The app for independent voices
I have written about this before and gotten a fair amount of pushback, but it’s one of the hills I’m willing to stand upon. There is no such thing as “online community,” even if you find a lot of connection with others through it (and I get it; I’ve met some of my best friends first via the internet!).
I intensely dislike how the word “community” has become completely misused, and I actively avoid using that word in my newsletter and have for years now. This is one of my biggest, longstanding bugaboos on the internet.
Anything I do is to help my readers and listeners cultivate their community wherever God has placed them in the world. We are embodied creatures; we don’t live anywhere digitally.
I think this piece by Amber Adrian really hit the nail on the head and is why I’ve been moving away from using the word “community” to describe what we have here.
I write a newsletter. You read it. I facilitate conversation. You perhaps participate. That’s it. Sometimes we come together to read things, or to raise money for a cause. Wonderful! But w…