The Downfall of Social media & Online Islamic Initiatives

[A Thread]

Social media is a fundamentally flawed & limited medium of human interaction.

Its appeal stems from the fact that users receive small consistent dopamine surges as they interact on the site & receive attention/recognition.

It’s designed to promote prolonged usage & addiction.

Such factors and other issues have cumulatively resulted in what we see today. Content is generally getting shorter, more sensational, more entertaining and/or more controversial.

The algorithms on these sites probably don’t help either.

We observe these phenomena manifesting in almost all aspects of social media, including Islamic social media initiatives: education, dawah and polemics etc.

As we observe these initiatives grow, perhaps we should take some time to reevaluate our progress.

It is my belief that any social media Islamic initiative that conforms and panders to this flawed and skewed reality (instead of challenging it) will inevitably become part of the problem.

Don’t take my word for it. Go online and observe all of the popular Islamic outlets.

For the most part, content gradually gets dumbed down across the years until it is reduced to mere “edutainment” or “religious entertainment.”

Entertainment that people want to waste their time on without feeling bad about themselves.

If someone who is confused about the ultimate truth behind his very existence and his salvation is not willing to engage with healthy educational content because of its “length” or “lacking visuals” to assuage his confusion, then there’s a serious issue at hand.

If a Muslim who is confused about Islam wants his doubts to be dispelled while not wanting to exert the time and effort needed to actually learn, study and properly understand the religion... then his real problem is much deeper than what is apparent.

Pandering to such individuals does nothing but empower this vicious and fundamentally problematic disposition that is being made rampant through online entertainment.

You become part of the problem.

Unfortunately, most of these channels’/platforms’ growth occurs when they shift to such an entertainment-oriented outlook, and so content creators are further enticed to create such content.

In a discussion with a dear friend a few weeks ago, as we were talking about the importance of education, he said: “X has an educational channel & he posts lectures, but its dead.”

By dead, he meant that he was not getting as many views as he would have otherwise gotten.

Another friend commented to me about the aforementioned description of X’s channel: “This is a commercial metric. He has actually benefited the people, and tens and hundreds have studied with him. However, all what the others have is this commercial outlook.”

There is much to say in this regard; alas, this shall suffice for now inshAllah.

End