PDAs. The good, the bad, the way
10 guidelines for engaging on social media
Back in the day, PDAs were a bad thing. Then they were a good thing.
PDAs: a bad thing
Growing up in a large youth group in our church, I can remember talks from our youth ministers about PDAs. They meant public displays of affection. In other words, don’t be all over your boyfriend or girlfriend. Practice self control. Be wary of allowing your hormones to lead you. They would often follow up the advice about public displays of affection with, “And of course, we mean private displays of affection too.”
I got it. Three different times in the Bible’s most erotic book, The Song of Solomon, the wisest man on the planet counseled:
“…do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time.”1
Then PDAs became a good thing.
They were a new-fangled invention. The personal data accessory. Think Palm Pilots and later Blackberries, and then.. the iPhone. My favorite phone before iPhones was my Palm Trey 650. It had the fattest antenna ever, and it boasted a slide-in stylus and a touch screen. Fancy schmancy.
A different PDA: This is the way.
Last year, I sat down to identify 10 guidelines for engaging on social media. At the time, I was considering getting back on Twitter and Instagram.2 I wanted to anchor myself in some principles. They are a different sort of PDA. I call them my principled digital approach.
The exercise was fruitful for me personally, and I’d encourage you to think through how you engage with people on social media.
My 10 Principles for Engaging on Social Media
Magnify who Jesus is
Laugh
Inspire
Draw attention to goodness, beauty, wonder and joy
Build friendships/connections/network
Message about Jesus
Cultivate spiritual curiosity in others
Display humility and courage
Engage with cultural issues in a humbly, bold manner
Research and inform (because I’m an info addict, a reader)… so use my love of input to distill and communicate to others
If you follow me on the Twitter or the Instaface, I’d love to hear your evaluation of how you sense I’m doing there.
It is helpful to be guided by principles in our communications these days. Especially on social media, where it’s tempting to fire back at stupidity or banality in an “inspired” moment (which is really just an infuriated moment).
If you're on social media, you need principles that guide your interactions and prevent your on-the-fly reactions.
“…whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: ‘This is the way. Walk in it.’”3
I have to remind myself that a post/account that provokes me is a real person.4 I would not yell or belittle someone in person. It’s cowardice to do so online behind a screen.
And… #11? Just be slower to respond.
Oh. And if you’ll look at #1 and #6 of my principles for digital approach, you’ll discover that I am not going to shy away from a public display of affection for Jesus.
Song of Songs 2:7, 3:5, 8:4 (also known as the Song of Solomon)
You can read about my return at Hello, Twitter. I’m baaack.
Isaiah 30:21. Did you think it was a quote from The Mandolorian?
Unless it’s a bot. One quick way to identify whether an account is a bot is to simply look at the account’s profile and a few of its tweets. If all they do is retweet, it’s probably a bot. If it’s a newly-created account, and it’s political, it’s probably a bot. There’s even a handy-dandy Botometer here, where you can enter the account ID, and it will determine its likelihood of being a bot.
Moral of the story? Don’t interact with bots, and don’t let them trigger you.
Excellent guide lines for on line communication ,, be Christ like.
Excellent advice, taking it to heart for myself!