Demand Christian stewardship of the things at our fingertips

Social media is driving our bus. Social media and media are establishing the direction of our world. Think about that for a minute…Let that sink in… 30 years ago, we as humans determined our daily direction. We went about our day, working, parenting, taking care of the daily details. Not today. Today, we all, me included, we consume some form of social media, media news, social media news at frequent rates equaling multiple times a day. We often can’t pull ourselves from it.

Today, everyone has an opinion, and everyone has the opportunity to share it. 30 years ago, in order to share your opinion (otherwise known as an editorial, or which our kids have no idea what that is) you had to sit down at a type writer or hand write a “letter to the editor”, submit it, and hope it got accepted and printed in the paper. I can remember my dad writing a “letter to the editor” voicing his over a certain situation, and I will never forget it, seeing it in the actual Hutch News, a regional type newspaper. Today, my kids could see me post “my opinion” any day, any hour of the day, anytime.

30 years ago, in order to voice an opinion, one had to take the time, be very intentional in order to voice an opinion or a concern. And it may take 1 to 2 weeks for your opinion editorial to be printed. Today, anyone, can typie up a one liner concern, or a paragraph of opinion, and hit the “post” button literally in seconds for the entire world to see.

Today, the more the controversy, the more they chaos, the more the clicks. So why is social media “driving our bus”, well, they are getting paid for “clicks” and comments. The more the comments and the more the clicks, the more “traffic” advertisers can show businesses they have. The more “traffic” the more people the advertisers say you as an advertiser are exposed to. Whether it is MSNBC, CNN, or local news sources, the greater the chaos, the more “clicks” they get, and the more eyeballs they can show potential advertisers that will be looking at their potential advertisement.

Media is driving the bus, so stop clicking on the chaos. We as a people, as advertisers need to DEMAND and give voice to responsible posts and comments. We need to DEMAND stewardship of their sites and their comments. Comments show the culture of the company and what they allow. Companies need to demand kindness, demand “Golden Rule” discourse, and need to set the example. And we as individual people need to demand the same of “our friends” on social media. Comments allowed show the culture of you. Comments you make show the culture of you. If you are constantly complaining, well, you take a guess of the culture of you. If you are constantly negative, you guess the culture of you and the world you create for yourself. If you are constantly commenting on the drama, controversy, and the chaos, you are the drama and chaos. And if you are like me, you can name the names of 10-20 people that fit in those categories! DELETE THEM! UNFOLLOW THEM, or even get off the media platform! Or even better, “call them on the carpet, and ask them to STOP! Demand Christian Stewardship of the things at our fingertips!! Let’s start driving our society’s bus again!! If we don’t, the chaos will continue.