How do you use social media?
Today, social media reaches all walks of life. Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, for instance, are popular platforms for sharing information and opening private lives to public scrutiny. What makes social media thrive? Speed, wide coverage, accessibility, or low cost?
Free-of-charge platforms like WhatsApp can be found on nearly every smartphone. The app is a great communication tool, especially for family members or friends engaging in casual conversations. Other more interactive platforms like TikTok are used for sharing personal stories in video format, promoting businesses in short films, or playing the drama queen or king to satisfy acting desires. Social media now permeates the landscapes of individual social circles worldwide.
While social media is useful for many purposes, too much of a good thing can become bad. Uncontrolled use can turn these platforms into uncontrollable weapons that harm oneself or others, especially the vulnerable. Reports of using social media to transmit violence, slander, or bullying—and thus hurting vulnerable children—are not unheard of. For example, there was a news report by BBC on 10 January 2018 about an Australian girl who committed suicide due to online bullying. While there are no official statistics on suicides directly due to cyberbullying, the number of people aged 15 to 24 taking their own lives has increased in recent years.
Living in this broken world, above all else, we must guard our hearts—and the hearts of our children—for they are the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23). Wisdom tells us to look straight ahead and upward, away from platforms that spread hatred and damage souls, keeping our feet from evil.
As for me, I use social media to communicate with family and friends and to spread comforting words to sorrowful souls. But I use this tool prudently. Faithfully sharing gospel messages is the approach I take, for faith in the Lord Jesus Christ comes not by indoctrination but by the sovereign almighty power of God (Romans 1:16). It is the Lord who guides you in the way of wisdom and leads you along straight paths (Proverbs 4:10–11).
May my poem below help instil an interest in chasing after wisdom, not foolishness. 👇🏻
“Wisdom Unshackled” ✨
White hair is wisdom’s crown, they say—
the face, a map of life’s array.
But elders now for beauty burn—
dye their locks, let wisdom’s crown be torn.
The young, too, chase a pretty face—
prefer an online star to their own place.
Otaku love their digital kind—
the internet, the home they find.
Their ID cards they could forsake,
but Instagram? No leave to take.
True friends are few; online, a like makes many friends.
Who cares what your heart comprehends?
One tells ten, ten tell a hundred more—
overnight fame’s the open door.
Wise thought would have you act with art,
but thought without deed—wisdom falls apart.
…….
Proverbs 2:20–21
“Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it.”
✨✨💖 ~
en yan hua fang 