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By Eric A. Clayton<\/p>\n
Facebook has had a tough couple of months.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve been following the news, you know that a series of investigative reporting, a flurry of testimony and interviews both on the Hill and on our TV screens and a consortium of international journalists \u2013 all spurred by the work of a Facebook analyst-turned-whistle blower \u2013 have revealed what we probably all already knew: Some pretty bad stuff happens on \u2013 and apparently at \u2013 Facebook.<\/p>\n
Instagram tanks the self-esteem of young people. Facebook\u2019s algorithm makes us all angrier. And communities from Ethiopia to Myanmar suffer unspeakable violence and hate because no one seems able or willing to adequately monitor all the content produced across the globe.<\/p>\n
And to cap off these disturbing series of reports, we learn that Facebook is doubling down on the digital world it\u2019s creating, evidenced by the company\u2019s new name, Meta.<\/p>\n
If science fiction has taught us anything, we should know to be at least a little skeptical of the creation of parallel or alternate universes, particularly those powered by machines and fully virtual in their manifestation. I\u2019m pretty sure that was the moral of The Matrix<\/em>.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t just about Facebook, though; this is about social media, the ecosystem we all sink and swim in every single day. Problematic though it is \u2013 and it is in many ways \u2013 social media is here to stay.<\/p>\n In the First Week of The Spiritual Exercises<\/em>, St. Ignatius challenges us to look closely, honestly, thoroughly at our sins and our sinfulness. It\u2019s his hope that we feel tremendous sorrow for the many times we\u2019ve refused or ignored God\u2019s love, yes, but it\u2019s also his desire that we see the full scope of suffering in our world. With God, we see the vast brokenness of creation; we\u2019re moved to tears.<\/p>\n We desire to stand with Jesus, to see all things new through the eyes of Christ, and give ourselves to God\u2019s project of love, mercy and compassion, to realize God\u2019s dream. We desire to heal the brokenness in ourselves and the wounds our brokenness has caused in our world.<\/p>\n This only works, though, if \u2013 to borrow once again the words from Walter Burghardt, SJ \u2013 we take \u201ca long, loving look at the real.\u201d We cannot shy away from the world\u2019s great need, the tremendous suffering of humanity and creation.<\/p>\n Isn\u2019t this exactly what we are so often tempted to do in our mindless scrolling through one social feed after another? Isn\u2019t this the endgame of Facebook\u2019s supposed metaverse? We separate ourselves from the world. More significantly, we become increasingly accustomed to living disjointed lives.<\/p>\n After all, are the images we share on Instagram long, loving looks at our actual lives, or lives we pretend to have? What feelings, then, are we trying to stir in our viewers? Jealousy? Envy? Anger?<\/p>\n Does TikTok put in front of us content that is reflective of the many needs of our world, or the trends most likely to keep us on the platform? Do we engage to promote the common good, or to feel relevant and timely?<\/p>\n Do our tweets engage with the brokenness of others, or do we just poke and poke and poke at wounds until they fester and bleed? Our echo chambers, after all, often only show us what we want to see \u2014 or what we enjoy gossiping about.<\/p>\n If these Facebook reports only confirm what many of us already suspected, then what responsibility do we have \u2013 have we had \u2013 to act?<\/p>\n Social media is here to stay, but we can\u2019t look at it as just another series of apps or even just one more source of news. It\u2019s become a mediating force through which we experience reality \u2013 or don\u2019t.<\/p>\n And Ignatian spirituality is deeply concerned with how we experience reality because that\u2019s where God is; that\u2019s where God\u2019s people are, where God\u2019s creation continues to unfold. Finding ourselves lost in screens disconnects us from ourselves, our bodies, our presence in the created world.<\/p>\n We must continue to challenge ourselves and one another to look honestly, deeply, painfully at what is really happening in our world around us each and every day, not just what is fed to us through algorithms.<\/p>\n And so, I invite you to take time praying with this social media examen.<\/p>\n In the end, as Ignatius\u2019 First Principle and Foundation suggests, we must be equally content with likes, retweets, shares and comments, as we are with posts that go unnoticed in so far as both help us achieve all that God intends. But we must proceed lightly, mindful that we do not turn social media \u2013 or our own social presence \u2013 into a god.<\/p>\n This reflection is part of a weekly series that you can get sent right to your inbox by signing up at\u00a0<\/strong>Jesuits.org\/weekly<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](https://www.jesuits.org/"https:////www.jesuits.org//wp-content//uploads//2021//11//My-Post-16-scaled.jpg/")
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Eric A. Clayton<\/strong> is the deputy director for communications at the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. He is the author of the forthcoming book\u00a0<\/em>