The Blessing and Curse of Social Media – Countdown to the Kingdom

By Ted Flynn, author of Thunder of Justice, Hope of the Wicked, and Garbandal – The Warning and the Great Miracle

The central message of Jesus during His earthly ministry was the salvation of souls and the conversion of hearts and minds. That was it. Everything He said and did, pointed to this truth—His core mission. Jesus came to redeem individual hearts.

It’s no wonder He said of John the Baptist, “Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater” (Matthew 11:11). John’s proclamation—”Repent and believe” (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3)—was the same message Jesus brought. Whether Jesus encountered Mary Magdalene (a woman of ill repute who converted), Martha, Lazarus (a wealthy man), Nicodemus (the Pharisee who came by night), the disciples on the road to Emmaus, the Roman centurion, Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree, Jairus, or simple fishermen like Peter and John—His mission was always the same: to transform hearts and shape minds for discipleship.

He had no other agenda. No philosophical musings. No political maneuvering. Only the straightforward call to amend one’s life and see the world through the lens of the Kingdom of God. Jesus revealed a new way of living, one that gave purpose to human existence.

Today, we have largely lost sight of this core mission. One major reason is that technology and entertainment—often indistinguishable—dominate nearly every aspect of our lives. While technological advancements have brought many benefits, they have also become a scourge on society and a nightmare for parents.

In Jesus’ time, the most pressing social and political issue in Israel was Roman occupation. No other topic compared in influence on daily life. To put it in perspective, imagine a foreign military—Russian, Chinese, or otherwise—stationed outside your home, demanding taxes and obedience to their laws while asserting control over your life.

At one-point, religious leaders tried to trap Jesus with a question about paying taxes to Caesar, hoping to incite trouble. Mark’s Gospel recounts:

“Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not?” But knowing their hypocrisy, He said to them, “Why put Me to the test? Bring Me a denarius and let Me look at it.” And they brought one. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at Him. (Mark 12:14–17)

In addressing the most volatile issue of His time, Jesus offered a concise, powerful, and disarming reply. He refused to be drawn into partisan debates. He wasn’t concerned with earthly power. His focus was singular: He wanted their hearts—their very lives.

Jesus pierced stereotypes and cut through pretense. His truth spoke directly to the mind, heart, and soul. An encounter with Jesus required a response. After meeting Him, a person could no longer sit on the fence. Conversion demands a decision.

Without a true transformation of thought, habits, and life, lasting change is impossible. Jesus changed the world by investing in twelve men and countless others over a three-year public ministry. He taught and formed them in everyday life—in the heat of the day, around fires at night. There were no lectures in Greek philosophy. There was only the Gospel: repent, believe, follow.

Social movements often attempt to change the world through coercion, even as their leaders lack integrity. Revolutionaries are unwilling to surrender their will to what God is asking. Surrender is what makes a person a disciple. But when a soul is genuinely transformed—when holiness becomes visible—it sparks curiosity and inspires others to seek the same. The human soul yearns for the transcendent, something only God can provide. This longing has always been central to the teaching of the saints.

Sadly, in the latter half of the 20th century, and even more so today, this message has been buried under an avalanche of distraction. The art of discipleship—of investing deeply in another soul—has been nearly lost due to the rise of digital media. Few remain grounded in the basics of the faith.

For over two decades now, social media has consumed the time and attention of billions. Everywhere you go, people’s faces are glued to screens. The average American spends over 2.5 hours per day on social media, not counting television, work-related screen time, or streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Including all devices and platforms, data shows people spend over 7 hours a day in front of screens. On average, Americans check their phones 159 times a day. Over the last twenty-five to forty years of technology expansion and social media more recently, the empirical data is conclusive how destructive it is to a person’s psychological, spiritual, and social development and psyche. Especially youth.

Countless believers are hooked on content—podcasts, YouTube channels, TikTok feeds—subscribed to dozens of creators and flooded with constant updates. As Jesus warned about money, it is not the thing itself, but our disordered attachment that leads to ruin. The same principle applies here. If we are drawn to our devices, the key is perspective and balance.

The internet offers access to knowledge, and that can be good—but without discipline, it overwhelms. The political climate, the state of the Church, and our broader cultural anxieties make it easy to drown in headlines, hot takes, and speculation. I confess—I am not immune. Mea culpa.

Contrast this with the foundational practices of the Catholic faith, which are often neglected today:

Daily Mass (when possible)
Eucharistic Adoration
Regular Confession
Scripture study
Daily Rosary
Quiet prayer
Fellowship with like-minded believers
Acts of mercy and service

If these are absent from a person’s life, we need not look far for the reason culture is collapsing. Where God is honored, societies thrive. Where God is rejected, they decay. When the U.S. Supreme Court removed prayer and the Bible from public classrooms in 1962–63, our national trajectory changed. We chose to turn our backs on God, and—being the gentleman He is with free will—He allowed it.

Lessons from Business

In the 1980’s, there was a very well-known business management consultant by the name of Peter Drucker (1909-2005). Drucker had been known for years in the business community, but his fame and business acumen was most prominent in the 80’s. Drucker was born in Vienna Austria to a prominent aristocratic and well-established family that had distinguished intellectuals coming to his home on a regular basis in a salon setting that were internationally known in their academic and business careers. Drucker earned a doctorate in International Law at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany in 1931. After stints in many places, as men like him are ought to do, he ended up at the Claremont Graduate School in California where he remained for thirty-four years until his death at age 95. He was so well established in his field, he was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2002.

In the early 1980’s at the height of his fame, I saw an interview on television with him at a business forum. He would be asked by large businesses to come as a business consultant and help them discover their problems, restructure after bankruptcy, and the sorts of things a management consultant would do to help a business sort out their business practices to operate more efficiently. He was recognized as one of the premier business consultants of his age. He was asked a question on stage that has stuck with me to this very day that has spiritual connection to living a productive Christian life. He was asked, “What is the first thing you do when you go to meet a troubled company?” He responded, “The first thing I do after I am hired is come into the company and meet with upper management and tell them who I am, and ask them, ‘What business are you in? What is your primary business that the company is in?'” In large companies with layer after layer of bureaucracy, people often lose sight of their primary function that is the intended purpose of why they come to work every day. People often get bogged down in things that are not primary to the mission of the company and employees are no longer clear on their corporate objectives. This he said was not an isolated incident of why companies fail, and why after years of experience, he adopted the practice of asking that question first to the decision makers. When a company stumbles with what should be a clear and obvious objective, the path of the company is more predictable. He said this continued to be what he found in troubled companies.

I think this example is easily understood in the spiritual realm. When we lose our focus on the essentials, it is not long before problems in our personal lives and homes occur. It is just a matter of time after losing focus on what we are asked to do, before Satan gets a toe hold, foot hold, or strong hold in our daily activities.

It is a predictable pattern in business and life. Go off course just one degree on a long journey and by the intended destination, you will be hundreds of miles off where you need to be. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it” (Matt. 7:14). The way to spiritual prosperity is sticking to the fundamentals of the Faith just like any good business. Obedience is the one necessary ingredient to knowing God, and that goal is best achieved following the rubrics and fundamentals of the faith. As Pope John XXIII once said, “Unity on the essentials, liberty on the unessentials, love overall.”

Lessons from Sports

I have been a sports fan since I was a young boy. To this day I will watch the finals of the major sporting events or at a minimum the seventh game of a series. One thing I have continually noticed watching sports is what takes place in the locker room after the last game for the winning team. A reporter will come in and usually shove the microphone in front of the MVP, and ask the same two questions. The first is, “What is it about {your team} that brought you to this trophy you are holding?” Invariably the person says, with champagne spraying all over the place will say, “You know, as a team, we practiced the fundamentals all season. We did what we needed to do to execute and perform to win. That was our sole objective. We stayed in shape, did what we needed to do, and just practiced those things all season long. We never lost sight that if we did that, we could win because we had the talent.”

The second question invariably asked by the reporter would be, “You know watching you all season, you just seem to enjoy each other. Looking at the bench you are laughing all the time and seem to really enjoy each other’s company…?” This is a loaded question with very strong repercussions to who they really are as a person and as a team. It is saying they like each other. They enjoy each other’s company, which is an ingredient to a successful team. It also means they trust each other. This trait builds championship teams. I have heard someone say in this situation, as a team, we go to the birthday parties of team members kids, and our wives go to dinner before or after games. This is community and it is contagious to someone who is not a part of it.

People want to be around people laughing rather than arguing, which is often done in Catholic settings either over personalities or doctrine. It is not an environment to promote Christ when people are at each other’s throats over things that are not critical to the faith. Also, it is most often a sign of ego when the people try to one up each other all the time when in public. Years ago after the seventh game of a Stanley Cup final (hockey), I heard the MVP in the locker room respond to that second question, saying, “It’s funny you ask that, because fourteen of us are going to play the golf courses of Scotland and Ireland for two weeks after we heal and rest the next month.” People who don’t enjoy each other don’t do those sort of things when the season is over. Here they have been around each other day in and day out, on the road, planes, airports, hotels, buses, restaurants, stadiums, practices, and games, and now as friends have arranged to spend two weeks together playing golf. That says a lot. Winning teams have similar habits throughout all sports—and the exact same thing should happen in families and churches.

The issues highlighted above in the business and sports communities are obvious how they should apply to our faith. Both are about sticking to the fundamentals to be successful. We are now in a world where structures that have stood for centuries, such as in the United States, have deteriorated to such an extent that they are now collapsing. We see it, and we now feel it in our gut, and this is the division in speech and action we see around us all day in the public square. The internal rot is now obvious and the division among people along ideological lines is getting more frayed by the day. There isn’t a social indice in the U.S. functioning, as it was first designed, that is working. The moral free fall we have watched over the last several generations has brought us to the brink of economic and social disaster. Words have meaning, and sin has consequences. Unless we follow the practices of the fundamentals in the midst of the coming Storm, we will perish as a withered leaf falling from a fall tree.

Discipleship begins with friendship. And yet, this too has been eroded by the digital culture. Real relationships take time, listening, and presence. When someone knows you truly care, your words begin to carry weight. But if our time is devoured by media, there is no time left to give to others.

In the end, it is silence in prayer that will sustain us. That is where we find direction, peace, and courage in these turbulent times. Nothing else will suffice. The Storm is here, but the ancient pillars of the faith—tested through the centuries—remain our firm foundation and our path to salvation — only if we follow them.