Neil Postman’s insight on the telegraph is just as relevant, if not more than, to today’s social media environment:

“As Thoreau implied, telegraphy made relevance irrelevant. The abundant flow of information had very little or nothing to do with those to whom it was addressed; that is, with any social or intellectual context in which their lives were embedded. Coleridge’s famous line about water everywhere without a drop to drink may serve as a metaphor of a decontextualized information environment: In a sea of information, there was very little of it to use. A man in Maine and a man in Texas could converse, but not about anything either of them knew or cared very much about. The telegraph may have made the country into “one neighborhood,” but it was a peculiar one, populated by strangers who knew nothing but the most superficial facts about each other.”

He gives us a test: “How often does it occur that information provided you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides insight into some problem you are required to solve?” (you might include your own use of social media in this question)

His point today: Our use of social media immeasurably transforms the who, what, when, where, why and how that we inform. The way we communicate effects the relevance of our communication.

Let’s make sure to communicate useful information for the good of others and the glory of God. Let’s be all about Jesus when we communicate.