By James R Wood, TGC.
These insights, alongside Ellul’s arguments about propaganda, help us perceive how we’re being herded by algorithms, outrage baiters, and professional provocateurs. Ellul understood propaganda as mass communication used to trigger reactions.
A common admonishment from those who lament our digital age’s dilemmas is to “log off.” Those convinced of the merits of social media engagement push back, arguing much good can be accomplished online. I don’t entirely disagree with the latter, but we need to be more critical about how we curate our attention.
It’s too simplistic to say social media isn’t “real life.” The lines between our digital and material worlds increasingly blur, and what happens online has real-life effects. However, the platforms deceive us into thinking we’re accomplishing more than we are. Soon, those active on them become addicted to the daily drama. A new battle is provoked each day, with prominent figures and their allies falling predictably along tribal lines—and we feel pressured (or excited) to add our voices.
Jacques Ellul (1912–94) was a mid-century Protestant theologian and social critic who attended more than perhaps any Christian thinker of his era (other than Marshall McLuhan) to the influence of technology and new media. We need to listen to his wisdom about this phenomenon and what it does to us.
Presence in the Modern World
In his major sociological worksand his theological writings on how Christians should engage the world, Ellul warned about getting sucked into the “feed.”
He observed that modern media technology, such as the daily news thrusts on us a barrage of “facts” and dilemmas. We can easily apply his thought to today’s social media. Those who engage are pressured to take a side. We take the plunge because we want to be in the mix, to be “up to date.” This makes us feel important. We must remain logged on and locked in; we can’t miss an important development or emerging discourse; we can’t be left behind, ignorant about the action and absent from the scene. Ellul described this as a “craze for what is current.”