Catholics (including myself) often justify our presence on social media by evangelization, teaching and Church reform.  But do the advantages really outweigh the benefits for even the most astute apologists online? Besides the big pitfalls of porn and bullying, there are some other smaller hazards to Christians on social media.  I’m not speaking of simply manners, but things that will affect people’s salvation.  Let’s look at five other hidden pitfalls to social media:

  1. Fake Romances, Fake Friendships.  Many marriages have been broken up when a spouse meets another person online.  Sometimes that spouse commits adultery with the new squeeze met online.  But sometimes the married person leaves for a person that doesn’t even exist!  Imagine leaving your spouse for a robot… Also, there is the less-serious danger of thinking your “friends” online are actually friends.   Although that last sentence doesn’t seem to affect salvation, friends in real life are often essential to salvation.
  2. Dopamine as the Motivator.  Many people today now recognize that dopamine is the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure.  However, Dr. Andrew Huberman MD of Stanford frequently points out that dopamine is not only the pleasure chemical, but also the motivation chemical.  It has to be used as a balance system.  For even licit pleasures (non-sinful pleasure) a person’s dopamine is put into imbalance if he does not face an equal amount of pain (or at least suppressed immediate-satisfaction) every day.  Even non-immodest hits on a website release some dopamine in the brain.  But if this is not balanced by mortification, the person’s baseline motivation will get decrease.  What this means is that even non-sinful use of the internet will cause depression.
  3. Calumny and Impossible Reparation.  Catholic Twitter has been described as a “mosh pit” because anything goes in silly accusations and harsh criticism. But that is not the objective truth of the situation.  Really, every tweet is a separate, public website.  This means every tweet will be harshly scrutinized instantaneously by God at our particular judgment on if we go to heaven or hell.  Can one repent for untrue tweets? Yes, but the old-school theologians say that one cannot make a good confession for ruining someone’s reputation until one makes adequate public reparation to your enemy’s good name.  What this means is that reparation will be impossible for most Catholics before their final judgment since they purposely ignore the 8th Commandment, written on every heart regardless of catechesis. (cf Rom 1.)
  4. Heresy and Error.  Catholic twitter has many uneducated Catholics giving theology lessons every day.  I see daily errors not only from liberal Catholics, but even traditional Catholics. The fact is that no one went to heaven for their use of social media, but many have already gone to hell.  Is it worth doing amateur theology on Twitter?  It doesn’t matter if you go to the Latin Mass.  Error taught publicly is error taught publicly.  The Catholic Church has always taught that if you deny one tenet of the faith, you deny the entire Catholic Faith.  There will be no explanation for that on judgment day, so if you don’t know every aspect of traditional theology (and how to apply it) you have a better chance at salvation by silence than being 80%-right and 20%-wrong (as most traditional Catholics are all day on X.)
  5. Prayer and Catechesis Sidelined.  It’s not enough to rip on ex-Prez Cornpop or Cardinal Cupcake to attain eternal salvation.  You can know those guys are heretics and still go to hell.  The fact is no Catholic should turn on social media for even one minute until they have made a resolution that goes something like this:  “I will always pray with my family for 20 minutes a day and I will always catechize my children for 20 minutes a day before I look at a single piece of Catholic news online.”  Look, I could get a huge following by making fun of liberal Catholics if I turned my podcast into a Church reform podcast.  But instead I do the RCT (Roman Catechism of Trent) and VLX (Video Lectio Divina) because I know that I will be judged not on how many errors I can find in the teachings of Cardinal Cupcake of Chicago, but rather on if I used well the gifts of teaching I have been given.  Same for you as lay people.  You can be the most entertaining Catholic guy on Twitter and still lose everything eternally if you are not teaching your kids how to pray and how know the faith deeply.