2013-09-30                       John W                        John W's previous articles

(Comments welcome here)

Facebook and the dumbing down of society

In a previous article I expressed my concern about the dumbing down of society.

I'm now convinced that the words of Digital age is dumbing down our children apply to adults as well as children

Fewer and fewer people are taking an interest in current affairs.
More and more people are caught up in the superficial affairs of the world of Facebook

During World Youth Day I asked lots of people, including priests and religious, what did they think of WYD in Brazil. Many people replied they were not following it. But same people loyally followed the world of Facebook day and night.

A similar experience during the recent Syria crisis....with Pope calling for prayer and fasting.  I was surprised at how many people were unaware of the dramatic developments of those days

Last year on Catholica, Brian Coyne wrote:

..facebook and twitter ... worry me because they favour "superficial communication" — surface, fairy floss venting of the emotions rather than deep communication that informs and lifts the human spirit....
Mobile devices, with their small screens, and twitter with its 140 character limit, are not exactly conducive to "depthed communications" but to transmission of the "superficial".

Bottom line: just as we need to make a conscious effort, on a daily basis, to choose healthy rather than junk food, just as we need on a daily basis to take some exercise to keep fit ....so we need to make a conscious effort, on a daily basis, to take an interest in current affairs. For dedicated Christians, this means an interest in Church affairs, the situation of the poor etc ....and a daily reading of the Scriptures

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