The ruthless tyranny of status updates and likes.
Fr. Steve speaks about the danger of smart phones for all of us, especially our kids.
The Evil One feeds us lies about ourselves and others and those lies are promulgated through Facebook and Instagram. However, Jesus encourages us to not be afraid of the power of the Evil One. Our first parents were tempted by lies into eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and thus lost paradise. We are all looking for love, but If we give into lies about ourselves and others, the Evil One can oppress us. We also experience wounds in our lives and often respond to those wounds sinfully. However, the only thing that really satisfies is the truth.
The Evil One is weak but we can give him power in our lives through our relationships with the wrong people or through abuse of the internet. We become like the people we spend time with, either socially or online. No one needs a smart phone to survive in this world and life is much better and freer without one.
Our kids are addicted to status updates and likes on Instagram and Facebook which provide curated self-perception for their users. Kids often spend time online looking for love and acceptance in undesirable relationships. There are real risks in allowing kids to have smart phones.
We seem to prefer to set our kids up for worldly success rather than encouraging them to pursue heavenly goals. The Holy Spirit wants us to be a community of love. We need to stop pretending that technology makes things better. It doesn't. If we have given in to the culture, we can still be free of it. And when we are free, we can testify to that freedom in our relationships with other people.
