Years ago I learned a thing or two about information warfare, psychological operations, troll farms, phishing and a few other nefarious digital activities that seem far removed from cute photos of puppies and Bible verse memes. The details of these digital realities quickly become technical and even I strain towards wanting the bottom line up front (BLUF – one of my favorite military acronyms). Just tell me what to do to protect myself. 

We all need measures of wisdom that don’t come naturally. If you’re over 25, you weren’t raised with scrolling social media. We have to make a million little decisions every day. Comment or don’t comment? Share or don’t share? Our parents didn’t need to guide us on proper social media use. We don’t have the wisdom of generations before us. 

Or do we?

Matters that require measures of wisdom are contextual and nuanced. This is why we need wisdom. When it comes to our devices, every online click or tap conveys information to someone, whether a company purchasing ads, a social media arm of a country’s intelligence network or a consumer who purchases statistics on internet usage. We need to be wise in our taps and clicks not just to protect our privacy and personal information, but to be judicious in how we convey information to others. None of us wants to be a fool, though foolishness is our default nature. Wisdom, as the Proverbs remind us, calls out to us. We must run to her, embrace her and invite her into our lives, our minds, our hearts and into our taps and clicks. Wisdom demands intentionality.

As I have navigated social media over the last 15 years, I fell into a basic decision matrix on how to decide what is wise to re-post. Before re-sharing a post, ask these two questions:

Step 1. Is it an ad? If yes, don’t share. Social media feeds you innumerable ads. Many of them are things you’re legitimately interested in. Clicking on ads, however, opens you up to viruses and feeds our most basic materialistic tendencies. When I see an ad that gets me excited– to a concert or conference, for example– I look up the event online. After confirming the product is legitimate, if I still desperately want to share it with all my social media friends, I post the link from the product website on my timeline along with a comment on why I’m sharing it. Never share something without a personal sentence or two on why you’re sharing it.

Step 2. Do you have a personal relationship with the originator of the content? The originator is the person who created the meme, image, story, etc, and first posted it on the internet. The person who shared it on their page is not the originator. Most shared content on social media falls into this category. It is not shared by the originator, but someone else.

If no, then don’t share. If you aren’t the originator and don’t know the originator personally, there is no way to know if the content is credible. Photos and videos can be created by AI. “Historical narratives” can be made up. Or people can, and do, downright lie. Scripture has a word for sharing something we don’t know for certain is true, particularly if it portrays a person negatively– gossip. In Romans, the Apostle Paul told us that, while the faith of some is being proclaimed in all the world (1:8), there are also those who are given over to a mindset of maliciousness, gossip, deceit, strife and a whole host of other evils. These people know God’s righteous decrees, but nevertheless practice these things and encourage others to do so (1:28-32). In fact, they are children of wrath, meaning they will be served the justice they deserve. If you claim to be a Christian, you should not be practicing the way of the children of wrath.

Two reasons you might still share: 

1. If the content really resonates with you, take a screenshot and share it on your page with a short message of why you like it and think it’s worth sharing. This is particularly appropriate for funny memes or fictional, heartwarming stories. As a kid, I used to hang out in the greeting card aisle at Target and read all the funny greetings cards with my siblings. I also used to devour Reader’s Digest magazines at my grandma’s house. Sharing on social media is a modern corollary to those memorable experiences. I love a good laugh and a good story. But if it’s worth sharing, it is equally worth not including the associated trail of likes, shares and comments from global, anonymous users.

2. For “true” stories, news items, religious messages or any other content, wisdom says don’t share unless you’re willing to take the next wise step to cite and share the original source of the content. If a significant event occurs and you want to share it on your page or in a group message, do not share the news clip that was shared on social media. Go to the primary internet news source, find the article and share the original web address, along with the reason why you’re sharing. Neglecting to take this step is one of the primary means misinformation proliferates. Never share something without a personal sentence or two on why you’re sharing it. Always cite your sources and give attribution to the original author, to include a link to the source so readers can verify. 

If yes, share the post with at least two sentences of why you think it’s worth sharing and your connection to the originator. For example, your cousin in California posts a photo of their ravaged community after a wildfire and makes that post public. You share it with your own comments: “My cousin lives in California and he shared this photo of his community. Pray for them.” Your friends may read that post and hopefully they will respond appropriately– with prayer and perhaps a request for information on how to donate funds. If they follow this decision matrix, your friends will not share the post on their page. They don’t know your cousin personally. If they know your cousin, they should share his original post, not your post. If they ask you to make your post public so they can share the image, respectfully decline.

Notice a theme? Never share something without a personal comment on why you’re sharing it. If you are like me, your friend network is diverse, encompassing people old and young, those in my community and those across the globe, old friends from high school and new friends from church, former colleagues and current young professionals. If you have a public profile, your “friends” are strangers. None of these individuals knows me in the same way. I cannot assume they understand my motivations. If I can’t take the time to honor my “friends” by conveying why I post something, wisdom suggests I shouldn’t share it at all.

As misinformation, half-truths and downright lies produced by internet bots and real people alike proliferate across all social media platforms, we should not become placid consumers, but credible originators. We pursue credibility because we value portraying things as accurately as possible to the best of our knowledge. When Christians share speculative or untruthful information, it erodes our credibility as bearers of the ultimate good news– the Gospel. Moreso, it is an offense to God’s character, the God who is trustworthy in all he is and does. As Herman Bavinck reminds us, “All that proceeds from him bears the stamp of truthfulness.”* As followers of Christ, the overflow of our hearts and mouths should likewise be full of truth. Pursuing credibility is foundational to our gospel witness.

*Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation. Baker Academic, pg 207. Originally published in Dutch in the 1890’s.