Apart from CF, I use Facebook as my main social media platform. I never really got into Twitter, Instagram or others.
When used carefully and responsibly, social media has a lot of advantages. It helps you to connect (and reconnect) with your friends. It is particularly helpful for catching up with people who, for practical reasons, you can't meet up with in person. It is a great platform for sharing your news stories, photos, videos, and discussing your thoughts and feelings.
One of the greatest features of social media is the ability to join groups who share a common interest. Some of the groups are public, others are private. It is a good way for people to make new friends and build up support networks, which for many may help to alleviate their feelings of isolation.
I love amateur photography and writing music and social media is a good way to share it with others. I use Facebook to watch video streams of the Mass and other services at church which was particularly helpful to me when my church was closed during the Covid19 lockdown. My housegroup meets up on Zoom every two weeks and we have a private group on social media where we can share things with others in the group.
Unfortunately social media can be (and has been) misused by a lot of people.
Some people have lost their jobs after posting derogatory comments or sharing confidential information about their employer. Professional people (such as therapists, doctors, nurses, teachers, etc) have got themselves into hot water with their regulators by posting inappropriate content on social media that has brought their fitness to practice into question. Others have faced lawsuits by posting messages and images that are defamatory of individual people, groups or organisations, or where their privacy and dignity has been compromised.
Social media has opened up a whole new world of opportunities and we can now communicate with one another in ways that we previously never thought was possible.
But freedom comes with responsibility. We are responsible for what we post online. Once our content is published, it will be seen by many people, and not just those we think will see it.
Here are my top tips for enjoying a trouble free social media experience.
1. Respect confidentiality. Be careful not to disclose too much personal and sensitive information about yourself and certainly you should be very careful about sharing information about the people you know.
2. Do not use social media if you are under the influence of alcohol. If you are enjoying a celebration or a night out, then by all means enjoy yourself, take a camera and capture the occasion , but wait until the next day when you have sobered up to post your pictures and your comments, unless you are prepared to face permanent and irreversible damage to your friendships or even disciplinary action from your employer for gross misconduct, by posting something you never meant to when you were intoxicated.
3. As a general rule of thumb, it is best not to talk about your job. It is great to talk about your personal achievements, the certificate you gained, the promotion you got, but leave it at that. You should certainly not disclose on social media the kind of day you had, whether good or bad, and you should never disclose information about your organisation, its employees, or clients.
4. Respect equality and diversity. Many of our friends and contacts do not share our views. When posting comments about our theological and political convictions, be prepared for the fact that our views may offend some people and they may chose to sever their friendship with us. If your job involves working with the general public, including people from different social, cultural, economic and religious backgrounds, then what you post online should be very careful, tolerant and respectful.
5. Be patient and tolerant to other posters, who may share messages which you do not agree with. You have a right to your opinion, and they have a right to theirs. Even if they come across as being obnoxious and unreasonable, be sure to show kindness, humility and respect.
6. Jesus said in Matthew 12:36 "But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken". I am pretty sure that this pronouncement equally applies to our written communications and our behaviour on social media. Let our conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that we may know how to answer everyone (Colossians 4:6).