Look at neither the newspaper nor television…
Blue Book: #2a
Our Blessed Mother gave the above message to Fr. Gobbi on July 8th, 1973, well before the mayhem of social media. If television and newspapers were a concern then, how much more so are these new technological advances that have popped up in recent years.
…in our strange technological loneliness that has separated us so thoroughly not only from our neighbors, but from our fathers, mothers, grandparents, in short from our relations. Yes, our technological age has begotten a terrible loneliness! We must begin to give the hospitality of the heart. In other words, we must open ourselves to a sharing of friendship that is rooted in the very heart of Christ whom we call our friend. We have to shed our “stiff upper lips”. We have to be open to the other, share with the other, express our love for the other. This can only be done if we open the doors of our hearts. Let us do that now, before the doors of our hearts are frozen shut by some new technological achievement!
Grace in Every Season
I must admit that I’m a techy nerd at heart, I just love new gadgets, and all things computer related. But I’m not blind to its darker side, the well controlled stream of information handed down to us by those with too much power on their hands and not much of a moral compass to guide them. Whose main goal seems to be to stir our emotions in order to gain clicks, and go about fiercely separating us at every turn in order to gain more control of the masses.
The addictive nature of social media is of great concern as well, huge amounts of time are being wasted without any real accomplishments. Time that in past generations was going to creating lasting and beautiful things, and to building strong families and communities. In other words, what was once going towards fulfilling the duty of the moment… is now wasted away in mere distractions.
I’m not dissing it completely, I know that good can come out of it, if used well. So the message that I’m garnering here is to set good boundaries. Social media is a powerful tool that can indeed be used for the good but we need to tread carefully.