God and the digital age

THE final report of the Synod of Bishops on young people,

faith and vocational discernment that concluded last October has an

interesting observation regarding the digital culture that is now

pervasive in the world. It talks about the great benefits and the

dangers that the digital world is giving us.

  

            It is intriguing to note that the good and bad things in

this world are becoming more and more blended. They do not come to us

anymore in some clear-cut ways, but rather in a united way, so subtle

that we now hardly can distinguish which is which.

   

            Our new technologies are like Trojan horses that can

appear to us as a great gift to humanity, but actually they contain a

lot of concealed dangers. They are very treacherous. Whatever benefit

and sense of success and accomplishment they bring are akin to a

Pyrrhic victory when the good things are somehow nullified by the bad

things they also cause.

  

            The new technologies and the digital culture have

significantly changed the way people understand things in general and

as a consequence, their behavior also. They create an “approach to

reality that privileges images over listening and over reading that

influences the way people learn and the development of their critical

faculty.” It’s like we are having a new ball game.

  

            It’s true that these new technologies give a lot of

benefits. They provide “an extraordinary opportunity for dialogue,

encounter and exchange between persons, as well as access to

information and knowledge.” It can “facilitate the circulation of

independent information that can provide effective protection for the

most vulnerable, etc.”

  

            As to its dark side, the report says that the “digital

environment is also one of loneliness, manipulation, exploitation and

violence…Digital media can expose people to the risk of dependency,

isolation and gradual loss of contact with concrete reality, blocking

the development of authentic interpersonal relationships.”

  

            Besides, the report noted that “there are huge economic

interests operating in the digital world, capable of exercising forms

of control as subtle as they are invasive, creating mechanisms of

manipulation of consciences and of the democratic process.

  

            “The way many platforms work often ends up favoring

encounter between person who think alike, shielding them from debate.

These closed circuits facilitate the spread of fake news and false

information, fomenting prejudice and hate…”

  

            We don’t have to look far to validate these very serious

observations and they definitely have to be addressed accordingly. And

I believe that the only way to handle this predicament is to teach

everyone to actively look for God everytime they get into the digital

world.

   

            There is no other way. Either one is strongly with God to

be with the right footing in that very treacherous world or he is

simply lost and carried away from the strong and irresistible forms of

self-seeking that can only lead us nowhere.

  

            I would say that the real challenge of the digital age is

not so much on how to handle these technologies with technical

competence and some norms of prudence to keep us safe and maintain a

semblance of sanity and fairness. It is a serious call for everyone to

be more authentic in their need and relation with God. It is for

everyone to be truly holy and apostolic.

  

            It is a call to know more about God who in fact is the

very foundation of reality, of what is truly good, beautiful and fair

in this world. Our main problem is that God is not properly known,

much less, loved by many, and so he is somehow regarded as irrelevant

in dealing with this challenge of the digital age.

   

            We need to wake up from our spiritual and religious stupor

to properly handle this tremendous challenge of the digital age.