Checking Your Status...

So this week my family and I are taking a little vacation.

And that includes from technology and social media as well! (I wrote this post last week before we left.)

So as you read this, we are blissfully unaware of what is going on in the blogosphere and purposefully avoiding checking our facebook pages.

The interesting thing about that is it is not easy! We are a little too connected to our internet connections. So pray for us while we are on detox this week!

While we are gone, I thought I'd share with you a few disturbing looks into social media that I've seen lately:


1. The Social Network. A new movie from David Fincher (director of such revolutionary films as Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)! A soundtrack from Trent Reznor (of NineInchNails fame)! An account of the start of facebook! Nominated for just about every Academy Award there is! This movie sounds like an obvious great, but I can't honestly say I would recommend it. It was well made. It was informative. But it was very disturbing. It left me feeling conflicted about whether I even wanted a facebook account anymore.


2. Catfish. Another critically acclaimed film. This time an actual documentary (or that is what they propose at least). But again it left me feeling...well...creeped out. A look into the dangerous and dark place that internet relationships can take us, and in this case all done through facebook.


3. Egyptian Protests. The world has watched with nervous interest as the pro-democratic revolutions have taken place around the world recently. One interesting and alarming fact that I discovered while watching the coverage in Egypt was that much of it was organized through facebook. Wael Ghonim, a Google executive and one of the leaders of the protests, explains in this article how they used facebook and other media technology to start a new kind of revolution.

Now, I don't necessarily recommend the films above. As I've noted there is gritty, disturbing content. I also don't condone the civil unrest that's happening around the world. But each of these matters show us a very real picture of what is happening in our society today: A picture of what social media is doing to our culture.

So I'd love to hear your responses. I'd also love to hear your approach to managing your social media because if we don't manage it I believe it will control us!

God bless.