Social Media

Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene…

/ pastorlynnmalone / 1 Comment

A person stuck at home has lots of time to think, unless of course, the person is binge watching Tiger King or Ozark (no, I haven’t watched either–I’ve been thinking!). Historians say that Shakespeare wrote Antony & Cleopatra, MacBeth and King Lear while quarantined for the Plague. I’m not Shakespeare, but I thought I might share a few of the random thoughts I’ve had while staying at home.

Social media is the place to go for shaming, especially if you have an alternative opinion. And, Twitter is the worst.

Speaking of alternative opinions, there is less and less of a place for one in our world today–even if you’re “an expert.” People on social media (and the main stream media) will shout you down (see paragraph above).

Speaking of which, did you notice how easy it was for the government to limit freedom? Do you wonder if it will be the last time?

Would you like to wager how many people will shame me on social media for asking the two previous questions? I would also wager I’ll have a few people question my faith because I asked those questions. I’ll get accused of not loving my neighbor, or of being more concerned with the economy than I am with human life.

Toilet paper. I still don’t get the run on toilet paper. Of course, I shouldn’t tell you that I have my own supplier now. No! I won’t tell you. You might get there before I do, but if you go to this particular place early on Saturday morning, you can score a 12 roll pack of Angel Soft because the truck runs on Friday evening and the clerks don’t put the TP on the shelf. They hide it in the back like a dime bag and dole it out to savvy folks like myself who are smart enough to ask. So, if you get in a bind (no pun intended) (and you haven’t shamed me on social media), give me a call. I can hook you up with Angel Soft.

According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately 1.35 million deaths due to road traffic accidents. Aren’t all road traffic accidents preventable if we simply stay at home?

Did I tell you what I’ve come to love about Saturday since the COVID-19 outbreak? It’s the first day of the week that my retirement account is not likely to decline.

Don’t you love all the conspiracy theories circulating during the pandemic?

  • Dean Koontz predicted it in his 1981 thriller “The Eyes of Darkness.“
  • It’s Bill Gates‘ fault because he owns the lab in China where the virus originated and it got its foothold in the U. S., in Seattle–which is where Bill Gates lives.
  • The Democrats are responsible because they couldn’t convict Trump after he was impeached. You can also insert “deep state” in place of “Democrats.”
  • We’re locked down because it’s actually chemical warfare unleashed by China on the United States. The US government is not telling us everything.

Conspiracy theories flourish when trust is absent. There is certainly a lack of trust in our culture today.

The pandemic has produce a few good memes:

  • Our grandparents were called to go to war. You’re being called to sit on your couch and watch TV.
  • I was lonely until I glued a coffee cup on my car. Now everyone waves at me.
  • If a diarrhea virus hits us right now, do you think people will buy up all the nose spray?
  • Some peoples aren’t shaking hands because of the Coronavirus. I’m not shaking hands because everyone is out of toilet paper.

I’ve already got plans on how to spend my Trump check. Can I call it my Trump check? Someone suggested calling it the “Trump Bump.” I might get social media shamed for that one.

We will get through this pandemic. Every previous generation has experienced some hardship or challenge–most, if not all, worse than this one. One generation survived the Revolutionary War. Another generation survived the Civil War. Another generation survived World War I AND the Spanish Flu. Another generation survived the Great Depression and emerged to survive World War II and the Korean Conflict. Another generation survived Y2K and 9/11. I do think we can manage sitting on the couch and watching TV (although my yard has never looked quite so good).

Church will forever look different when this is over.

Those are just a few random thoughts on the passing scene. I have more, but I don’t have time to write them. I’m blessed to have an employer who lets me work from home, so I better get to work (and, I need to watch Narcos Mexico).

Until next time, keep looking up…

When Fast is Fast Enough (or, Eight Lessons from a Facebook Fast)…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

There will be a bit of irony in this post. I can’t help that (well, I guess I could help it, but then I wouldn’t write this post and you wouldn’t have this post to read–not that you’re going to read it, but…). It’s ironic that I’m using social media to share lessons learned while on a social media fast, but this is the 21st Century, so what’ s a guy to do?

facebookfast2I did a twenty-six day Facebook fast in July. Why twenty-six days, you ask? I originally planned for the entire month of July, but then I realized that my wife was going on the youth mission trip and would be posting photos and updates on the trip and I wanted to keep up with the group and with her, so I broke the fast on the 26th of July. There are a few lessons I learned about social media, Facebook and myself during those twenty-six days. I thought I would share those this morning. The lessons I learned are:

  1. I missed Facebook for, oh, about one day. I learned I didn’t really miss it at all. The longer I got into the fast the less I thought about logging on to check my newsfeed, or other people’s status updates.
  2. I learned that Facebook was limiting my creativity. My productivity soared during those twenty-six days. I wasn’t constantly checking updates.
  3. I learned that Facebook was hindering my spirituality. I spent more time in the Bible early in the morning instead of scrolling through the newsfeed to see what I missed overnight–like why would I even care what happened?
  4. I learned that people are not nearly as interested in my life as I think they are. A Facebook fast can be very humbling! Not once in the twenty-six days did anyone ask me about my latest status.
  5. I learned that I don’t need to share with the world every thought that comes into my head. I had a tendency to share random thoughts posted as status updates on my “wall.” Most of those random thoughts are probably more suited to Twitter, but I just don’t use Twitter that much. Actually, I discovered that I didn’t really miss other people’s random thoughts. It dawned on me–why would other people miss my random thoughts (outside my mother and my wife, perhaps).
  6. I learned I wasn’t as angry all the time. A huge percentage of what people post is negative and divisive. It’s impossible to filter everything, and as I scrolled I couldn’t help but catch a headline denouncing “conservative” Christians, or “progressive” Christians, or the President, or the “Republicans,” or whom or whatever. Scrolling my Facebook newsfeed, I was always angry, that’s just not very Christ-like, and for as much as I fall short, I sincerely want to be more Christ-like. Oh, my…and the comments! People can be down-right mean. I didn’t miss many of the comments, at all!
  7. I learned I wasn’t offended all the time. In tandem with number six, there are a lot of offensive posts on Facebook. The most offensive thing is stupidity, and there is much that is stupid posted on Facebook (confession: I’ve even posted stupid things before).
  8. I learned that “real” life is in the real world. I was much more deeply engaged with the people around me instead of the people in the device in my hand or on my desk. I now wonder how much “real” life I actually missed by being logged on so much previously. After all, we know people post on Facebook mostly those things that make them look good (excluding, of course the occasional drama king or queen who insists on posting the latest sad tale of their life–yes, Facebook can become very narcissistic!), so what I was seeing wasn’t “real” life, at all.

Here are a few tips that I am employing as I re-engage with Facebook and other social media (though, I’m not greatly connected outside Facebook). Maybe they’ll help you if you’re feeling the need to be a little less connected.

  • Remove the Facebook app (or Twitter, or Instagram, or Pinterest, or Vine, or…whatever your social media of choice is) from your smartphone. And, log out from your social media accounts when you’re done. If you must access social media, access it through your browser app. I discovered the longer it takes to log in to something, the less I’m likely to do it.
  • Do not stay logged in to Facebook while you’re working. It’ll be a distraction from the work in front of you.
  • Turn off your push notifications. You don’t need to know every time someone tags you in a photo, or mentions your name in a status update.
  • Calendar your time to be on social media. I’ve discovered if I put something on my calendar, I generally abide by the calendar. Social media isn’t a bad thing, so it’s not to be avoided at all costs. Simply be intentional about the time spent on social media. If you want 30 minutes a day, okay. Calendar 30 minutes a day. Then, stick to it.

Let me encourage you to un-plug, even if it’s only for a day or two. Seriously, it will deepen your spiritual life if the first thing you pick up in the morning is a Bible instead of a smartphone or tablet. Maybe this post was helpful. Maybe it wasn’t. Either way, you can check it out on Facebook or Twitter, and that’s quite ironic, isn’t it?

Until next time, keep looking up…