Sermon Illustration: Social Media and Relationships

Last updated on: June 15, 2018 at 10:02 am by Matt Pearson

Sermon Illustration: Social Media and Relationships 2018-06-14T18:13:18-05:00 Matt Pearson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This Sunday, I will be wrapping up a series on healthy relationships. As with every sermon and sermon series preached, some good content gets left on the cutting room floor.

For instance. . .

I have been reading Jaron Lanier’s Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. I haven’t finished yet. But the thing that struck me most (so far) is the impact social media has on relationships.

Using Facebook as his target, Lanier offers some very interesting, frightening, and contradicting thoughts from Facebook’s leadership.

Consider this quote from Facebook’s first president, Sean Parker:

We need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever.â€¦ Itâ€™s a social-validation feedback loop â€¦ exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because youâ€™re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.â€¦ The inventors, creatorsâ€”itâ€™s me, itâ€™s Mark [Zuckerberg], itâ€™s Kevin Systrom on Instagram, itâ€™s all of these peopleâ€”understood this consciously. And we did it anyway â€¦ it literally changes your relationship with society, with each other.â€¦ It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what itâ€™s doing to our childrenâ€™s brains.

Now consider this from Chamath Palihapitiya, former vice president of user growth at Facebook:

So the problem isnâ€™t behavior modification in itself. The problem is relentless, robotic, ultimately meaningless behavior modification in the service of unseen manipulators and uncaring algorithms. Hypnosis might be therapeutic so long as you trust your hypnotist, but who would trust a hypnotist who is working for unknown third parties? Who? Apparently billions of people.

Lanier’s conclusion?

Parker says Facebook intentionally got people addicted, while Palihapitiya is saying something about the negative effects on relationships and society. What is the connection between these two mea culpas? The core process that allows social media to make money and that also does the damage to society is behavior modification. Behavior modification entails methodical techniques that change behavioral patterns in animals and people. It can be used to treat addictions, but it can also be used to create them. The damage to society comes because addiction makes people crazy. The addict gradually loses touch with the real world and real people. When many people are addicted to manipulative schemes, the world gets dark and crazy. (bold emphasis, mine)

Frightening.

Even Silicon Valley parents don’t want their children on their devices. They understand (perhaps better than anyone) what it does to critical life skills.

Consider this quote from the book:

If someone gets a rewardâ€”whether itâ€™s positive social regard or a piece of candyâ€”whenever they do a particular thing, then theyâ€™ll tend to do more of that thing. When people get a flattering response in exchange for posting something on social media, they get in the habit of posting more. That sounds innocent enough, but it can be the first stage of an addiction that becomes a problem both for individuals and society. Even though Silicon Valley types have a sanitized name for this phase, â€œengagement,â€ we fear it enough to keep our own children away from it. Many of the Silicon Valley kids I know attend Waldorf schools, which generally forbid electronics. (bold emphasis, mine)

Main takeaway here? Don’t let social media rob you of real, rich, God-drenched relationships right under your nose.

Fridays are For Illustrations

Previous Post

June 12, 2018

4 Questions from 1 Corinthians 7

Next Post

June 19, 2018 Day 2 of VBS: A Fragrant Offering

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Biblical Reflections Devotions Fridays are For Illustrations General Challenge General Preaching Resources Letters to West Franklin Preparing to Preach Table Talk Questions The Preaching Event Top Ten Quotes Uncategorized West Franklin West Franklin Talks

Select a Month March 2023 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 September 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was a biblical talent's weight?

Select your answer to see how you score.

60 pounds 50 pounds 75 pounds 40 pounds