Does Your Social Media Presence Set a Good Example?

I love teenagers and for the most part I can look past their quirks. They can be self-centered and silly and focused on the wrong things. They aren't always appropriate and they often are reactionary. But I love them anyway because they also can be sweet and kind and fun! 

But the one thing that always makes me sad and a little at a loss as to what to do is when I see them fighting battles via Facebook or other social media and calling out someone through that means. Rather than deal with conflict face to face, they will take to their keyboard or keypad on their phone to type or text meanness.  And all that does is escalate the situation, get others in the midst of it, and make themselves look bad.

From time to time I've had to deal with this in our ministry. I've had to gently remind teens of the way to handle conflicts. Some have listened, but many have not. And because they aren't my children there really isn't anything more I can do. 

The thing that makes me especially sad though is when I see adults, who should be setting an example, doing the same thing. There have been so many times when I've seen adults posting messages on Facebook, tearing someone apart or indirectly sending "a message" to someone in their life they are upset with, or ranting and raving about some hot topic. Many times I'll see comments made on public sights where they have ripped into someone with a different opinion by calling them names. And I'm never sure why they think it's okay to do that.

It's sad and it's extremely immature and how can we expect anything more from our teens when this is the example we are setting for them?  How can we be surprised at things like bullying or any kind of evil behavior when we've created a culture of say whatever you want on social media to whomever you want? We are teaching our children by example that it's okay to blast someone just for having a different opinion. We are teaching them that if someone thinks differently they are a moron, idiot, stupid or whatever other word I've seen substituted. We are not teaching them how to handle disagreements and we are not teaching them how God wants us to deal with these things.

Those who call themselves Christians are without excuse. If we say we love God and follow Him then we better be following what His word says about relationships and communication and conflict. 

Matthew 18:2-6 (NLT) ~

Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

“And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea."

As adults, we are setting the example for our children, whether they are ours or not.  We better take these words of Christ seriously and start thinking about the example we set both in our every day life and our social media presence. They are watching and reading and learning how to figure out relationships based on what they see us do. Let's point them in the right direction!