“Like Cancer.” Do You Have It?
Both science and scripture support the toxicity claims regarding social media. Can you imagine a day without your mobile devices? A few will say that this is a wonderful thought, but the majority of people live in complete dependence on mobile devices and social networks. They are addictive. Social networks hit your brain the same way illicit drugs or the rush from gambling and other addictions. Dopamine? Here of it? Better learn if not.
Did you know that there is strong evidence that babies under two years old who are exposed to digital media regularly have a high probability for developing learning and developmental disorders? Why do we babysit our new born children with videos and TV? How about teens who regularly engage in violent video games? Have you looked into the evidence that suggests and even supports the truth about the brain? “What do you mean,” you ask? How is it that we wonder why our kids have issues with attention deficits and reasoning skills?
Look, my life is wrapped around digital media these days. Not so much by choice, but my career created a logical progression and evolution in this direction. The “good guys” have to be able to engage and wage war in cyberspace. There is such a thing as the “Dark Web.” Have you heard of it? Are you familiar? It’s kind of the underground of the Internet and you can pretty much find any kind or type of vice there you are looking for. And, so can your kids.
The actual “Dark Web,” sometimes called the “Deep Web” is a real place in cyber space. It requires a few special tools to navigate it, but it can be reached and used from most any laptop or you family computer. The network itself began as a U.S. government research project to support spies and counter narcotics operations. But, as you might guess, when we set up to counter drugs or terrorism, we must also deal with and engage the real characters who carry out these divisive and heinous crimes. The Dark Web itself is accessible and children and teens across the world are engaged in vice related activities ranging from the illegal sale of guns and drugs to illicit and child pornography.
But what about open-social media? All the big names that you know and use every day? Do you have any idea what your kids are actually doing? Who are they communicating with and why? Do you really believe that their 2000 “friends” are actually “friends”? I shared some fundamental ideas and notions about all of this in the first two blogs, but I think it is a good idea to begin to journey together into some more of the deeper and darker places so you can begin to adjust your thinking as it comes to your involvement in your kids lives.
“14 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. 17 And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, 18 who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.” (2 Timothy 2: 14 – 18)
When’s the last time you read or thought about this scripture? Like CANCER? Really? Yep… Why is it that millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of people around the world are just jumping on this toxic wagon that is headed straight off the cliff? Have you thought about this?
It’s an interesting study… the study of social media and the sociology behind it. I think I’ll coin the term “Like Cancer,” as that really does seem to describe well what has happened to our society. If you knew what social media has done to the world, our country (America) and so much of society, you would not only cringe, but you would be ashamed for allowing your children on many of these sites. The thing that just baffles me is how many men and women, leading families and parenting children have allowed their children to troll these vice-infested channels and cesspools. Did you know that President Trump began a phenomenon in about 2009 that would set in motion millions of people tweeting and engaging in other social media activities?
I’m debating what I should say and talk about in these forums – as in one sense, these are op-eds and my professional opinions. However, I’m not sharing anything with you that is not widely and plainly documented by multiple historical records. I wrote the “Cyrus” articles on this site so the Christian community could begin to revisit how it became lost in a vision that was rooted in emotions and social media in the first place… Funny thing, as I stated in the articles, the Church seems to have mistaken predictive analysis for prophetic utterance. Before you get mad, you may want to do your own research. Or, you can follow along as I attempt to publish some of these stories and facts here in this blog, Social EDU. It’s time for people – ordinary folks to start becoming educated about social media and the cancer it is creating in our lives.
I’m going to publish these Social EDU blogs as often as I can and fill them with short, but relevant stories and info. You need to know and understand what social media has done to America, but more importantly, you need to understand what you are doing to yourself and your children as you buy into the psychological hooks and feed your own addictions. Your children will never recover if you continue this path.
Let’s talk about it! See you back here very soon!
©2021 davidHENDERMAN
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