A Fragile Mantle
Social media adds to the competing voices in our heads. There is so much and so many. Like heavy rainfall pounding a coat-less body one becomes deluged, swept away by a ceaseless barrage and drowned.
Yet, good and positive things evolve from the information age. But evil takes advantage of weak spots–the cracks in its evolution–pressing a heavy foot to see where breaks deepen.
Facebook and other social media posts would have us believe almost everyone we know leads exotic, enchanted and exhilarating lives. Seaside pictures with raised-glass salutes to folks back home in snow-laden, bone-chilled Canada unearth a lust thought buried deep. A green-eyed monster jealous for the melting warmth of soft-sands on sun-stroked beaches slips through the broken pieces of a fragile mantle:
“Wow, they are having a fantastic time with their friends.”
“I wonder how they afford it…must have lots of money.”
“Wish my life was like that.”
And then with a raised finger hovering over the computer mouse, hesitation, before a reluctant downward click on the like button.
Air-Brushed Lives
With what do we fill our souls?
With snippets of twenty-four hour days: with momentary snapshots, experiential flashes in a pan are we seeing feigned or real positivity? We take to heart air-brushed lives gloriously devoid of the mundane, reveling in good times and exalting privilege we do not share. Hot and searing acid wells up through the broken pieces of a fragile mantle. Envy burns and evil knows it. Isolation magnifies.
Evil–It’s Not What You Think
Our local minister references in her Sunday homily a Huffington Post article on addiction and social media’s influence (refer: The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think | HuffPost). The author, Johann Hari, argues chemical dependency on drugs is not the main culprit behind addiction but something far subtler.
He reasons people are most satisfied when they live in communities where they have meaningful interactions. We are a touchy-feely species. The connectedness of the Internet and social media only allude to community; they parody real life flesh and blood encounters.
Rather than increasing connections interactions relegate to viewing posted pictures, listening to snappy sound bites and responding to someone else’s experience with an emoji. Unless we are the one posting we are disconnected from that experience and according to Johann Hari disconnectedness is the greater part of what drives addiction. Social isolation is the real problem.
Evil’s Perfect Wedge
With Valentine’s Day only a week old how desolate the dining couple so engaged with their iPhones they do not bond with each other.
Isolation is a perfect wedge exerting pressure against relationship fissures. We might wonder if evil, as an invisible third-party, sits satisfied at the restaurant table; a happy Valentine’s Day indeed.
To be continued…