It would be superfluous to recall that our communication today is marked by the pressing influence of the social networks.
The almost intuitive ease of use of current means of communication, never experienced in the past, gives many users the illusion of being actors on the digital planet just for having a means and launching the production of random messages.
Illusion, because more than 95% of new media users are simple consumers of "cultural products" thereby delighting the owners as well as wasting their own time – one of those rare resources. What Massimo Baldini says about the frontiers of language is interesting: we cannot use words at will and say that we are speaking a language. To say “this not also but” it's not engaging in what we call talking. Any of these four words are perfectly right but they don't go together like that. As a result, binding them like this becomes meaningless noise.
Today, with the availability of technology, we often see the absurd. Taking a picture and posting it does not mean committing yourself to responsible communication, capable of educating the imagination of the man of our time.
Does this mean we have to ignore new media? The answer is No. In fact, Pope Francis talks about the media as a gift from God. However, it is important to underline the instrumental nature of the media with no value in itself. For the Holy Father. “it is not the technology that decides whether communication is authentic or not, but the human heart and its ability to use it correctly.” The bet is to become actors and producers on the digital planet. In other words, to become mature users who take advantage of the gifts God places at our disposal. Actors who communicate faith, hope and charity. Indeed, in this 51ma World Day of Social Communications, the Pope invites everyone to "communicate hope and trust in our time."
Do we have models to follow for such an enterprise? Just click on Don Guanella! Interest in the media is in the Guanellian DNA. The Holy Founder paid particular attention to the media of his time becoming a true actor. In fact, one of his first activities in Como, founding the Divina Provvidenza house, was the press, and a few years later he would found a monthly to inform and promote attention to the needy, that is to say, to promote charity. Attention to the media accompanied Don Guanella's life. Already in the seminary, he became interested in the world of printing. During his first years as a priest, we see his interest in the publishing world in the service of truth by awakening his country flock against false doctrines, supporting the experience of the peasant world and stoking the flame of good. Later he will make abundant use of brochures in the service of faith, etc. The Holy Founder was convinced of the relationship between the media and the construction of the collective imagination, and he felt the need to commit himself to strengthening the Christian and Catholic imagination. He had determinedly chosen his field between being an actor or a television viewer, active or passive, producer or consumer of media products. And which side are you on?
Father François Luvunu Lowu