When something big happens in the world, a lot of us are probably tempted to reach for our phones. Our followers on social media deserve to hear from us! We are annoyed or elated or perplexed; perhaps a bit of all three. Whatever the case, we are ready to publish our reaction.
I have the same feeling myself. I want people to know what I think, even if my thinking is not informed. Sometimes it’s too early to comment, the facts are not available yet. If they are available, I’m unlikely to have found them all, read them all, or taken time to digest them all. Waiting a few days may be helpful, but if I do that “everyone else” will have already posted. At least that’s the way I feel.
Thankfully, on most days, I resist the urge to sound off. My lesson was learned in the early days of social media. When Twitter was just taking off (around 2007, I think) I was using the platform a lot. Most of the time I posted links to a blog I owned. Nearly all of my writing was Bible-based, but on two occasions I remember addressing an “issue” that was hotly debated at the time.
I didn’t call anyone out. I don’t even remember mentioning names. But I did disagree with another blog post, that I also linked. My language was not particularly strident. What I said wasn’t even controversial. As far as I can tell (even now) my view is pretty mainstream within Christianity.
When the link was posted on Twitter, things began to heat up. Let me be clear, it was not “viral” by any common definition. It just got a few very niche Christian bloggers talking. They were not happy. One of the more prominent people sent me a very, very harshly worded message.
Because I had no intention of falling out with this person (or anyone else) over the issue, I deleted the blog post and the tweet. I honestly had no idea people would react so furiously, so quickly, and so uniformly. But they did.
Others defended me. People I didn’t know. And their defense was quick and harsh. Too quick and too harsh. I didn’t want to be associated with this and eventually deleted the entire blog, choosing to post only devtionals and Bible teaching on a different domain.
Some of the people arguing on Twitter continued to argue. The last I had an account (several years ago) some of them were still tweeting their instant reactions. At the risk of starting another debate for this opinion: I believe this is unwise.
No one is waiting by their mobile device to hear from us. They are not refreshing their social media feeds to read our very first thoughts. Hot takes are usually not the best takes.
Research is good. Thoughtfulness is good. Facts are good. Careful attention to detail is good. And integrity is must.