justaboringlemon

[justaboringlemon]

Okay but what if... Jesus Trend?

Trends don’t have to be used for evil (*looks at the devious lick*). There can be trends used for good things! Consider a hypothetical trend called “Bibleing”. Bibleing would be hiding little slips of paper with bible verses on them in books in libraries. This trend could be used to spread the Gospel to people in a way that is both a little unexpected, and fun to be on. People could choose their own verses to do so, and it causes people to stop and wonder about why people are doing this.

This is just a hypothetical idea, and probably is not as wonderful as I describe it as since I am no expert on trends and often find that I create ideas with unforeseen consequences that are far worse than what I think should happen. But the idea is that we could use trends to spread the word. This means that we need to spend some time breaking down what makes a successful trend.

First if the “fun factor”: is it fun to do the trend? We need to make sure that the trend’s action is something that is fun to do and is entertaining to watch as well. Looking back to the Ice Bucket Challenge, a lot of the reason it is trending is because of the fun-ness of dumping ice on your friends, and how fun it is to watch your friends have ice dumped on them.

Second is to create a way for the trend to spread itself. A prime example of a trend that is spread purely based on its ability to spread itself is a status on discord asking you to message them “tomato”. Upon falling for the “trap” you are given a copy-pasted paragraph that you have indeed acted the fool in this scheme, and that for two weeks you must now also change your status to the same. Furthering itself to see just how far it can spread until it eventually fizzles out like everything does.

So anyways, want to make a trend? Make it fun, make it have a spreading aspect, and then attach a message to it that you’d like to spread with it! Have fun manipulating social media :D

[justaboringlemon]

What's Trending Today?

Trends! Trends! Trends! We all love our social media trends! The ice bucket challenge! This one trend where people animate characters laying in the ground singing Porque te vas? (I really like this one). There are just so many trends and it’s insane to see how they spread like wildfire. Even objectively stupid/destructive ones like the Devious Lick. According to Wikipedia: “The trend originated on September 1st, 2021, after the TikTok user jugg4elias posted a video showing a box of disposable masks they claimed to have stolen from school, with the caption "A month into school... devious lick".” The devious lick was a trend where students would simply just… Steal public and private property because it was… Funny? I remember walking into my high school’s bathroom and simply seeing that all the paper towel holders had been removed, most likely by a student.

The trend spread because it was “fun” to do something that was so “devious”... Even though it actively made the lives of everyone around them objectively worse since there were no paper towels in the bathroom. There was also a group mentality that plagued the people of social media as “it’s the popular thing”. 

Why do people do trends? Because they think it is fun to do so! Look at the Ice Bucket Challenge: it has a cause behind it, yes… But it’s also fun to dump ice on your friends! Add on that you get to nominate other friends. So then trends are often marked by doing something either exciting or something that allows people to do something fun. 

[justaboringlemon]

Are You My Neighbor???

Are you my neighbor? Isn’t that an odd question to ask? Shouldn’t I know who my neighbors are based on where I live? Why am I asking you behind the screen if you are my neighbor? Well, in the digital age where people are more connected than ever: lines tend to get blurry! Before neighbors were location locked, where you physically were in the world, but now that I can be anywhere in the world from the safety of my home computer… Who is my neighbor?

First I think it’s important to clarify why it’s important to know who your neighbors are. The Bible calls us to be good to our neighbors (Luke 10:36-37 “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.””). As such, we need to figure out who our neighbors are.

So then, are my neighbors just the people in my physical life who live next to me? I don’t really believe that was ever who our neighbors were. I think that our neighbors are the people we interact with. This means that when on the internet, and on social media, it’s important to then treat everyone with kindness and respect. Looking to help people and provide them with what they need. So then, won't you be my neighbor?

[justaboringlemon]

Theology??? On my Tumblr Post??? Is that... ETHICAL?!

It’s no secret that the internet is kinda a place full of bad things. Things that are immoral and wrong to view or create. It’s full of hatred and pain and suffering and evil. If your job as a church worker is to be counter-cultural to those things and prove that they are wrong then it might seem like the best choice is to just not be on the internet at all as it would prove the best point.

But the internet is where people are. Our job is to reach people and spread the message of Christ to them. So then: is it ethical to be on the internet as someone working in the church? I won’t hide my stance: Yes, I believe it is ethical to be in online spaces as a church worker; with the caveat that you have to set healthy boundaries in doing so. It is seen as invasive and maybe even hostile to stalk your congregants online: it’s like you’re just following them around with a magnifying glass trying to wait for them to sin and mess up.

I like the position one of my profs has with social media. He doesn’t follow anyone that he might have authority over unless they follow him first. By allowing them to initiate this contact it allows for the other party to feel like the relationship is not invasive or overstepping. With that being said, I still have started putting more consideration into what I’ve posted on my instagram since following my prof. 

The general consensus is that if social media would cause a church worker to fall into sin for one reason or another: it’s best to not be on it at all. If instagram causes you to stalk and view your congregants life in a way that they feel like their privacy has been breached, it is better to not be on instagram. If your Twitter is causing your congregation to feel alienated by your political beliefs and it is causing problems in the church? Delete Twitter.

But if your posts are helpful, building up your community and providing strength to your friends and followers through your words? Why would it be wrong to use this conduit to spread goodness? Until social media becomes a stumbling block for you or others, there is nothing inherently wrong about using social media as a church worker. But then, there is another issue: audience reception.

Audience reception is an important thing when it comes to social media. You are not personally there to interpret what you’re saying. Take Philippians 4:13 (ESV translation) “I  can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Just posting this verse might give the audience the idea that literally anything can be done if you use God for strength. In reality the verse is a deep and personal statement by Paul about how his faith will allow him to persevere against persecution and even martyrdom if he must face it. This means that church workers need to put more consideration into what they post so that they do not accidentally start giving people the wrong idea when it comes to the bible. Thank you for coming to my short little TED Talk.

[justaboringlemon]

What is Misinformation?

What is misinformation? We hear about it all the time in a form of buzz word slop that is used in politics and social media arguments. In short: Misinformation is information that is just wrong, but not made to intentionally hurt someone. If it was made to intentionally hurt someone that would be disinformation. But that begs the question: What exactly is information?

The definition that Google gives when someone searches “information meaning” is: “facts provided or learned about something or someone.” So then, information is simply the facts of anything, usable or unusable (thank goodness useless information is still information or else I would be information-less). 

This definition means that misinformation would then be any false facts about a person or thing. So… Lying. But why would someone do this? Spreading false information on the internet? Why would some heartless monster… Lie? In an online space where there are no consequences for doing so and where enough misinformation is around that it is getting harder and harder to fact check every day? Surely no one would take advantage of that for their own personal gain or enjoyment?

If you actually asked any of those questions I am asking for you to keep your innocence and leave the internet before it is irreversibly shattered and your hope in humanity is ruined. Mine was a long time ago by watching fights on reddit and general human rights abuses. Anyways, people love lying on the internet and creating as much chaos as they can in doing so.

It’s time to play a little game: What is Information, Misinformation, and Disinformation?

Toads are amphibians 

My college professors kick puppies

Salt is often in a shaker

Salt is a metamorphic rock

The answers? Information, Disinformation, Information, Misinformation.

It seems easy on paper to identify what is true and false online. But it’s not so simple when the lies become more complex. Things like “Celebrity said [X]”, “Berries are actually bad for you for [Y] reasons”, and “The optimal room temperature for sleeping is actually 52 degrees”. All of these are probably made up or false (the optimal temperature for sleeping is between 60 and 67 degrees). But if I wanted to make my professors look bad I could start lying about them on the internet (this is disinformation). 

So, what you should do about this is fact check things. Look at science books, look at the news, so on and so forth. Just be smart, check your sources, use your brain. I believe in you.

[justaboringlemon]

The Ever-Evolving Internet

The internet is kinda an odd place. We are actively manipulating a rock to think for us for our own enjoyment. It’s actually fairly remarkable that we got to this point. See, the internet wasn’t always like this (shocking I know) and so I want to take a little time to look at how the internet evolved to this point.

The internet started in 1983 (this would be the Web 1.0), but wasn’t really used for much until 1990 (Which is crazy to think that we put a man on the moon back in 1969). Even back in that initial usage era of the internet there wasn’t much to do. Mostly just wikis and even then it was not accessible to the average person at all. The people using the internet at the time were either computer scientists or government officials. It was mostly for short communications or small transmissions.

Eventually the internet made its way into the hands of the average person (causing the Web 2.0) due to advances in technology that made it viable for someone with little training to be able to learn how to use the internet. Notably HTML was created during this time, a simplistic but powerful coding language that allowed for the creation of simple web pages, and eventually complex ones too! (Seriously HTML is scary with how powerful it is… I wish I was better at it ;A;).

The Web 2.0 is what most people remember: dial up internet, weird buzzing and beeping noises, and the Super Nintendo all were part of Web 2.0. What was also important was the usage of the internet by corporations and companies. People saw that there was money to be made on the internet and so they began to capitalize on it. That means that a good population of the internet was really just companies and their employees either making public interfaces or websites (like Amazon shopping or the Sears website). 

Eventually things like social media began to pop up. Myspace was created in 2003, Twitter was made 2006, Tumblr was created 2007, YouTube was created in 2005, and Facebook in 2004. People began to see the internet as a social platform, where people could connect based on interests, or just send funny cat images to their in-laws in place of actually interacting with them at family dinners. It was due to all of this that the internet began to veer away from corporate usage (although we will never escape that) and to a more social media based internet. This is Web 3.0, and what our current internet is; although some do argue that the internet is bordering on Web 4.0. If the Web 1.0 was marked by inaccessibility, the Web 3.0 is marked by accessibility. For better or for worse, everyone and their grandma has the tools to create content on the internet now. The quality of content takes some effort, but anyone can create wonderful digital slop.

The Web 3.0 also is a pivot into user privacy. People looked at the internet, saw that corporations and businesses were using their data, and went “hey… I don’t like that…” and so now everything is the same but done in a way that makes the user feel like they have control over this at all. The changes in technology also help, namely the usage of AI is what marks a shift into Web 3.0. In the current age nearly everything has a base form of AI integrated into it, somehow phone calls also have an AI integrated into it and I have no idea how that works but it’s probably cool for a handful of people! Some people talk about there being a Web 4.0 and a Web 5.0 but I don’t believe that those can be real yet so I won’t talk about them.

Anyways, have a good day.