Jesus says no more Facebook!

Pope Benedict.

"The concept of friendship has enjoyed a renewed prominence in the vocabulary of the new digital social networks that have emerged in the last few years. The concept is one of the noblest achievements of human culture. ... We should be careful, therefore, never to trivialise the concept or the experience of friendship. It would be sad if our desire to sustain and develop on-line friendships were to be at the cost of our availability to engage with our families, our neighbours and those we meet in the daily reality of our places of work, education and recreation. If the desire for virtual connectedness becomes obsessive, it may in fact function to isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development."

The ironic part about this entire statement from the Pope is that it was transmitted using the ever popular Youtube Website, on which the Vatican has their own channel, http://www.youtube.com/vatican.  Interesting contradiction in my opinion.  He certainly has a point that social networking tools are abused by many; however, they are an extremely useful networking tool and great way to stay in touch with old friends.  I get the sense David Scharfenberg would not agree with the Pope on this one given his recent article in the Boston Globe.  For those of us who are unemplyoed or students, we need something to distract us and keep us same, perhaps a good book or outing to the mall might work, but its so much easier to just log-on!