Social Media Epistemology

In the last several editorials we’ve been thinking about thinking, considering the things which shape our ideas and values. So far we’ve covered tradition, culture, philosophy, experience, and technology. A sixth influence is social media, the topic of this editorial.

I’m sure not all of our readers use social media. But even if you aren’t on social media, your children or grandchildren probably are. Or perhaps your parents. For many people, it is a regular part of their lives. And that means you should know how to think about it, whether you use it or not.

What is social media? According to the technical meaning of the words “social” and “medium”, it is any mechanism or means by which two people can interact socially. It is a go-between (a medium) for social interaction, especially when people aren’t together in person.

In a broad sense, this includes media like the newspaper and even books. But when most people use the term, they think of specific platforms such as Facebook, X/Twitter, and Instagram. These platforms are distinct from other media because they allow a user to post updates to be read by other people at their convenience. Status updates, tweets, and posts are published to a public (or semi-public) site where other people read and react on their own time. This distinguishes these platforms from realtime, personal interactions like phone calls, text, and email.

The impetus for social media is good. In its best form, it allows friends and family members to keep up with each other even when they are in different cities, states, or even countries. We can see what they’re eating, where they’re driving, and what they’re experiencing. It also provides a convenient place to update people on significant life events like weddings, births, and funerals. It allows us to maintain relationships with people whom we love but are physically separated from.

In my opinion, that’s about where the benefits stop. Social media may help us maintain existing relationships, but its value is limited for building them or for creating new relationships. Since our interaction is depersonalized and disembodied, we are limited in how well we can truly get to know someone. Social media struggles to facilitate real socialization. And in other ways, it works against it. We miss those who are in the same room because we are trying to keep up with someone halfway across the US.

But I want to focus particularly on the way social media shapes our thinking. It may seem odd to talk about social media in a series on epistemology. It is a way to access information, not a method for thinking. But it significantly affects our thinking, both because it informs what we think and because it shapes how we think. In fact, this latter effect is probably the greater. Consider the following effects.

#1. Social media encourages scattered, interrupted thinking

Because social media is engineered to hold our attention by continually feeding us new and interesting things, it trains us to interact with the world in scattered bites rather than in careful, cohesive thought. If a video bores us, a quick tap or an upward swipe takes us to something else. Every several seconds our minds process new stimuli and new data. We can go from learning how to frost a cake, to our cousin’s wedding photos, to footage from a recent assassination, to a cat playfully chasing a laser — just like that. We may be mentally or emotionally overwhelmed, or, more likely, we jump between these stimuli without being seriously affected by any of them. We learn to think briefly about many things, but never carefully about anything.

This effect grows based on how significant social media is to our lives — and especially to our thinking. If the majority of your reading and thinking come through social media, you are likely to adopt its methods. You will struggle to think carefully about important ideas because you have learned to think in many disconnected bites rather than in cohesive thoughts. Social media feeds are chaotic information kaleidoscopes which do not help us think logically, carefully, or consistently.

#2. Social media conditions us to react rather than to think

Social media platforms are after your time. And that means they are designed to show you things which interest you, which are likely to catch your attention and invite your interaction and keep you scrolling. While you have a certain amount of control over which updates you see from your friends, you have very little control over the content which is curated from influencers, news outlets, and businesses. This content is selected based on your friends and your history: which posts you read or liked, which links you clicked, and which videos you watched. Even the amount of time spent between scrolling is tracked. If you stop to watch a video but never click, comment, or like, Facebook knows that you stopped. That information goes into the algorithm which controls the content you see in the future.

There’s nothing inherently notorious about this behavior; they want to show you what you want to see. But it does have some interesting effects. One of these is that the posts which trigger outrage are the most likely to generate a response. While a user might “like” a post he agrees with, he is far more likely to comment if he disagrees. He is also more likely to interact with a post which critiques a position he already dislikes. Conflict seems to get the most attention, and since your attention is what social media engineers are after, that is what you will tend to see.

This tells us as much about human nature as it does about social media. An algorithm which is designed to show people what they want to see ends up elevating inflammatory content and burying the rest. It turns out, that’s what people like to see.

Again, this shapes how we think. Much of the content is designed to get you to click, not to help you think. Careful research and rational arguments are trimmed out in favor of catchy headlines and clickbait. Snap judgments are prioritized. Regular exposure to social media teaches us to prioritize reaction over careful thought.

#3. Social media distracts us from more worthwhile things

I do not think spending time on social media is a sin. However, in light of the biblical commands to walk circumspectly and redeem our time, it seems poor stewardship to dedicate a significant amount of time to social media. Exactly what that looks like will be different for all of us, and that’s as it should be. Each of us must consider how our social media consumption fits within a life that is lived for God’s glory above all else. For myself, I think Christian wisdom leads us away from social media and toward better things to do with our time and better ways to build our relationships.

I am not saying that our lives should be all work and no rest; from the very beginning God built work/rest rhythms into His creation. Rather, I’m saying that scrolling social media makes for poor rest. In my experience, it usually creates anxiety rather than alleviating it. Far better to read a book, have coffee with a friend, or rest in thoughtful silence (though silence is rare in my 4-boy household).

I am also not saying that we shouldn’t make time for family and friends. But social media is one of the least effective ways of building those relationships.

Spending significant time on social media affects our beliefs and values. If we fill our leisure time by thumbing through our feeds, we miss opportunities to grow in other ways — especially through reading. Probably the best way to learn to think well is to read regularly and broadly. We can read a biblical counseling book to learn about how the gospel impacts everyday life, or read world history to see how sinful human nature works, or read a few pages of theology to grow in our knowledge of God’s truth. And of course, we can read God’s word to get to know His character, will, and works straight from the purest spiritual springs.

When we fill our spare time with social media, we can spend so little time thinking that we don’t know what to think or even how to think.

Practical Tips

So then, what’s the way forward? I don’t necessarily think that you should start a social media strike, but I want you to think about your relationship with social media. Here are a few things to get you started:

• Consider your habits. There was a period in my life when I could pull out my phone, open Facebook, and start scrolling without a conscious thought. Checking Facebook was so engrained into my life that I would impulsively check it even when I had checked it less than an hour before. Do you habitually check social media? Is this habit healthy, neutral, or unhealthy?
• Balance your intake. Pair your social media intake with reading something that requires sustained, focused thought. Well-written articles, and especially books, require us to carefully consider a few ideas over a longer period of time.
• Put on when you put off. If you decide to cut some or all of your social media time, plan how you will use that time instead. If you usually check Facebook when you drink your mid-morning coffee, plan to text or voice message a fellow church member, friend, or brother or sister instead. It’s amazing how many people you can keep up with if you send one message per day.
• Ask if the benefits are worth the costs. Is your time on Instagram worth what you gain in keeping up with your friends? The answer may be “yes”, but for many of us it is probably “no”. Spending fifteen minutes writing a letter, chatting on the phone, or sending a personal text or voice message would probably benefit you more.