A Social Media Worldview
Our worldview is being shaped by Social Media more than we realize.
Everyone who has ever lived has a worldview they filter their life through even if they don’t spend time thinking about it. Throughout history, this has been shaped by cultures, survival, religions, governments, and even technology. I believe that we are currently at an odd point in history where our worldview is being shaped by Social Media more than we realize.
In this blog, I want to examine how platforms are shaping the way we see our world, how we should see our world, and how this impacts us moving forward
Social Media is Rewiring My Worldview
There is enough research and studies to conduct that could easily lead to multiple books worth of content to sift through on how social media is rewiring our brains, poisoning our culture, and impacting us in ways we do not fully realize. Instead of getting down into the details, however, I want to look at the big picture and make some personal observations on how social media shapes our worldview. I’m going to illustrate this using 4 social media platforms that I believe represent a wide range of shaping worldviews that are nihilistic to blindly optimistic.
So, let’s dive in:
The Nihilist
Reddit is a social media platform that was founded in 2005 that aggregates news, gives content ratings, brings groups together, and so much more. The diversity of things you can find on Reddit is crazy from learning how to fix your water heater (very helpful for me recently) to how to start a coup (be careful verifying this and showing up on an FBI watchlist). There are definitely some awesome and very beneficial things that can be found on this platform and I am not giving counsel to delete it or never engage again.
What I am advocating is that when we obsessively consume a social media platform it can begin to shape how we see the world and from my observations on what has come out of the Reddit community and the people I know who use it excessively, it naturally lends itself to a form of nihilism. When you get groups of people together who see issues all over our world and then create boards or communities or “subreddits” that are built upon complaining, dissecting, and critiquing all while being essentially anonymous it can quickly lead to disaster. It gives space to openly take in length about real-life issues with people all over the world who never have to know the person in real life who may post such dark thoughts.
TikTok
The Pollyanna
TikTok was founded in 2016 and are short-form video that has led to many cultural trends, influencer growth, and popularity. I would say in the social media landscape TikTok is the exact opposite of Reddit. Instead of anonymous, long-form, and deep thoughts, TikTok is overly transparent, so short you may miss it, and looks to entertain rather than inform. That’s why I label TikTok as the Pollyanna which is a term used to describe something that is excessively or blindly optimistic. TikTok seems to create a world that instead of looking at it with any sort of criticism just seems to put a filter and song overlaid on top so we can dance while the world burns.
Again, am I saying burn down your TikTok account? No (well maybe), but it is something we have to be aware of how it is impacting our brain and how it is shaping our worldview. That when we think engaging in a cultural trend makes the reality of elections, the economy, our bills, our kids, etc. any less real than we are doing ourselves a disservice.
X (formerly Twitter)
The Critical Pessimist
What was once Twitter and is now X was founded in 2006 and is a platform that gives quick tweets or posts in an instant. I would argue that X is a step away from the Nihilistic Reddit culture, but still firmly on the other side of the scale from TikTok. X seems to create a worldview that could be characterized as a Critical Pessimist who sees the issues of the world, doesn’t want to burn it down, but wants to complain about the problem more than fix it.
X can be a great platform for breaking news, information, and so much more, but when we become obsessed with consuming it, we quickly find a worldview being formed that is less than ideal. As Christians, there are large groups of people who are arguing and throwing critiques at one another rather than operating in any sort of a Christ-like way. The danger of consuming this type of content is it can bleed into our real interactions as well.
The Fake Optimist
Instagram was founded in 2010 and is a social media platform that requires pictures or videos to be uploaded typically overlaid with filters. Just as X isn’t as far down the road as Reddit, I would argue Instagram isn’t as blindly optimistic as TikTok, but is still on that side of the road. Instagram is full of people who inspire, instruct, and influence how people should live their lives based on how they supposedly live theirs. The problem with Instagram is that often the reality presented is not a true reality, but is one that is crafted to get across a certain persona that someone wants to create.
Now we are all guilty of falling into the trap of presenting someone we want people to think we are, but it becomes much easier on a platform like Instagram. The danger when we consume too much and let it influence us too much is we have an optimism about our world, but it’s not based in reality because what we are trying to mimic is fake.
Jesus
The Biblical Worldview
“For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” – Philippians 1:21
This is the most obvious answer, but it’s still the right answer. Where do we get our worldview? From Jesus, Who gave us the Bible to clear up any confusion. There are so many verses and so many aspects of a Biblical Worldview that we could discuss, but I included Philippians 1:21 because of the sheer simplicity of it. We have to think presently, but also to the future.
The problem with Nihilism is that it is so stuck in how bad things are now (which they are), that it cannot think about the future. The problem with Pollyanna is that it is so hopeful that the future will be fine, but has no basis in the present. Paul gives us the solution to the present that we live right now for Christ. That, because Jesus died and rose again, we can live a life of freedom serving Him, loving others, and Making Jesus Known! And we don’t have to worry about how bad things get in the future because when we die it is gain since Jesus is preparing our home in a new heaven and new earth.
Social media cannot offer us a worldview like that. Its worldviews range from depressing to unrealistic, but the Bible gives us a timeless worldview that is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” – Hebrews 13:8