<span style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" data-mce-type="bookmark" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span> The Real Problem With The Internet Isn’t Algorithms… It’s Us Scroll for five minutes. That’s all it takes. Five minutes to watch strangers boast about lives they don’t live, tear down people they’ve never met, and fire off snarks sharp enough to draw blood… then walk away as if nothing happened. We tell ourselves it’s harmless, that words online don’t count the same way. But deep down, we know better. Because every post leaves a mark somewhere… on someone else, or on us. Here’s the uncomfortable truth most of us don’t want to face: the internet didn’t make us careless with words. It simply gave our hearts a microphone. What once stayed whispered now gets posted. What once cooled down overnight now gets published instantly. And if Scripture is right… and it is… then the way we speak online isn’t a side issue. It’s a spiritual x-ray. What follows isn’t about etiquette or tone. It’s about wisdom, restraint, and the kind of words that either give life… or quietly take it away. The Internet Isn’t Making Us Louder… It’s Exposing What’s In Our Hearts In the end, we all stand trial before our own words — every post, every comment, every idle thought glowing back as evidence. We live in an age absolutely flooded with words. Tweets, comments, posts, captions, stories, hot takes fired off before breakfast, and group chats buzzing late into the night. Billions of words spill out of human minds, mouths, and keyboards every single day, filling the digital sky like endless clouds drifting overhead. And yet… here’s the problem… most of those words never rain. They look impressive and feel important, but they don’t help, let alone nourish. They don’t bring truth, heal wounds, or build people up. They pass by as noise without weight, chatter without consequence. Worse still, many of those words aren’t merely empty. They’re careless, reckless, cruel, and sometimes deliberately deceptive. The book of Proverbs warned us about this long before screens and algorithms existed. It’s teaching about the tongue… about prideful boasting, destructive speech, and thoughtless humor… reads today like a commentary on social media. If you think biblical warnings about careless speech applied only to loose lips at a dinner table, then you haven’t spent much time scrolling. Every time you post, comment, reply, or share… even a meme… your words matter. They reveal your heart, shape the people around you, and either cool conflict or ignite it. Most of the time, we do all of that without slowing down long enough to think. So let’s all slow down. Proverbs gives us three images of careless speech that land with even more force in a digital world: clouds without rain, a wandering sparrow, and a madman with a loaded weapon. If we’re willing to look honestly at them, they can change how we use our voices online. Clouds Without Rain: When Our Words Promise More Than They Deliver Picture a farmer standing at the edge of his field. The soil is dry and the crops are desperate. Dark clouds roll in, the air thickens, and hope rises. Rain must be coming. But the clouds drift past. No rain. No relief. Just the appearance of promise that moves on without delivering anything. That’s the image Proverbs uses for a person who boasts falsely of gifts… someone who talks big, sounds impressive, and produces nothing. If Solomon were writing today, he might say, “Like a carefully filtered influencer with borrowed wisdom is the one who boasts online without substance.” We’ve all seen it. And if we’re honest, we’ve all been tempted by it. Social media rewards performance over faithfulness. It rewards polish, confidence, and the appearance of wisdom… even when the substance underneath is thin. So we curate highlight reels, post opinions we haven’t lived out, and share “insights” we haven’t tested. We speak loudly about disciplines we don’t practice and convictions we haven’t paid a price for. Clouds without rain don’t just mislead others; they hollow out the speaker. Every exaggeration, every humblebrag disguised as gratitude, every borrowed quote used to look wise without doing the work drains integrity a little at a time. Eventually, when truth blows through, the emptiness shows. Even worse, this kind of speech doesn’t just disappoint… it misleads. Proverbs compares it to false teaching: stirring excitement, creating expectations, and leaving people dry. Sensational headlines, viral threads promising secret knowledge, self-appointed experts speaking without accountability… our digital world runs on rainless clouds. Before you post that “breakthrough” idea, hit piece, or your polished success story, pause long enough to ask: Is this true? How do I know? Have I lived it? Will this actually nourish someone… or just impress them? Because filling the sky with all things cloudy is easy. Making it rain takes some wisdom. The Aimless Sparrow: Casual Curses and Cheap Contempt Proverbs shifts imagery next, comparing a curse without cause to a sparrow that flits aimlessly through the air. It never lands, never builds a nest, never accomplishes anything. The point is clear: baseless attacks carry no divine authority and no lasting power. But notice what’s being addressed… not whether curses work, but why we speak them at all. Today, curses don’t always sound crude. They sound sarcastic. They sound clever. They sound like “just being honest.” They show up as mocking memes, sneering replies, and pile-ons in comment sections. Every time we belittle someone online… especially when they aren’t present to defend themselves… we release aimless sparrows into the digital sky. We assume they’ll fall harmlessly. They don’t. Even if the target never sees your comment, God does. Even if you feel justified, contempt still corrodes the heart that carries it. Those words don’t bless anyone, and they don’t make you wiser. David understood this. When a man publicly cursed him… throwing smack and insults… David refused to retaliate. He said, “Let him curse; perhaps the Lord will use it for good.” That’s restraint. That’s authority under control. The next time you feel the urge to clap back or post a scorching take, remember this: you don’t need to curse anyone online. That power was never yours. Sometimes the wisest thing you can post is nothing at all. The Madman With a Loaded Weapon: “Just Joking” Isn’t a Defense Then Proverbs delivers its sharpest image: “Like a madman who throws firebrands and deadly arrows is the one who deceives his neighbor and says, ‘I was only joking.’” It’s a disturbing picture… a lunatic hurling a hand grenade into a crowd and laughing afterward. We’ve all seen this play out online. Someone fires a cruel comment, mocks appearance or intelligence, spreads a half-truth, and then hides behind humor. “Relax.” “It was just a joke.” That’s not humor. That’s evasion. Words are weapons, especially digital bumper sticker ones. They travel farther, linger longer, and cut deeper than spoken words ever could. Plus, they never provide context. Once released, they can’t be recalled. Laugh emojis don’t undo damage. Maybe you’ve been on the receiving end… laughing to save face while something inside you sank. Or maybe you’ve been the one who “didn’t mean it” when someone else was hurt. Scripture is blunt here: God doesn’t accept “just kidding” as a moral loophole. Words reveal hearts, even when we pretend otherwise. The Bible celebrates joy and laughter, but cruel humor isn’t joy… it’s intended to dominate. Real humor invites others in. Cruel humor uses people as props. Before you post something “funny,” ask one honest question: would the person you’re joking about laugh too… or feel exposed? That pause can spare real damage. Words That Weigh More Than We Think Alright, step back and look at the pattern: rainless clouds, restless sparrows, reckless shooters. Different images, same warning… the human mouth is dangerous when left unchecked. Proverbs (as well as the book of James) says that whoever can control the tongue can control the whole body. Jesus went further: “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Your online words are snapshots of your heart. That should sober us. Most of us have typed things we regret… late-night comments, angry replies, careless messages we’d never want read aloud before God. And yet Jesus said every careless word will be accounted for. Not to paralyze us, but to wake us up. Words are sacred. God created the world with words. Christ is called The Word. Yet we fling our words around as if they’re disposable. They aren’t. A Better Kind of Speech Therapy What we need isn’t just a digital detox; it’s divine speech therapy. Biblical speech therapy doesn’t focus on delivery… it goes straight to the heart. Why do these words keep spilling out of us? We excuse ourselves easily. “I’m just being real.” “That’s my humor.” “I needed to vent.” But excuses don’t heal anything. Confession does. The good news is this: the same Word who will judge our words is also the Savior who redeems them. Romans tells us that confession with the mouth leads to salvation. The mouth that once cursed can confess. The tongue that wounds can also worship. The hands that typed destruction can type life. Choosing Words That Give Life So the real challenge of social media isn’t whether we’ll speak, but how. There’s nothing inherently wrong with conflict and confrontation. That’s needed. Growth comes from iron sharpening iron. But going instant scorched earth absolutely doesn’t echo, “Thy Kingdom Come.” So the question becomes… Will we fill the sky with empty clouds? Release sparrows of contempt? Fire arrows disguised as jokes? Or will our words rain truth and wisdom into dry ground? You don’t have to be loud to be powerful. You don’t have to be sharp to be wise. You don’t have to comment on everything to say something meaningful. Post with purpose. Speak with care. Let your words reflect a heart shaped by Christ. Because your digital voice is part of your legacy. And the truest thing about you isn’t your profile picture or clever caption… it’s the heart that shaped the words you chose to release. Postscript: I really wrote this to myself. So I’m not playing holier-than-thou or trying to preach. The truth is, I tend to want to snark back. I think the attack mode is built into a lot of us. As I said, there’s a time and place for conflict and confrontation. It’s needed. But with the cautions mentioned above. In addition to the scriptural admonitions, I don’t think social media always provides the back-and-forth space needed for a good discussion or debate. In fact, it’s designed for snark. Just say’n.