Digital Peacemakers
10 ways to practice peace online
I’ve posted about practicing peace before. And occasionally I’m reminded of our responsibility to not only practice peace in the streets, in lived-out interactions and situations, but in our online spaces: our video game chats, social media feeds, blogs, and YouTube comments. It can be easy to forget our witness as followers of Jesus in these spaces because we can hide behind avatars and nicknames. But God sees these interactions too!
Whether we’re interacting with a stranger or with someone we’ve known for years, we must always be guided by the biblical principle that everyone is a fellow image-bearer of God with us. So here are 10 ways that we can practice a peace witness in our online interactions:
1. Take a Day: Before posting a comment, sending a message, reposting, or giving a hot-take, take a day to consider if your words are kind, constructive, necessary, and informed. The world does not need more hot-takes! Balanced-nuanced-and-kind-takes may not roll off the tongue as easy, but it’s good medicine for a sick online world.
2. Assume the best of the other person: In many online interactions, it's easy to misinterpret tone or meaning. Try to assume that others have good intentions, even if their message isn't perfectly clear. It’s how you would want others to treat your comments, so try to give that gift to others as well.
3. Practice empathy: Try to put yourself in the other person's shoes. Practically speaking, asking questions of the other person is probably how this works out best. Not “gotcha” questions, but honest, curious questions. The more we know about a person, the more we can understand them and interact with them as a person, rather than an enemy.
4. Be respectful, even in disagreement: It's okay to have different opinions, but express them respectfully. Avoid personal attacks, insults, or generalizations. Chances are that the person you’re interacting with is not a literal monster.
5. Focus on the issue, not the person: If you're debating a topic, keep your comments focused on the subject matter, not on the individual you're interacting with. Remember, the person is an image-bearer along with you. Listen, show respect, and talk about the topic.
6. Avoid escalation: If an interaction starts to become heated, consider disengaging or taking a break. Don't fuel the fire. If you pull away from an online interaction, the other person just might think that they’ve “won”. But the goal of “winning” online is part of what creates a toxic and ugly online culture in the first place. Online “wins” are not our aim. We want Kingdom wins, and sometimes that might mean pulling back from interactions that are growing toxic in order to not lose ourselves in debate.
7. Curate your feed: Unfollow or mute accounts that consistently promote negativity or conflict. My social media feeds are mostly populated with cute dog videos and comics. I want my social media to make me laugh or help me to feel a little lighter, not build my rage scroll by scroll.
8. Promote positive discourse: Offer encouragement and support and model honest and respectful communication. And never underestimate the power of humor. Laughter is one of the most powerful disarmers (is that a word?) in the world.
9. Apologize when you make a mistake: If you realize you've said something hurtful or miscommunicated, apologize sincerely and swiftly. The public nature of online interactions exaggerates hurts and miscommunications. But as much as hurts can be magnified online, so too can public humility and sincere apologies be magnified. Be the bigger person and humble yourself if it is warranted.
10. Sabbath from the internet: This is one I could stand do to better with myself. Taking breaks helps to restore perspective, reengage us with real-life relationships, and remind us that the online world is weird. Touch grass, take breaks, and live a real-life life.
Can you think of any more ways to practice peace online? Are any of these particularly difficult for you?