It’s been a year, hasn’t it? And 2020 just keeps on happening!
I’m not alone in feeling like the air is thick with gloom all the time. Just waking up and turning on the “Today” show comes with some anxiety: “…wonder what’s the latest crazy thing…?” In a sermon a few years ago, Amy quoted a commentator who noted that human beings are built to handle bad news. Disappointment and despair are part of the routine. We can handle bad news. What we can’t handle is all of the bad news all at the same time, and that’s what’s happening to us. From always-on cable news to 24/7 social media, we’re inundated - all the bad news, from all over the world, all the time.
Social Media may be the worst thing that has ever happened to the nation. (How can something with such incredible potential be so badly used?) At first there was a sense of euphoria. I heard nothing-but-praise: social media will level the playing field. Whether you’re from Calcutta or Charlotte, you’ll have access to a world wide web of wisdom… social media will end racism because you’ll be able to talk to anyone and never have the chance to judge them by their skin… social media will improve business because free communication will provide instant customer feedback… yada, yada, yada…
What most of us didn’t know about back then were the algorithms. Algorithm is just a mathematical word for any set of rules. When you bake a cake, you’re following a kind of algorithm. Amy says cream the butter and sugar first for the perfect pound cake. Then add the flour… You must follow the rules. Don’t doubt her. She’s baked a thousand pound cakes.
What we didn’t count on, but should have been obvious, is that people create the algorithms that control the social media feeds. Programmers are, as it turns out, not so perfect. Someone has to tell Facebook which posts and feeds should magically pop-up on your newsfeed (and from which of your “friends” and from which seemingly random bloggers and which surprisingly in-tune-to-your-wants advertisers). As it turns out, this isn’t random. Also as it also turns out, bad news is the best news for success, even if it’s completely false news. The more divisive the better, the more sensational the better… because apparently the not-so-perfect programmers are just part of the not-so-perfect rest of us, who seem to gravitate to bad news. The angrier, the better!
So we just keep on surfing… and we get one step closer to the bottom with ever click.
It all seems to be building toward a breaking point. (At least we can hope.) Maybe November 3 will be a breaking point? Whatever it is, it cannot come soon enough. Those campaign ads (for all the candidates) are killing me. Politicians are obviously taking cues from that same algorithm playbook. Because apparently it doesn’t matter what “Candidate A” is for. It just matters how wicked and stupid you can make “Opponent B” sound. The “badder”… the angrier… the better.
When I can turn it all off, an interesting thing happens… Quiet. (Can you hear it?) It’s not just the physical noise. The spiritual noise gets quiet, also. In that quiet I can remember what’s important. I can hear the good news - all the good news. The curious thing is that the good news is more prevalent than the bad news. It really is. Everywhere, literally, good news is happening. It just doesn’t have an algorithm, yet.
I’m praying for my country and its people. I’ve never known such chaos. It’s a sign of the advice and examples we are following, and a frightening indicator of where freedom and prosperity might lead. But there is good news (and Good News!)…
Let’s change the algorithm.
-Russ