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We all feel the influence of social media around us, even if we're not users ourselves. But trying to grasp what that is, where it's a benefit, and where it's a danger, can feel like trying to pick up jello. We know something has changed and continues to change but it's hard to grasp what that is.
Chris Martin's new book, The Wolf in Their Pockets: 13 Ways the Social Internet Threatens the People You Lead, helps us see through the fog and offers practical steps to guard against the dangers near and ahead.
The Wolf in Their Pockets is written especially for Christian parents and leaders, or as Martin puts it, "Christians who have some measure of authority." For a book written for a broader audience, I also recommend Martin's previous book, Terms of Service: The Real Costs of Social Media, which describes the dangers of social media we all face.
After reading an early copy, I wrote this blurb for the book:
Too many churches and Christian communities are being misled, misinformed and malformed by the "wolf in their pockets." Christians are being discipled through YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and a host of entertaining options on their cellphones and pastors struggle to compete. How do churches minister in this environment? Chris Martin provides clarity on what the problems are while offering some practical steps churches can take to counter some of the darkest impulses of our social media age.
The publishers link is here and the Amazon link is here. Sign up for Martin’s newsletter here.
3 More Things
1) The Kansas City shooter was radicalized by right-wing media, according to his grandson. Andrew Lester, who shot Ralph Yarl, a black teen who accidentally went to the wrong house, had become immersed in “a 24-hour news cycle of fear and paranoia,” Klint Ludwig told the Kansas City Star. His grandfather had "become staunchly right-wing, further down the right-wing rabbit hole as far as doing the election-denying conspiracy stuff and COVID conspiracies and disinformation, fully buying into the Fox News, OAN kind of line," he added.
2) After helping spread disinformation regarding voting machines in the 2020 election, Fox News will pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle its defamation suit. The agreement does not require Fox News to apologize or issue a retraction. Charlie Sykes has a good summary of initial reactions to the news.
3) In another consequence of spreading election disinformation, MyPillow founder Mike Lindell will have to pay Robert Zeidman $5 million for successfully completing the "Prove Mike Wrong" challenge. Lindell's company created the "Prove Mike Wrong" challenge and offered $5 million to anyone who could prove that Lindell's data did not show there was voter fraud in the 2020 election. While Zeidman, a computer forensics expert and Trump supporter, not only proved that Lindell's data didn't show voter fraud, an arbitration panel concluded, he also proved that Lindell's data wasn't even connected to the 2020 election.
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