Problems of Social Media: Crafted to be anti-theocentric and favor depression
By Fr. Pasquotto - Social Media have a properly anti-theocentric way of working. Who is placed in the center is the user himself.
Note from the translator: A series of sermon by Fr. Luiz Fernando Pasquotto, IBP, in 2016. The original in portuguese can be read here .
Sermons: Problems of Social Media:
Changes your self perception (link)
Crafted to be anti-theocentric and favor depression ←
Jeopardize intellectual life (link)
Moral issues and fair use (link)
Social Media have an anti-theocentric mode of functioning. Their structure is designed so that everything is referred to the user, not to God. Who is placed in the center is the user himself. The organizing principle of Social Media is: “I am the measure of all things and I put myself at the center of attention”. Each one is his own measure, not God. The page is personal, with personal publications, with followers accepted by the person, with content determined by the person, comments on ideas taken by the person himself or replicated by him, filled by the events (artificially modeled...) of that person's life. Everything in the organization of Social Media exudes individualism. The person is the center of attention, ultimately, everything refers to him.
The Church does exactly the opposite, and we have an example in Holy Mass. Latin is a language reserved only for the things of God and not for personal activities; the gestures, vestments, music, prayers to be said, the readings, the building, etc., nothing was entirely chosen by the free initiative of those who attend. If something can be chosen, it must be within rules and criteria that have God as the purpose and center of the choice. The Mass has countless prayers that remind us of our sins (Confiteor… mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…, Kyrie eleison…, Aufer a nobis… iniquitates nostras, Suscipe… ego indignus famulus tuus… pro innumerabilibus peccatis et offensionibus et negligentiis meis…, etc.) and do not allow us to have a self-indulgent view, but a realistic one. The qualities of each person in the parish are aimed at the common good and, ultimately, for the glory of God, not for personal admiration.
There are definitely two opposing ways of seeing yourself: either I see myself as the focus where people should look, or I see myself as having to look at God, finally, and refer everything to God. There are two loves, and two antagonistic cities…
The structure of Social Media is thought to be egocentric, anthropocentric and individualistic, (which are) basic and fundamental premises of anthropotheism. Even if a truth is published, it will be published with every semblance of a personal opinion. And just as two bodies cannot occupy the same place in space, so in the spiritual life two principles cannot occupy the same priority. Either God is in the focus of our life or, if we put ourselves in the focus, necessarily God will, in fact, cease to be important to us. The consequences in Catholic life are evident: a lack of interest in the Mass, in which God is the center and not the individual person; disinterest in prayer, which is an elevation of the soul to God; lack of critical spirit regarding one's own actions (we do not see defects in the things we do, because we do not seek to do them by placing Jesus Christ and Our Lady as models given to us to rectify our actions and intentions); attachment to one's own opinion and disregard for the teachings of the ecclesiastical Magisterium, especially in morals, because they require more personal effort to reform our bad personal habits (it is easier to change our ideas than our behavior).
And just as two bodies cannot occupy the same place in space, so in the spiritual life two principles cannot occupy the same priority
3. Social Media are causes of acquired psychological illnesses, or favor the manifestation of psychological and psychiatric illnesses that many people would never have or would manifest if they had stayed away from these means.
Due to the insistence with which Social Media demands the user's attention — continually calling them with notifications of publications, messages, etc. — it makes the user behave anxiously. It is necessary to abandon a reflection, an obligation, the attention to be given to a person, and immediately see the message received. This repetitively. The result is that people with an inclination towards anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) will be inclined to use Social Media, because these means have all the necessary structure for these people to be able to exercise, without any restraint, the bad disposition they already have. What before would only be on the level of a bad disposition, will now become a bad habit (that is) difficult to break, because of the constant repetition of acts done towards the bad inclination that one has. People who do not manifest anxiety or OCD, but have a physical predisposition to have them, will develop these imbalances by repeating properly anxious acts over and over again. Anyone who has no inclination towards anxiety and compulsive behavior will begin to develop a predisposition to it. They would have remained normal individuals (or less complicated individuals) if they had stayed away from Facebook, Instagram, etc. People prone to anxiety and compulsiveness need to stay away from these means as much as possible if they want to maintain their mental health.
As we have seen, with Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, etc., we create a simulacra of ourselves, willfully optimistic images of ourselves, socially aseptic. But the reality of our own person remains. And when the simulacrum that we create of ourselves is confronted with the reality of ourselves in the daily life of our family, our work, our spiritual life, then frustration, sadness and depression inevitably arise in us.
Frustration is the sadness that is born in me in the face of the enormous distance that I see between the simulacrum I forged of myself and reality. In the photos we create of ourselves, we are elegantly dressed, beautiful, in pleasant places, with people that we have selected and who are pleasant, smiling, we appear to be balanced, sensible, thoughtful people, fulfilling ourselves fully.
But the reality is quite different: my family and employees are not so nice; my wife or husband are not as beautiful as other people; I don't have as much money or purchasing power as I appear to have in the photos; my other clothes are not as elegant, nor are my family members; I see myself in the mirror and I'm ugly; the arrangement of many things in the house are not always pleasant or the way I want, nor are the everyday facts, nor can I do all my whims without restraint. Not that the family itself is a bad thing, but original sin exists, and leaves its traces everywhere… No illusions… I also make mistakes, I am criticized, other people annoy me with their mistakes, etc.
We then compare the false image we make of ourselves and our lives with real life and our real selves: we become frustrated, sad and depressed, for not satisfying needs that don't really exist, and that we create on a whim. We deluded ourselves into realizing them when we created a false image of ourselves on Facebook. But now reality sets in.
The damage is even worse in large families, because having many children requires economic sacrifices and makes luxury a very distant thing from the family's daily life. The distance between the illusions of consumption and behavior that the modern world presents, and the real life of a large family, is very large. The sadness they will have from their real life will be greater, the larger the distance between the illusion they may have (which has no limits in the contemporary world) (with) the reality of the family in which they live. Children and other members of large families will suffer the most from the consequences. People who are prone to depression need to stay as far away from Facebook, Instagram, and the internet as they can if they want to maintain a healthy psychological life for their own good. Otherwise, as long as you keep stimulating your illusory desires and distant from reality, you will remain frustrated, sad and depressed.
The sadness they will have from their real life will be greater, the larger the distance between the illusion they may have (with) the reality of the family in which they live.
In Social Media, the user sees, on the same page, juxtaposed, without sufficient separation, things that cause euphoria, indignation, commotion, laughter, sadness, comfort. Consequently, he is having sudden mood swings, even if they are mild, which favors the appearance of mood disorders.
Finally, to a greater or lesser degree, they create a double life, lead people to close themselves off in their inner world, facilitate the emergence of disorganized and confused speeches; it is common for the use of the internet and Social Media to be done late at night, causing an inversion of the sleep cycle; favors isolation, loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities, apathy, school and professional difficulties; easy access to all kinds of ideas published by people ignorant of the subjects they comment on leads users to have bizarre ideas and eccentric behavior. All these things are signs present in many psychiatric illnesses.
All these imbalances in mood, behavior and ideas greatly facilitate an action of the devil in memory, imagination, affections, because they are unstructured and not rectified by virtues. In addition, the person easily commits all kinds of sins, opening the devil's doors even more to act in personal and family life.
The supernatural life is based on a healthy natural life. All these problems fueled by social media make the ground on which the life of grace must set foot very spoiled. It is obvious that Social Media collaborate enormously so that the life of grace cannot sustain itself stably in people. If we want to maintain a normal mental life and have a stable and serious supernatural Catholic life, it is absolutely necessary not to use them (which is, without a doubt, better), or to use social media with a lot of restraint. And if we see that we cannot have this brake, it is necessary to stop using Social Media.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.