Cyber Community, Connection, Talking

Never say never. I am now on "Facebook". It is a good thing, I think, to be connected with people. A very good thing. It is Biblical. We don't do it enough. We need to be involved in the lives of others. It is a demonstration of our faith to "bear one anther's burdens". But, is it correct to call an electronic connection a community? If so, it is a whole other way of thinking of it - different from the past view of seeing community as a collection of people who love, care, and serve one another in tangible ways. (I am NOT saying that people connected by the computer do not express those, but I do think the temptation is there to not) The danger of an electronic community is that we can become voyeuristic, not in some perverted way, but in the way that we look through the window of our computer at the lives of others, people we really care about, and our only involvement is through words typed onto a screen. It is a means of satisfying our curiosity but not a means of applying our love. It is like the old saying, "thinking about praying is not the same as praying". Reading the agony someone is experiencing is not the same as heading to their home and seeking to help them. It may be argued, of course, that at least we now know about the agony.

And yet, for all the shortfalls, it DOES connect us in a way we have not been doing. It does provide the opportunity for legitimate expressions of love, for tangible and viable opportunities to meet needs. And, maybe I am taking it all to a place where we don't need to go. Maybe cyber community is about having some fun with other folks, a light touch, but a touch nonetheless.

Anyway, I do have to be careful with my time. And, I don't want to loose face to face, hand to hand contact with people. As good as cyber communities may be, they can never, ever replace the need for us to sit together, face one another, share our joys, burdens, prayers, concerns, and victories together.