Today is Sunday, and I have been thinking as I sit in the back row of my congregation.
I am thinking about reality. Thinking about people falling for lies, getting scammed, losing money.
I talk about Scammers and Fraudsters a lot. Sometimes its hard to think we make a difference.
Do you think, the greatest danger of social media may not be the scams itself?
Could it be our willingness to live inside realities that we fabricate with filters; or worse, are fabricated for us.
The successful Scammers seem to understand something uncomfortable about human beings: we desperately want connection, recognition, certainty, and hope. Digital channels often provide all four—sometimes genuinely, sometimes artificially. A notification can give us a much needed emotional lift. A message from a friend or relative can make us feel remembered. A “like” can provide a tiny dose of affirmation. We are always picking back up that phone because, it rewards us. And unlike real life social interaction, we are safe. It comfortable.
I think fighting scams is becoming more complicated than teaching people not to click suspicious links. We are asking people to be skeptical of the environments in which they invest time and emotion. The fake friend may feel real. The online community may become more like family(especially when relationships are a a low point). The stranger offering sympathy are often more attentive than the people sitting across the room. Necks bent, eyes glued, we seldom even make eye contact in public anymore.
My seat in the back of the congregation lead me toward a thought. Can religion have something important to say in this conversation about reality?
Most religious traditions, despite the many differences, have warned against confusing temporary gratification with genuine fulfillment. Religion typically emphasize community, accountability, humility, service, contemplation, and a reality larger than the ones' self. Those principles can provide something social media often cannot: a reason to step away from the screen and reconnect with the physical world.
Obviously with so many algorithms controlling what we click, see and buy. Religion cannot—and should not—become another weapon for controlling how people think, or what they should believe. But faith communities can offer a genuine antidote to the social isolation we are seeing in our world. Places of worship, can create places where belonging isn’t measured in followers, where compassion isn’t the algorithm, and where a person’s worth isn’t determined by how much attention they receive.
The challenge I think may be bigger than stopping scams. We have to ask why false realities are so attractive in the first place. What are we escaping from?
We seem to be lonely, desperate for validation, and even spiritually empty. Technology(including scammers) will find ways to monetize those vulnerabilities. We can always build better systems. However I believe, without improving our human connections, they will fail.
Possibly, the real defense against fraud isn't teaching people to recognize lies, its helping create connections more appealing than the artificial ones. A life rich in truth and purpose, doesn't need the internet to manufacture lies for them.
My beliefs have kept me centered. I know most religions are not perfect, because none of us are, but maybe we can start with faith, and see where that takes us. It might make something more real.