The Wedge of Social Media: Formation, Humility, and the Test of Community truthsum.org

Social media offers unprecedented access to ideas and communities, but it also exposes the cracks in our formation. Every belief finds reinforcement, every doubt an echo, every opinion a following. Children grow up immersed in this environment, and adults are not immune. Families strain, and even churches feel the pull. What matters most is not how loudly something is said, but what kind of foundation it rests upon.

Parenting in this world requires intentionality. Guidance, correction, and boundaries are often reframed as harmful, while social media rushes in to fill the gaps. Children searching for belonging encounter endless frameworks for identity, doubt, and belief—often before they are ready to wrestle with them. Without a deliberate foundation, they learn to prioritize expression over restraint, affirmation over accountability, and escape over endurance. Formation requires presence, consistency, and the willingness to be the authority when it is perceived as strict, all while remaining a steadfast source of support.

Adults and communities face a similar test. The abundance of voices online amplifies division, rewards extremes, and exposes weaknesses in convictions. Opinions become identity, humility grows rare, and even the structures designed to guide and unify are strained. Social media does not simply present ideas; it exploits the weak points in belief and character, placing wedges where cracks already exist.

The only safeguard is a long, honest, and humbling look at ourselves—measuring habits, assumptions, and beliefs against enduring truth rather than fleeting opinion. Without that humility, no amount of information will steady us; with it, even a fractured world may yet find firm footing.

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