SOCIAL MEDIA’S CULTURAL
INFLUENCE
What is different today is the ubiquity
of social media that tends to increase
the liquefaction of society. As the docu-
ment states: “The pervasiveness of digital
and social media in the world of young
people is evident. . . . The impact of so-
cial media in the lives of young people
cannot be understated” (#34). Although
the web has the potential to unite people
across geographical distances, “the web
can also be a place of loneliness, manipu-
lation, exploitation, and violence, up to
the extreme case of the ‘dark web.’ Young
people are aware that risks are out there:
the duplicity of technology, however, be-
comes evident when it leads to the devel-
opment of certain vices. The danger is
manifested through isolation, laziness,
desolation, and boredom” (#35).
As my youngest millennial son says, “It
is because we don’t use social media cor-
rectly – the fault is our own. Instead of us
using it to gather information we go into
our own little pods. Social media is a tool
and we have used it to separate instead
of unite us.” It is reasonable to assume
that social media’s ability to create loneli-
ness would only exacerbate the loneliness
of physically moving. Why? Because us-
ing social media is establishing in youth
ritual practices of separation and isolation
in keeping youth attached to phones
and tablets instead of physically being
with others. The document formulates
this situation: “superficial use of digital
media exposes people to the risk of isola-
tion, that can even become extreme: this
situation is known under the Japanese
term hididomori and is affecting a growing
number of young people in many coun-
tries, especially in Asia. Another risk is
withdrawing into an illusory and ephem-
eral happiness that leads to forms of ad-
diction” (#58).
Communication among young people
on the web is cultic in that it promotes
only speaking to those who are similar
to you. The bishop’s document agrees:
“with the advent of social media, this has
led to new challenges over the extent to
which media companies have power over
the lives of young people. Developing
the ability to engage in sober conversa-
tion and dialogue with diversity is being
hindered by this situation and becomes
a real educational challenge where the
young are concerned” (#35). Paragraph
#56 elaborates: “today we have to realize
that the way digital media work, and the
need to choose which information sourc-
es to access amongst endless offerings, are
leading people to increasingly make con-
tact only with like-minded individuals.
Ecclesial groups, institutions and asso-
ciations also run the risk of turning into
closed circuits.” The document promotes
the importance of offering formation on
this topic, especially the delusional pow-
ers of social media to provide community
or a sense of belonging.
I have argued before about how the
“parish” can help in this post-modern
liquid society by providing community
(Mosaic, 2014). Yet the document admits
that even parishes have been affected by
this liquidity in that “sometimes, parishes
are no longer places of connection” (#21).
Although that may be true, most parishes
are places of connection especially if they
have a full complement of clerical and lay
ecclesial ministers who can make prayer
and devotional opportunities available to
youth as well as Christian service opportu-
nities and other types of communal gath-
erings. Given this liquid post-modernity,
where else will youth hear the message of
forgiveness, love, kindness, and mercy oth-
er than the family? Nowhere. There is no
other institution or local community like
the parish that has the message of mercy
and reconciliation at its core.
The liquid society could easily be
“more solid” if young people can find
ways to resist individualism, especially in
the form of physically moving away, and
embrace the opportunity not only to stay
attached to their family and parish, but to
transform them into even more vibrant
places of community, connectedness, rec-
onciliation, worship and Christian ser-
vice. Youth have the opportunity to form
a youth group in the parish and to be-
come part of the liturgical, catechetical,
evangelical, devotional, and recreational
dimensions of the parish—to infuse all
aspects of parish life which challenge all
of us to conform more completely to Je-
sus Christ. Sociologically, however, all of
this is more likely to occur if youth take
up the challenge and opportunity to stay
put familially (moving out of one’s own
nuclear home but staying within the local
area), communally, and ecclesially (local
parish). Physically moving only means
starting all over again.
Dr. Michael McCallion holds the Rev. William
Cunningham Chair in Catholic Social Analysis
at Sacred Heart.
Young adults gather at a special
“Come, Encounter Christ” event at
St. Lawrence Parish in Utica, Michigan,
on October 21. (Photos by James Silvestri)
shms.edu
11