One of the most needed things online is simply a sense of humor and a willingness to not take yourself (and others) too seriously.
Yes, sure, I understand… we’re in the “business” of super-important and super-serious conversation pieces about spirituality, Almighty God, and the eternal security of those that would otherwise spend a lot of time in the fiery bowels of hell, but people, seriously, we’re using a medium and engaging with a “protocol” that is somewhat wonky.
Yes, I said “wonky.”
The internet is a funny thing, people are funny, and things break, just like my Vimeo upload the other day.
You see, I could have been all upset and all angry because it took forever and a day to upload a 700 meg video which then loaded an entirely different video (some random video with fireworks), but I decided it wasn’t worth it.
And, they were pretty cool (and when I mean “cool” I mean staff people not wearing shirts) about it too, even if they had some “rogue hamsters”:
I think the businesses, organizations, and ministries that “get” the humorous side of the internet are the ones that are going to engage the best and most effectively. I don’t really have any proven data on that theory, but I believe it to be true.
And, at a personal level, if you find yourself getting mad at people online a lot or trying to keep it together while reading other people’s blog posts… then I think you need to chillax a little and remember that it’s just the internet and it’s really not that big of a deal.
There’s too much room for error, misinterpretation, limited understanding of context, etc. that’s it’s not worth the time to get so darn upset.
The world (and especially “professional” Christians) need some more humor in their lives online.
[Image from Agjiminez]