Seven Habits of Online Integrity

In his book Virtual Integrity, Dan Lohrmann gives Seven Habits of Online Integrity, a very good set of seven habits to cultivate to help you maintain your integrity online.
What follows is an overview of these seven habits.

 

#1 – Refresh your Values

Online integrity starts by reexamining our offline or “real life” values and beliefs.

It may help to write out a list of things that you as a Bible-believing Christian want to encourage and do, contrasted with a list of things you want to discourage and avoid doing.

After you’ve considered your values and goals as a follower of Christ, compare your offline and online thoughts and behaviors. Dig into the nitty-gritty. How’s your language in your texts and emails? Are you honest in your online dealings? Consider writing another list and sharing it with a trusted brother or sister. If you are open and honest this can be a great help in revealing areas you need to work on.

Now it’s time to (re)make a list of goals and behaviors for your online life. This is where you try to “put your money where your mouth is.” The goal here is to take the faith, values, and goals you have and commit to them in your online life, and to help you realize that your life online can’t be separated from your life offline.

 

#2 – Pledge Personal Online Integrity

The purpose of this pledge is to make a touch stone, to drive a stake you can come back to for solidity. Your pledge is a written commitment to living out the values and goals you established in step one.

You may find it helpful to place a print of this near your computer or workstation, but you need to remember that this applies everywhere, all the time.

You can call it want you want, a pledge, a vow, a commitment, a list of goals and values, a contract, a resolution, a creed, etc.

You don’t have to share this pledge with everyone, but at a minimum it should be shared with a couple close friends and/or family members.

 

#3 – Seek Trusted Accountability

As people living in twenty-first century America, we tend to absorb the independent mindset of the culture around us.

As Christians, we know that we are both utterly dependent on God and interdependent in the church. We each depend on one another for the support we need to maintain our walk with God.

Try to build partnerships with fellow Christians, of the same gender, in which you make time regularly to discuss your walk with God, taking special time to share your victories and struggles in maintaining your integrity online.

You may find it helpful to make a list of starter questions that will help you get your conversations headed in the right direction (such as: How is your devotional life? Are you getting good prayer and reading time? How is your relationship with your family (esp. with your spouse)? What good, new, and interesting things are you doing online? How much time have you been spending in “grey areas” like news, shopping on eBay, chatting with friends, etc.? How have you been tempted toward sin (lust, honesty, stealing, etc.)?

 

#4 – Apply Helpful Technology

If you haven’t gone through the first three steps, STOP! You cannot “fix” the problems faced online with software packages and proxy servers. Integrity is the very core of who we are and needs to be addressed from the inside out. Then the tools we use are put in place to minimize our exposure to sin and to help us in times of fleshly weakness.

First, consider your needs and research your options. Second, select products based on your needs. Third, install and configure your solutions. Fourth, maintain your solutions. Fifth, reexamine the first four steps.

Seek out knowledgeable brothers and sisters to help you in your research, but don’t leave all the learning to them. Follow through with the information they give you, examine and compare the products they recommend. Ask questions. Ignorance it not to be ashamed of, it’s to be dealt with. You can visit trusted sites like www.ikeepsafe.org, www.safefamilies.com, and www.kidsafe.com to learn more and see point by point comparisons of different technologies.

Knowledgeable computer users install firewalls and anti-malware solutions (on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems) and knowledgeable Christians should install filtering and reporting software, to help prevent accidental use of inappropriate sites and services. It is especially helpful to involve an accountability partner in researching, setting up, and maintain these tools.

 

#5 – Balance Online and Offline Life

Don’t confuse “keeping up with your friends” with healthy social interaction. Yes, there can be healthy, meaningful socializing online, but it’s not as common as you might think. How much of your online life is just being kept in the loop of what your friends are doing and how much is you truly connecting with your friend? If you are texting someone who is across the room (or across the table), what was said in that message that you were unwilling to say aloud? Do you get together to “hang out” and do something as a group, but then spend your time on your phones, flinging virtual birds, or reading your Facebook wall?

Manage your time. Do some virtual fasting. Learn how much time you spend in different online activities each day. Set two time periods in the day for checking your email or browsing and try to stick to that schedule for a few days. Put your phone in the drawer or in your locker during work hours and only pull it out a lunch to check for important messages. Try turning off your devices before dinner and leaving them off for an hour after you finish. Get a feel for your true time spent “in cyberspace”.

Make an effort to visit (in the same room) with someone you feel you are losing touch with. Spend some time with your family without digital distractions.

Emotions can affect your judgment. If you struggle with temptations online, don’t browse when you are lonely, angry, hungry, or tired.

Analyze when you should use technology and when you should turn it off (Again, this is where it helps to bring in an accountability partner).

 

#6 – Practice Humble Authenticity

When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom. (Pro 11:2 NKJV)

Pride often precedes problems in cyber ethics.

Here are three practical ways you can practice humble authenticity online:

-Conduct honest self-examination
-Stay away from the virtual cliffs in cyberspace
-Surf your true identity

Examine yourself. This is not just an intellectual exercise, but to find what’s right and reinforce it, find what’s wrong and fix it.

Steer clear of danger. Paul repeatedly instructed Christians to “Flee” sin and temptation. Consider your weaknesses and set some boundaries. Share these boundaries with your accountability partners and ask them to help you in this. Avoid the things you know will tempt you and put restrictions in place to help you in times of weakness.

Surf your True Identity. What would your browsing history be like if you wore a name tag the said “Hi! My name is {insert name}, and I frequent these sites:”? Would you visit the sites you visit if everyone else on the site saw your name and that you are a Christian? Can you honestly say you are being “salt and light” in the virtual world? Anonymity online has its place, but we dare not use it, or God’s grace, as a “cloak of maliciousness” or an “occasion for the flesh”.

 

#7 – Become a Cyber Ambassador for Good

True Christians are people who integrate their faith with their work. As we spend more and more time online, we can’t leave God in the offline world. Be a light wherever you are, real or virtual. In the letter to the Ephesians Paul says we are not battling against flesh and blood, but we are fighting a spiritual battle, against the hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. Whether we are interacting face to face, or online, Satan is waging war and we must take up our armor and our weapons and advance the Kingdom of God.

 

Seven Habits of Online Integrity from the Dan Lohrmann book Virtual Integrity. Adapted for IntegrityOnline.org with permission.

 

More About Dan and His Book

Dan Lohrmann is the Michigan Chief Security Officer (CSO)
Deputy Director for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection
Department of Technology, Management & Budget

Dan’s bio and writings at Michigan.gov
Dan’s writings at csoonline.com

Virtual Integrity (book) on Amazon.com
Virtual Integrity (condensed) on covenanteyes.com

You can find more of Dan’s writings and articles on netsafetyresources.com