I have seen the dangerous hold that social media has on our society and the addiction that occurs and yet my job is to make content for social media… Do I stop feeding the monster or do I fight it from the inside and try to use the content I create to bring light into what can be such a dark and destructive place? This is something I contemplate frequently, but before we go and answer that, let's back up just a bit.
I have been working at Hungry For Life for just over a year, and prior to that I was in a similar media position at a church. Not all my job is social media, but a significant percentage is, since most of our supporters use Facebook, Instagram, YouTube etc. These are the platforms where we can share stories of lives transformed through Jesus, update family and friends on their loved ones' missions' team and highlight the countless servant leaders we work with around the world. This all sounds great, right? Exactly. That is why I find myself in this dilemma. I can get so frustrated with social media and the grip it can have on my life and the people around me, but yet at the same time it can be a platform for life-giving, inspiring content.
I am not sure if I get frustrated with social media since I am around it quite a bit for work, but it is ironic that the gal who is behind the camera, creating and editing these videos for social media, is trying to get the people around her to boycott social media. It is not a great business plan. And that is just the thing; it's not a great strategy to ignore the platforms that hold your audience and “ghost” your community. If I want people to hear these stories and see this beautiful work happening worldwide by our local partners, then I need to take it to where the people are.
This is also hard in my own life. When I have left social media for stints, it feels freeing and refreshing, but after a while I miss people. Now I know that sounds weird, and I very much understand that social media does not replace human interaction, but it is the small life updates from friends or an engagement announcement from your old high school classmate that you miss out on when you remove yourself from the platforms that everyone else keeps using.
So, what is the answer? Do I delete it all, go cold turkey and run for the ‘off the grid’ hills? Or do I work endlessly to try and comply with the algorithms and yet try to find Kingdom-focused, encouraging content to communicate to the people behind the screens?
In my opinion, there is no perfect answer (if you find a loophole, then please email me!).
It is all about balance. In my personal life, it is about setting strong boundaries and making sure that I don’t prioritize my phone and social media higher than my relationship with God, my husband, and the people around me. With work, it comes down to being extremely purposeful with what we create at Hungry For Life and how we represent our organization on social media. What I mean is that first and foremost we look at the content we are setting out to create. We ask ourselves, “What's our purpose?” and “How is this representing God and the people involved in the content?”. Most businesses try to feed into the algorithms and marketing and keep you scrolling through their content for as long as you can keep your eyes open. But at HFL our goal isn’t to keep you on our Instagram page; it's quite the opposite. Our goal is to get you off your phone and involved in missions overseas, to use our resources here to help fight physical and spiritual poverty worldwide. Our mission is for people in Canada to partner with us and be involved in life transformation. Going to serve fills us up, and we can bring back that love and impact to our communities here. So, the line is gray, but my prayer for my life and community is that we would treat these platforms as a tool and use them to further God's kingdom, instead of letting them use us.
