The Little Friar

I recently commented about how I determine whether an item stays on my Facebook wall.  Today, I want to focus more broadly about commenting -- either on Facebook or on blogs.  A couple of questions that I ask myself: Am I being defensive and trying to protect my vanity? Does this seem like it would be a productive, mutually-edifying and clarifying exchange or an exercise in futility? Regarding the former question, no one likes to be attacked or called names.  There's not much of that on here (thank heavens) but it pops up on my Facebook from time to time.  Mainly I'm tempted to answer snark with snark.  Regardless, these responses are being driven by my own ego.  And that's not good for the soul.  To help with this I'll often not look at the comments for most of the day.  And sometimes I pray first to get my head and heart straight. Regarding the latter question, I think I'm a pretty good judge of who seems open to conve...

Over the course of the past few days, I've been thinking about my own practice of posting on Facebook.  During breakfast a few days ago, the topic turned toward how one uses -- as a Christian -- Facebook. Let's face it:  Facebook is a social tool.  What we do with it, shows the deepest corners of our hearts, whether we admit it or not. I've only ever "blocked" someone from Facebook less than a handful of times.  Each time, it's been because this person was using their Facebook as a weapon (against me or against someone else).  I've never been sure why they thought it was appropriate:  Saying and doing things that amount to a sort of bullying.  It's possible, I suppose, they just disliked me or wanted to humiliate me publicly.  I always assume the former.  Because there are real life consequences to unfriending and blocking someone. But, for lots of folks, Facebook is a social weapon .  They used status updates to tell folks ab...

I've owned an iPhone now since last October.  It was a gift from Kendra for my birthday. Since then, it's become apparent to her -- and more and more to myself -- that I may bloody well be addicted to the device. It's possible that I have an actual psychological addiction to Facebook.  The sort of thinking that leads me to perpetual page refreshing seems eerily akin to the behavior of rats who want another seratonin shot and keep pumping that pedal.  In some ways, Web 2.0 is a tool -- that will suck out my soul if I let it.  It allows me a way to be "friends" without actually being friendly -- a key temptation for an introvert such as myself.  Then there's the added problem of apps -- stimulation vs. sensitivity.  Our culture is addicted to stimulation (Kurt Cobaine's "here we are now, entertain me").  However, the more stimulated one gets, on movies, gadgets , music, etc. the less sensitive they become.   Something, spiritually sp...