Log on to social media after the news of a major terrorist attack or natural disaster has occurred and you''ll see thousands of people using #prayersfor (insert name of location affected by tragedy here). We witnessed it with Paris when more than 70 million Instagram users shared prayer hashtags, posts and emojis, but how many of these 70 million posters actually prayed? I'd expect that the number was a lot lower than this striking figure suggests. While we may look positively on the popularity of such hashtags as evidence that in times of need people are returning to prayer and seeking God, and while the intentions behind the use of such hashtags may be good, there's a big difference between typing three words that are being shared by everyone else and actually praying.
There have been heated online and offline discussions about whether the prayer emoji was actually designed to represent a high five. (It's signature rays of light and the position of the hands led to people using it most commonly to symbolise praying hands.)This one example of how messages can be drastically misinterpreted online is emblematic of how 'pray for hashtags' can encourage miguided notions about prayer.At a time when praying seems to make a lot of sense to a lot of people, the fleeting and overwhelming use of these kinds of hashtags can actually end up leaving them with very little meaning.
It's not just non-Christians that can jump on the prayer hashtag bandwagon, mindlessly attaching #prayfortheworld or #prayforpeace to their social media posts, whether they genuinely believe in the existence of God or not, Christians can get caught up in it too. It's easy to visibly express support online and think we'll say a "proper" one later when we have more time and it's just as easy to forget. Or we can share a post which expresses sadness about the situation, append it with a prayer related hashtag but not communicate anything that otherwise vaguely resembles a prayer. In a bid to make our expressions of social media spirituality more sincere, why not include a screenshot (because 140 characters probably won't cut it) of a short prayer that you've said in response to the event and one that would inspire others? Maybe you could actually set aside some time to speak to God about the incident before you reach for your phone?
While there's no prescribed length or format for prayer, it does require us doing more than simply typing three words. Many people struggle to articulate what they want to say when they feel the need to pray if it hasn't been a regular part of their lifestyle. At a time when those who aren't usually drawn to prayer feel a need to, we can reach out and help them find the words by sharing more than those commonly used three words. Prayer doesn't have to be perfect but it does need to be earnest. I'm not anti 'pray for hashtags' and I wouldn't go as far as the Charlie Hebdo cartoonist who, for completely different reasons, essentially called for people to refrain from using them all together. I can completely understand the attraction to showing solidarity and support in this way but I do feel that as with so many social media trends, we can be guilty of half-heartedly taking part in a communal response by way of obligation and in doing so strip the sincerity and spirituality out of such a powerful act.
