depravity" but to the doctrine of "the bondage of the will" which is somewhat different and not to be confused with reformed doctrine.
The flip side is that social media has enabled greater learning and Christian growth from good Lutheran videos like this one. Before social media I got one sermon a week from one church, now I listen to good Lutheran pastors all the time and hooked a fire stick into the TV so we can as a family watch and learn as a family.
It (social media) is a double edged sword it is mostly bad stuff but the good is very good. Moderation and discernment are needed.
This, news, and some (occasional) funny videos are the redeeming qualities of youtube.
@ yep, sure beats TV though.
Thank you for the video. It's an important topic that needs to be addressed frequently. We must be aware of our own limits and constantly pray for grace when interacting online.
I witness to LDS rather frequently online as I am a former Mormon. It requires extreme levels of patience and prayer for God to graciously keep you from wanting to say what your flesh wishes you could say. And when others blaspheme the Holy Trinity, Holy Baptism for your children, etc., it's even more difficult.
I can't do this witnessing for extended periods because it can be so mentally and spiritually draining dealing with people who use mental gymnastics to defend someone who was clearly a philanderer and con man (Joseph Smith).
I have to take breaks to remember why I do it: because I love them and want them to know the true and living Christ over a false one. It's too easy to go full "keyboard warrior" and treat people other than what God made them in his image.
Social media is like a firearm. Its not inherently evil but its easy to use for evil. Which wouldn't be a problem if people weren't so corrupt and evil. So really its a measure of whether the damage it causes is worth the benefits to use. Im not sure that it does though
That is a very good analogy. I think the internet is well worth it, if you, like with a firearm, always be careful and use it with the upmost responsibility.
@colmortimer1066 precisely! Almost as if we should teach people how to use it safely and ethically
Social media was made to make us adicts. It is ita design.
Yes and no. We can definitely use it for good. I agree with that, but the technology of social media is intentionally designed to capture our attention, change how we think, affect our behavior, etc.
It seems like a tool with inherent negative side effects, not entirely neutral.
@@colmortimer1066Which forces the question: how many people treat social media with the same care and extreme caution that responsible gun owners do with guns?
I've gotten off social all social media except UA-cam. It was genuinely unhealthy for me in a multiple ways, mentally/emotionally and spiritually.
Y'all, I highly recommend life lived not entirely on the Internet.
Did this several years ago and am much happier and have more time for family. It was a fantastic recalibration of priorities
Thank you Dr. Cooper. As a 20 year old who grew up on social media, with my time on it exacerbated post-lockdowns, I definitely needed to hear this.
Same
Thanks. As an engineer I live and breathe I-it info processing and it’s tempting to never shift out for want of being ‘objective.’ This is making me rethink some recent conversations with my wife and how to be more loving in our interactions.
Wow. Thank you for this. Especially the insight at the end about the day-to-day ethics and what it reveals about the way we think.
Hitting the like button was a bit awkward on this one 😅
At beginning I was like "this is reminding me of Martin Buber" and then you mentioned him! Great author. I was suprised by how much he draws from the Gospels in his book, "I Thou"
Perfect timing. Was just trying to decide if I personally needed to delete some social media and was sitting on the fence about it. A lot of what you said hit home for me, not only am I no longer on the fence, but I should’ve gotten rid of it a while ago.
Thank you for this. I never thought about it like this.
That settles it, I've been considering it for a while. I'm deleting my twitter account!
Social media is more or less a dumpster fire.🔥
In the case of UA-cam, the content is a balance of information and entertainment. The informative aspect is a good thing, unless it's misinformation or confirmation bias. Some other platforms really have no redeeming aspects like Tumblr. It went from harmless entertainment to disgusting stuff very fast.
Martin Buber is required reading for religious studies. Love how you connected his thesis to the WWW.
Amen. This video is an important wake up call. Is my time on UA-cam a good use of my time, and am I using it to love God and love others?
Very thoughtful as always
I love this video.
There is a lot of truth to what you said 👍
Thank you, thank you for making this video!
The recent sacking of Calvin Robinson is basically the whole vindication of this video
Your final thoughts about forming the internal life by something other than algorithms is very profound. Though you mentioned differences in how UA-cam may be more “humanizing” relative to other platforms, it also presents one of the easiest ways to digest information uncritically. Though I personally use the site for educational purposes, I have found beliefs emerge in my mind whose origin I cannot identify, and this subsequently leads to slow and occasionally painful deconstruction. Deliberate formation seems to be a key piece to avoid this scenario.
i agree. however paradoxically by watching and endless stream of slop, i have also learnt how to have compassion and understanding for some of these influencers in the sense that they are often religious in the fitness/narcissism/celeb sense and that prior to this i may have not had the kind of compassion i needed to interact with some of these people who id formerly treat with some level of distance and quasi-contempt
I just finished reading Plato's Symposium, your way of talking about love sounded very familiar to what Socrates thinks and teaches about love!
Funny this showed up a day after i deactivated my Twitter account 😂
Great video. I agree with a lot of what you said. I really need to check out that “I and Thou” book.
I just know in my heart that social media is the gateway to hell. Other than this UA-cam channel 😂
If you find tune your subscriptions and don’t click around because of algorithms, it can still be useful. I keep mine on Christian content, and I avoid the cat videos. Lol
great, God bless
Thanks for this!
My dad always tells me to get off the screen. I do that now. And man am I a happier person. Who woulda thunk it?
On that note however, I would be interested in a discussion of how to teach teenagers about it. Best answer (My answer) is don't, or avoid it. But here I am so. 😂
Yeah, that's a pretty good take. That's why I try to limit short-form social media to just sending memes back and forth between friends, admiring art made by others, and hobby related stuff.
Good case Dr Cooper. Do you have any recommendations for non-taxing alternatives? Im all for reading the Bible and good books and listening to people more, but when I'm too worn out for any of that twitter seems like such a good idea. Ironically when I'm tired is the absolute worst time to go on
I'll be a bad intellectual for a second and say that there's some good in entertainment, just good old fashioned low energy leisure. It's good for laughter with friends, a bit of rest for the weary, and sometimes for getting through the worst times in one's life. It's just difficult to use it well, and to keep it from becoming all one ever does.
One step that I've found helps a lot to replace social media is finding some less soul crushing low energy leisure activities. We all have evenings where one simply doesn't have time or energy to sit down with one's copy of Homer in the original Greek. It's okay to read Homer in translation instead sometimes.
More seriously, I've been keeping more than one book out at once, one of which is a book with simple sentences and style to read when I'm already exhausted. With Internet Archive, Hoopla, and Google Books out there, it's also easy to find a book to read on my phone to scroll through instead of social media. Poetry collections are good too for when time is the limiting factor. Audio is also fair game - audiobooks, sports, sitcoms, inexplicably long video essays, anything within reason that's not just replacing Twitter with Fox. And while the bar is set at "better for you than Twitter", there's a lot of really great video games out there that get sold in Steam sales for five bucks.
Dr Cooper how relevant is this conversation to life in academia? I'm not sure of your experience, but in doing my PhD I have found that most academics I know are nice people who are somehow very different to the general population. Not sure how to describe it, but maybe its like a general sense of cynicism towards other people that I think is rubbing off on me, and I'm wondering if this is connected to the fact that almost all of my engagement with other people through the day is via things they've written.
Well we where all just fighting on twitter yesterday over the ESV. Without social media, probably would have never seen Crossway post on the lords supper.
I find social media can be really bad, and yet it can be really good, it's all about being mindful and trying to get the most out of it.
For example, I did not know too many church going Christians, I certainly did not know any Lutherans that i could talk to nor learn from. All I had was a bible to read, a willingness to try to understand Christ, and social media to help guide me to a real world church, that fits what I have been reading. I would say that was a very good use of social media.
I will agree that it can be bad, you can forget you are talking to real people, but I have gotten quite good as remaining calm, and interacting with people online with respect, and understanding, by asking myself before start commenting, How would Christ want me to respond here? I also have given myself some rules, like if someone comments negatively on your video I won't engage, I try not to get mixed up in drama, though I will try to defend my statements if someone does engage my comments, but I very careful to do so in a respectful, loving way.
I think as Christians we should really look at the value of social media, and try to parse out the good things from the bad, because there is a lot of value there, if you refrain from falling into some of the trappings of it.
Could this also be a good argument against car dependent infrastructure as well? Because too much of your day to day activity is spent treating other humans as information in your commute, not people?
How would you describe your relationship with the author of a good book? Is it I--Thou or I--It?
I Thou
1. Do you think this argument would work in an incarnational framework? Our relationships are meant to be with physical beings and the farther we get away from that physical person the more dehumanized our interactions necessarily become.
2. I'm thinking some seminary student out there just got some inspiration for a paper on the Lutheran doctrine of vocation/evangelism and social media.
Also, based on other comments I'm seeing I'd like to assert that I believe social media is an inherent evil, or at least a net-negative product. Considering the algorithms and the worldview behind the creators that get put into these programs, the opposite of Christian virtues are built in. And if there is any validity to my 1st statement, I'm invoking the McLuhan principle of the message is the medium.
Can I honestly ask how you square this with Total Depravity? Asking for a friend.
I don't understand the question and its relevance to this video.
lutherans dont hold to "Total Depravity" but to the doctrine of "the bondage of the will" which is somewhat different and not to be confused with reformed doctrine.
You're thinking Presbyterian. Lutheran's don't square Reformed theology.
@@DrJordanBCooperhow can you corrupt that which is already totally depraved?
@@The_Catholic_Christian That's...not what total depravity means. It's also a Calvinist doctrine. Not a Lutheran one.