Laughing at ourselves
339 posts and 4732 tweets on – it would be dishonest to claim that I am anything less than fond of social media. It connects me swiftly with people around the world, stimulates my imagination, informs my mind, and frequently challenges my prejudices. All the same, it is good to recognise once in a while how silly it all looks to those not involved. The video below is an advert for the forthcoming English National Opera’s production of Two Boys.
Enjoy…
preachersa2z
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4 comments
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June 24, 2011 at 8:28 am
David Bunce
Thanks for that Richard. I think you’re right – like anything else, it is something that is relevant to a certain group of people in a certain context – and outside of that context, it all becomes a bit scary.
I guess it’s slightly like how a lot of churches have language services in areas where there are high proportions of immigrants from a particular background. For those immigrants, it seems perfectly natural to worship God in say Swahili, whereas anyone else looking in will be unable to understand what is going on.
Likewise, social media is only ever useful to talking to people who already engage through social media: let’s not try and use it for our old people’s ministry!
June 24, 2011 at 9:42 am
crimperman
> Likewise, social media is only ever useful to talking to people who already engage through social media: let’s not try and use it for our old people’s ministry!
David, I’m not sure I agree with “only ever”. Social media (depending how you choose to define that) has in some contexts proven itself to reach beyond those who already engage with it. This is the same as any media: film, TV, radio, books. My wife is not on Twitter for example but I am and thus she “engages” via me and laughs & empathises with people she does not know (and neither of us have met). For example: when somebody I follow tweets that their child is poorly, my wife has often ended up praying for them as have others in my church. True the connection is me but as I said that’s the same with any media. Somebody sees a TV programme about poverty-stricken kids in the UK and others who did not see it can still engage.
Also whilst I recognise the reasons you suggested not using for an old people’s ministry I’m sure there are people of all ages using social media and I wonder if excluding it simply because you feel they won’t be interested might come across as a little patronising?
As for the video: yes it’s great fun to see people’s reactions and to look at how words we use in one context mean something else in another. But is it any sillier than say a conversation about “wireless” or “photoshop” both of which have different meanings in different contexts. What this video highlights is our need to remember the context for conversations we have – this exacerbated in the written media but applies to all.
Nice one Richard.
June 24, 2011 at 10:18 am
David Bunce
Hi,
Thanks for your response. In reference to my comment about old people’s ministry, I would say that whilst I guess I could be read as patronising, that definitely isn’t the intent, in that I am being descriptive of what is generally the case rather than prescriptive of what is the case.
As with everything in contextual theology, there are exceptions to every generality – but I guess that that gets to the heart of what I was talking about with Context: I presume a church with a large numbers of Polish immigrants wouldn’t put on a service in Swahili. Likewise, I presume a church with internet-savvy older users would engage with them through that.
I hope that clarifies my position a lot.
June 26, 2011 at 1:45 pm
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[...] Richard Littledale reflects on how silly social media can be. [...]