The new techs as friendly fire

WE need to be amply warned by this danger. Those powerful

new technologies that we have now, that can give us a lot of benefits,

can also become a big threat to our spiritual, moral and even physical

life. They can indeed become a treacherous ally that can turn us in,

or worse, a friendly fire that can kill us spiritually, morally and,

yes, even physically, if not handled properly.

            How many cases are we witnessing of people getting spoiled

and corrupted by the improper use of these technologies? It is truly

heartbreaking to see them dominated and enslaved by these

technologies, falling into all kinds of anomalies, like a certain

addiction, proneness to laziness, idleness, useless and dangerous

curiosities and distractions, and all forms of ego-tripping.

            There are now notorious cases of people wasting time and

energy because of these new technologies. Worse, there are instances

when the new technologies become powerful tools at the instance of

evil and malice. People can easily fall into pornography, for example,

then trapped in it, and proceed to commit all sorts of perversions.

Pieces of evidence for this are aplenty.

            When no clear guiding criteria are used, when we use them

with hardly any sense of discipline and a certain detachment, there

can be no way but for us to succumb to our weaknesses and the many

temptations around.

            And the evil things spawned are not just in the area of

sex, but also in the area of decency, delicacy, good taste and, most

important, charity. How many times have we witnessed and even made to

participate in useless arguments and feuds especially in the social

media? And so, instead of leading us to God and to serve others, we

are led to sin. In the worst scenario, these technologies can generate

vicious cycles.

            But for all that, we cannot deny the objective usefulness

of these new technologies. We should neither ban nor demonize them

just because of some bad potentials they have. What is needed is to

learn how to use them properly.

            I believe there are already initiatives in this regard. We

should take advantage of them and develop and fine-tune them further.

But a very fundamental element in any effort to have dominion over

these new technologies is to infuse them with the spirit of Christ who

taught us to love the cross as a way to deal with our weaknesses,

temptations and sin itself.

            Christ’s cross is the ultimate antidote to all the evils

that we have to contend with in this life. We should try to figure out

how we can be guided by the cross while using the new technologies.

The cross means discipline, detachment, abandonment in God’s

providence rather than relying mainly on what we like, etc.

            We need to concretize these different aspects of the

cross, like: we can give ourselves a time limit in the use of the

Internet, for example, or we should have a clear purpose in using

these new technologies and not just allow ourselves to surf to

wherever.

            Especially, when we are alone, and even more, when we are

already in bed, these gadgets should be a no-no. We have to respect

our need for rest and sleep. There can be a lot more specific

guidelines that can help us.