Electronic Courage

It used to be that we would say things behind people’s backs that we wouldn’t say to their faces. But as we barrel forward on this information superhighway, we’ve found a new way to do it. Instead of saying things behind people’s backs, we just say it on the internet where everyone (including that person) can see it. We tweet our gossip, and we make slander our Facebook status. Often we regret the things that we have said, but by then half the world has seen it and it is too late.

My friend calls it “electronic courage” and I think he is right. It’s an epidemic for our teenagers, but it is frightfully common for adults as well. It is almost like we live in two separate worlds, the real one and the electronic one. Somehow we feel that actions taken in the electronic world won’t affect the real world, but they do. They hurt people, they destroy relationships, and if we’re Christians they taint our reputation and our effectiveness for Christ.

Common sense says that if we wouldn’t do it in person, we shouldn’t do it online. Jesus tells us in Matthew 18 to go talk to the person who wronged us if there is a problem, not to share it with the world through the internet. The things we say and do online have real world consequences, and if the actions we take on Facebook are not a reflection of what Christ taught, then they are not the kinds of things that we should be saying.