(joke. except for the last part.)

The implication of the concerns you raised is that the use of social media is, if not inherently wrong, then is in general a bad idea. Now, I know that this is not what you’re saying, but that you are simply asking questions. But here are my responses to the concerns you raised.

Social media is addicting

I would argue that the reason why getting notifications on facebook causes a good feeling, or to say it more simply, makes one happy, is not just that it releases some chemical in the brain. To me, that is a reductionist, naturalistic worldview which degrades humans to being merely physical creatures–practically animals. I think that the reason why we like having people write on our wall/comment on our pictures/message us/[whatever else you can do on FB] is that we like having interaction with people. Receiving communication from our friends reminds us that we are loved and accepted and living in community with other people, which is how God designed us to live. So if someone is “addicted” to facebook, it may very well be that they are “addicted” to their friends. And in that case, the problem is not the social networking site (be it facebook, twitter, myspace, whatever else there is), but simply the person’s social maturity.

Social media is inherently self-promoting

This, in my estimation, is the most serious and dangerous concern of the three. It is true that social networking sites, as well as blogs/websites, can be very conveniently used to make much of ourselves, and if we want to use these tools to God’s glory, we must be on guard against doing that. But my simple response would be that again, this is a heart problem, not a problem with the medium. Everything I touch is going to be susceptible for my use as a tool to self-glorification. But to say that social media is “inherently” self-promoting–in other words, to say that it is impossible to use social media in a way that glorifies God instead of self, I think that’s going too far. For examples to disprove such a statement, I would point to the use of Twitter by people such as Bob Kauflin and Josh Harris, who use Twitter mainly to point people to good resources/books/blogs out there; or organizations/ministries like Sovereign Grace or Desiring God or Ligonier that use Twitter to leak news about conferences and resources and such; or blogs by people like CJ Mahaney and The Gospel Coalition and many, many more that find their purpose in edifying Christians all around the world. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that the problem is with the social media. I think that once again the problem is with us.

Social media is time-consuming

This is, of course, the most practical of all the concerns you’ve raised thus far, and it is most likely the one thing that most people involved in social media need to address. But as with the other concerns, this concern simply calls for caution and discipline, not a total abandonment of social media. I’m going to address this more in my full-on post, so I’ll stop for now.

It’s a difficult book, but one worth reading — more than once.

Also, it definitely fits the “theme” of the others.