November 22, 2022
The Thanksgiving Table
This is the week of the great American tradition of Thanksgiving. This week, Americans will gather around tables all across the country to give thanks for the bountiful harvest that we enjoy. These gatherings can be fun, filled with traditions developed over many years. Sometimes, these can be hard events, as you are missing someone from the table due to death, deployment, or disease. Perhaps these gatherings are tinged with nervousness as that “friend” gets introduced to the rest of the family. Inevitably, some of these get-togethers will get tense when someone at the table introduces a controversial topic and debate follows (the other “traditional” part of a Thanksgiving meal).
Over the years, I have heard social media described as a digital “Thanksgiving table.” People come, sit together, and discuss issues, sometimes with great “fervor.” These descriptions – “Thanksgiving table,” the sites that bring us together – are often promoted and marketed by the platforms themselves. While that might have been true at the beginning, there is a steadily growing body of research that paints a different picture. This research (which includes leaked files from Facebook and Instagram) shows us the harm that social media can and does cause.
The TV news program 60 Minutes recently covered and highlighted these harmful aspects of social media. I encourage you to watch it here. One of comparisons that really stuck with me was when they related social media to the ancient Roman Colosseum. The Colosseum was a place of entertainment, where many gathered. But that entertainment involved throwing slaves, dissidents (including Christians), and many others into a closed arena, in which they were forced to fight to the death. Fighting and pain, all for the entertainment of the masses and the profit of a few. It doesn’t take too long to see the links to social media.
This is not to say there is nothing good about social media: friends and family do reconnect; people do reach out in times of trouble to express comfort; communities celebrate together and share in each others’ joys. But are these the most common outputs of social media? Do you sometimes feel worse after scrolling for a few minutes? Do you find that the tone is generally uplifting, or more often competitive, combative, and damaging? From the reading and research I have done, this is not a coincidence but instead the objective. To drive up engagement which equals more ads viewed and thus more profits.
It would be worth spending some time reflecting on these questions about social media. Luckily, the church year offers us a gift in reshaping our patterns of living in the world. We are entering the season of Advent. The word “advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming,” which translates the Greek word parousia.
This year as we begin the Advent season, I am going to take a break from social media, and I want to invite you consider joining me. I’m going to spend some time thinking about the grip it has on our society and me personally. I’m going to pray about the most faithful ways that social media can be used, and ways that we can start to overcome the damage it does to us, especially to those who are already vulnerable. And I’m going to think about the call of a different kind of Table, one that invites us and transforms us from those who are entertained by others’ turmoil to ones who work for life and hope.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Tim