7 Deadly Sins of Online Dialogue

I'm trying to continue the series of talks that I heard at the Christ and the New Media retreat at the beginning of August. Here is the first, a summary of a talk given by John Zmirak.

John's second talk was "7 Deadly Sins of Online Dialogue," which he put in escalating order of significance. He said to always assume that people will use confessions you give them against you - then gave, what I thought to be, a heartbreaking tale of someone close to him who had done such a thing.

1. Lust - an 'easy' example, of course, is pornography. But also a big culprit can be facebook, reconnecting with old flames and having emotional affairs.

2. Wrath - it is simple online to take out a sense of betrayal on people who don't deserve it. If you are mad at someone in real life, don't take it out on a person/group online who has no idea why you are attacking with such animosity.

3. Gluttony - indulging too much and turning a hobby into an obsession; overpowering hunger for news. This constant craving for 'secret' information can ultimately lead to the occult. 

4. Greed - specifically, John pointed out the 'donate' buttons, but he also pointed out the greed for attention (negative or positive) - stats, links, etc.

5. Sloth - John talked about 'phoning posts in'. Give posts sufficient thought, and challenge yourself and your writing (this is one I also need to work on). This sin can also extend to only looking at certain sources, instead of looking at a variety of sources, whether they match up with your outlook (political, religious, or otherwise) or not.

6. Vainglory - Pride of what you have written. John's solution was to be critical of others and critical of yourself.

7. Envy seeks nothing good. This sin can manifest itself in indulging in the downfall of others - don't be the one to yell "Crucify Him!"

This talk was another example of laughing at what someone is saying, while at the same time going, "Ouch!" Several of these points apply across the board to many bloggers - and to myself. For myself, I think I'm guilty of gluttony, greed, and sloth.

I'd really like to talk about sloth here, because while on one hand I don't think I'm a good writer, I think I have a tendency to believe that I can't challenge myself - or rather that if I did challenge myself, I would fail spectacularly, crash and burn. (I'm so optimistic, can't you tell?) This can be a hard issue to overcome, and one that I think ties into vainglory - pride of what I have written. If I really wrestle with something and I think it comes out pretty dang good, of course I would be proud of that! *FAIL*

Something good that came out of this conference for me, especially through John's talks was the point being driven home that blogging isn't 'time-off' from being a Christian. I know that I have a tendency to ignore that part of me, or pretend it doesn't matter as much, just because I'm in a relatively 'anonymous' forum to spew forth my thoughts. Because of this medium, I actually have more responsibility to make sure my behavior models that of a Christian than in 'real life', not less responsibility. That's a heady thought.