Disciples of the Algorithm: When Edginess Becomes the Thing

Why restraint and silence may be forms of Christian faithfulness.

I have already written about my anonymous policy in mid-2024 in conversation with my buddy, Adam Robles. My intention is not to rehash the whole thing in 2026, but add some flavor to my discourse.

As I get older, the concept of time and redemption plays a bigger role in my world. I suppose we could talk about tech use and the waste it generates, but I simply wish to point out that redeeming time is a Christian virtue. It’s become clear that the way social media engagement operates does not hinge on fundamental questions of “to be or not to be” a better human. Rather, the whole premise stems from a predetermined premise of cumulative attention.

If you wish to draw attention and build a platform, discuss yoga pants, mermaids, and the pitfalls of interracial marriage. The constant problem of edginess is that there is no edge too far. It’s an addictive scheme intended to push the ideological adrenaline. Just when one feels the rush of his first million views, he wants more, and more, and more.

What is often missed is how quickly this posture reshapes the soul. One does not merely use outrage; one is eventually used by it. The need to be noticed hardens into the need to be affirmed, and affirmation soon becomes indistinguishable from applause. At that point, silence feels like death, and moderation feels like cowardice. The tragedy is not that such voices are loud, but that they no longer know how to be quiet.

The Christian calling, however, has never been to outpace the crowd, but to walk in step with wisdom. Scripture assumes that maturity produces gravity, not volatility; weight, not whiplash. There is a reason elders are to be sober-minded and slow to speak. The Church has always understood that not every truth must be shouted, not every error confronted, and not every controversy entered. Discernment is shown as much by restraint as by engagement.

For this reason, I remain unconvinced that the loudest Christian voices online are the most faithful, or even the most effective. Attention is a poor substitute for authority, and virality is no mark of virtue. The work of God has always advanced through ordinary means—prayer, patience, obedience, and presence—long before it ever needed a platform. And it will continue to do so long after the adrenaline fades and the edges lose their appeal.