Into the World of Social Media Self-Purification: Mind, Body, and Soul Al-Miraaj Center Workshop Hina SanaUllah

#Objectives Mind, Body, and Soul The Basics The Purpose of Social Media The Positive Uses of Social Media The Negatives of Social Media Haram and Halal Social Media Etiquette Cyberbullying My Role as a Muslim on Social Media A Virtual World: A New Reality? Questions

#Real Talk! How many of you use social media? How many of you own a phone, tablet, iPad, laptop? How many times a day do you use social media? Are you addicted? Can you last 1 WHOLE DAY without your technological device? Do you get anxiety over who follows, likes, or acknowledges your existence on social media? Number of friends? Comments? Do you pay attention to your surroundings anymore? Train stories Video Spoken Word: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRl8EIhrQjQ

#Mind, Body, and Soul Social media impacts our daily lives. Mentally—What you see impacts your mental well-being. Physically—Sedentary lifestyles promoted by social media lead to physical ailments (obesity, weak eyesight, short memory, attention span, addiction) Spiritually—What we view and think about will impact our soul. Are we feeding the soul the good or the bad? How are we using social media? Advice: If you want to succeed as an individual, you must nourish your mind, body, and soul in every way. Education, Nutrition, Manners…..Social Media Behavior

#The Basics Social Media: Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking Understanding social media is vital to our success in the competitive global market of everything What forms of social media do you use? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, Blogs, Yelp, Foursquare, Vines, Snapchat etc. Social Media evolves by the second https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eUeL3n7fDs (interesting facts!)

The Purpose of Social Media Communication- (instantly chat with people) Social Networking-(keep in touch with others) Advertising-(sell your brand) Marketing-(eBay, amazon) Fame-(celebrities, politicians) Fun-(Vines, Memes) Gossip-(Twitter) News-(blogs, websites) Creativity-(Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest) Power-(Twitter, politicians, public speakers, organizations) Influence-(human rights, blogging, news, speak out for change)

The Positive Uses of Social Media 1-Increased criminal prosecution because of social media The NYC police department began using Twitter back in 2011 to track criminals foolish enough to brag about their crimes online. When the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup in 2011, their Vancouver fans took to the streets and rioted, but local authorities used social media to track and tag the people involved, and they caught people who were stealing during the riot. 2-Social networking creates new social connections Statistics show that 70% of adults have used social media sites to connect with relatives in other states, and 57% of teens have reported making new friendships on social media sites. 3-Students are doing better in school This is an interesting statistic about the pros and cons of social media and its effect on students doing well in school. Students with internet access at a rate of 50% have reported using social networking sites to discuss school work, and another 59% talk about instructive topics. 4-Better quality of life If you want to talk about the pros and cons of social media, take a close look at all the support groups on Facebook. Members of these groups discuss their health conditions, share important information, and resources relevant to their conditions while creating strong support networks. 5-Social media as a source of employment Job sourcing has gone modern thanks to social media. Sites such as LinkedIn are a major resource that 89% of job recruiters take advantage of when looking to hire potential employees.

The Negatives of Social Media Evaluate why you are using Social Media? Wasting Time or Benefitting Society and yourself? Gossip Plagearism Beware of Cyberbullying Too much misinformation (Find the needle in the haystack, or the truth behind all the fluff) Too much social media>lower grades Lost productivity Less face to face communication (socially awkward) Health issues Hackers, corrupt sites, kidnapping, crime

Haram or Halal? Halal and Haram is out there and ultimately you make the choice of which path you take Take the road less traveled nowadays and better yourself as a person and as a Muslim Music videos/ Celeb Gossip vs Real Knowledge Cursing vs Advanced Vocabulary Islamic guidelines apply on social media as well Should not: Backbite, gossip, spread hatred, become jealous, speak to the opposite gender unless on professional terms, view or read inappropriate images and articles Should: Spread good, human rights, share your gifts and knowledge, catch up with friends, observe proper manners,

Social Media Etiquette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ootxiibcOWc

Cyberbullying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrln8nyVBLU Who is actually on the other side? Who can you trust? Make sure you know who you add as a “friend” and unfollow those who damage your soul (abusive words, obsessive stalkers) Start over (Tabula Rasa-clean slate): You are the one in control! Remove people who do not influence you in any positive way You are who your friends are (they impact you) Peer Pressure

My Role in Social Media As A Muslim Behaviors and Manners apply The angels are writing down your every move What is done on social media or the internet always stays…..FOREVER! How do you want to present yourself do this world? Social media is globalized! Although social media is very informative you must check for authenticity especially when searching about Islamic knowledge. You cannot give Fatwas nor is Google a Shiekh Get to the source of information You can give dawah to a friend but remember you are not a sheikh or a scholar yet so do not give our rulings (I think popcorn is haram because…….Um Valid explanation?) Attract people to the Deen through your actions, intelligence, character etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B9m5tsVSjU

A New Reality? We cannot escape from the social media phenomenon We must adapt and take full responsibility of our actions in cyberspace as in real life Allah swt meant for technology to advance and humans to attain the benefits of these resources Everything can be used positively and negatively; Therein lays the trial of our time We are the Ummah at the peak of the Day of Judgement We will be great in number but weak as the foam of the sea Social Media Dawah: more and more people converting to Islam because of the access In 5, 10, 20, 30 years when you look back on your Facebook timeline or Instagram photos….how will you see yourself. A) A sophisticated human sharing content that is informative or creative B) An immature wildling who lost total control on social media C) It’s up to you to decide and direct yourself

Quiz: True or False Social media is used to share content and ideas with others Islamic rules of behavior do not apply on social networking sites I can add as many people on social media so I can be popular Everyone should bully each other on social media Posting a picture/video of a friend without telling them is good behavior Checking for authenticity in online news and information is important I must take control and responsibility for my actions