Indeed, we can only love something insofar as we direct our pure, generous attention toward it—be that to God, to a neighbour or to ourselves.

And in a world that so hungrily demands it, we should examine where we spend this finite resource. One such place rests in our very pockets.

Today, social media is a staple of our personal—and even spiritual—lives.

Bible study groups on Facebook, inspirational Christian accounts on Instagram, evangelical dating sites and viral sermons on TikTok are modernizing our religious landscape.

The more optimistic tout "digital discipleship" as the next best tool for spreading the Gospel.

But Christians should occasionally step back to evaluate new technology in terms of biblical guidance.

Before adopting any cultural innovation, we must have the courage to ask: Is there, perhaps, a snake in this garden?

Christians should occasionally step back to evaluate new technology in terms of biblical guidance.

There is a snake, and it is particularly interested in our children.

On March 18, Facebook announced plans to launch Instagram Youth, a version of the popular photo-sharing app designed specifically for 8- to-12-year-olds.

Despite public outrage, Facebook is not backing down from this decision, offering us a ripe opportunity for spiritual discernment.

Jesus teaches that "every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit" (Mt 7:17), so let us examine the fruits of this tree.

Studies have linked the excessive use of social media, especially Instagram, to childhood depression, anxiety, suicide, eating disorders, cyberbullying, narcissism, attention disorders, obesity and vulnerability to sexual predators.

According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, Facebook's own researchers have acknowledged Instagram's harmful effects, admitting in a March 2020 presentation posted to an internal message board that "We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls."

But in their pursuit of profit, corporations such as Facebook ignore these known harms to children and the warnings of countless psychologists, lawmakers and doctors in their eagerness to ensnare new generations of consumers.

With a twisted root, how can we expect anything other than rotten fruit?

Materialistic consumption oils the cogs of the Instagram machine.

A recent study found that a startling 25 per cent of all Instagram posts were advertisements, and that statistic does not begin to include the abundance of corporate-funded "influencers" peddling exorbitant makeup routines, expensive clothing and superficially alluring lifestyles to children.

While radio, television and print media have long been funded by advertising, social media algorithms increase their potency by cleverly manipulating emotions; these algorithms promote feelings of constant inadequacy and addict users through Pavlovian dopamine hits that can come from sending and receiving "likes."

Even if Instagram Youth limits or excludes formal advertising, it would serve as a steppingstone to this harmful culture by normalizing image-based, materialistic values at a vulnerable age.

Corporations such as Facebook ignore these known harms to children and the warnings of countless psychologists, lawmakers and doctors in their eagerness to ensnare new generations of consumers.

The real possibilities of digital discipleship should not prevent Christians from engaging in honest conversations about the harms of technology. Continue reading

• Lucy Kidwell is a senior at Indiana University and co-chair of the Interfaith Work Group at Fairplay's Children's Screen Time Action Network, a grassroots group advocating for technology ethics.

No legislature, no law enforcement agency, no regulator.

The US Congress has failed.

The EU has failed.

When the Federal Trade Commission fined it a record $5bn for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, its stock price actually went up.

Which is what makes this moment so interesting and, possibly, epochal.

If the boycott of Facebook by some of the world's biggest brands - Unilever, Coca-Cola, Starbucks - succeeds, it will be because it has targeted the only thing that Facebook understands: its bottom line.

And if it fails, that will be another sort of landmark.

Because this is a company that facilitated an attack on a US election by a foreign power, that live-streamed a massacre then broadcast it to millions around the world and helped incite a genocide.

I'll say that again. It helped incite a genocide.

A United Nations report says the use of Facebook played a "determining role" in inciting hate and violence against Myanmar's Rohingya, which has seen tens of thousands die and hundreds of thousands flee for their lives.

I often think about that report.

When I watch documentaries showing Facebook employees playing ping-pong inside their Menlo Park safe space.

When I took a jaunt to the suburban Silicon Valley town earlier this year and strolled down the "normal" street where Mark Zuckerberg lives his totally normal life as the sole decision-maker in a company the like of which the world has never seen before.

When I heard that Maria Ressa, the Filipino journalist who has done so much to warn of Facebook's harms, had been sentenced to jail.

When I read the Orwellian defence that our former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg wrote last week. "Platforms like Facebook hold a mirror up to society," he said.

Facebook is not a mirror. It's a gun. Unlicensed - it is not subject to laws or control - it is in the hands and homes of 2.6 billion people, infiltrated by covert agents acting for nation-states, a laboratory for groups who praise the cleansing effects of the Holocaust and believe 5G will fry our brainwaves in our sleep.

People sometimes say that if Facebook was a country, it would be bigger than China.

But this is the wrong analogy.

If Facebook was a country, it would be a rogue state.

It would be North Korea. And it isn't a gun. It's a nuclear weapon.

Because this isn't a company so much as an autocracy, a dictatorship, a global empire controlled by a single man. Who - even as the evidence of harm has become undeniable, indisputable, overwhelming - has simply chosen to ignore its critics across the world.

Instead, it has continued to pump out relentless, unbelievable, increasingly preposterous propaganda even as it controls the main news distribution channels.

And just as the citizens of North Korea are unable to operate outside the state, it feels almost impossible to be alive today and live a life untouched by Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.

The #StopHateForProfit campaign is focused on hate speech.

It's what has united six American civil rights organisations in the US to lobby advertisers to "pause" their ads for July, a campaign precipitated by Facebook's decision not to remove a post by Donald Trump threatening violence against Black Lives Matter protesters: "When the looting starts, the shooting starts."

But this is so much bigger than Facebook's problem with hate. Continue reading

Catholic Link editor Becky Roach recently posted an item titled "From Lady Gaga to Steph Curry: 5 Things to Remember when Celebrities Share Their Faith."

This came after Gaga has recently posted online two pictures of herself attending Mass.

During the same period, among other pictures Lady Gaga posted was one of herself sitting on top of a naked man wearing nothing but her underwear.

On Sunday, Lady Gaga instagrammed a picture with "her favourite priest".

"Thank you Father Duffell for a beautiful homily as always and lunch at my pop's restaurant,"Gaga wrote at the time.

"'I was so moved today when you said.. ‘The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect but the food that God gives us'."

Mrs Roach's article stated that "Many celebrities are sharing Bible verses, quoting priests, and singing Christian music while at the same time still leading a typical Hollywood lifestyle void of Christian values such as modesty and purity".

Mrs Roach stated that "even in cases such as Lady Gaga, a woman who has unfortunately done a variety of obscene things", this was an example of how "anyone can turn back to the faith".

The post basically proposed "five things to remember about celebrities", such as the fact that they "aren't God because they're famous", "they're humans like us. They're not perfect", celebrities' words about their faith can be "conversation starters" and "we need to pray for them".

The blogger added that only God could judge Gaga's lifestyle.

Gaga took to Instagram to respond.

The Grammy winner spoke about Mary Magdalene, "someone society shames as if she and her body are a man's trash can", who "washed the feet of Christ and was protected and loved by him".

"We are not just ‘celebrities', we are humans and sinners, children, and our lives are not void of values because we struggle.

"We are as equally forgiven as our neighbour. God is never a trend, no matter who the believer," Gaga wrote.

Catholic Link replied to Gaga's Instagram post, saying it was "one of the most beautiful responses" they have ever read from a celebrity.

Sources

• Daily Mail
• Crux
• Catholic Link
• Catholic Link
• Image: Crux (Lady Gaga Instagram)

The pontiff's first post is a photo of him kneeling in prayer with the message "pray for me" in nine languages.

The pope's Instagram account, with the handle "Franciscus," broke a record for getting one million followers — the previous record was 24 hours held by David Beckham.

The account, which will be separate from the official Vatican account, will be maintained by Vatican personnel.

The launch of the pope's account came weeks after his meeting with Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom.

During the meeting, Systrom and the pontiff, talked about "the power of images to unite people across different cultures and languages."

Systrom was at the Vatican on Saturday to witness the pope firing off his debut post.

The pope's new social media account was launched during the third anniversary of his papal inauguration.

The pope's social media presence includes Twitter with 8.9 million followers since May 2013.

Sources

Digital Trends
Yahoo
CNN/WGNO/ABC
Image: Yahoo

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