I appreciate Dawn’s thoughtfulness regarding her lack of online presence on her blog. Based on what Dawn wrote I seemed to find more on myself online than she was able to find on herself, however I would echo her sentiments that I have at least tried to do “a good job of creating an invisible digital identity.” My desire has never been to be completely invisible online, however, it has been to eliminate traffic of people I have no relationship with. I was challenged however by the question Dawn followed up that statement with: “Or is that what I want/need?” This question made me begin to think if perhaps I would be better served to have more of an intentional online presence.

For myself I think that cultivating more of an intentional online presence could help me be more effective in the ministry I do. I work primarily with youth. They often have too much of a presence online, but that is indicative of how much time they spend online. I wonder if I had more of a presence online if it would help me connect more with the demographic I am reaching out to. My default position has been that if they want to stay in touch with me they have to take the initiative to do that. I wonder though if I made myself more present, and easier to stay in touch with, if this would happen more.

While I want to dive in to thinking about this more, I am also cautious. Studies have been done that have seen that social media use can contribute to higher anxiety in teenagers. That can be seen even in this abstract: “Adolescents who used social media more – both overall and at night – and those who were more emotionally invested in social media experienced poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression.” This is a factor I want to consider when I think about my personal presence online. Do I set a good example for teenagers in how I conduct myself online? Not simply in what I post or what I do not post, but also in how much time I invest? Do I value real life relationships more than the relationship with my smartphone or laptop? I want to think all this through more before taking any action.