P R A Y I N G W I T H T H E C H U R C H
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INTENTION : |
That young people may learn to use modern means of social communication for their personal growth and to better prepare themselves to serve society.
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The modern Internet began to develop in the 80s, but in that decade it was still limited to restricted circles. It spread massively more recently, in the 90s. Its existence has signalled an undeniable technological and cultural revolution, so much so that the Pope has referred to today's young people as 'the digital generation'. The number of internet-users grew by 300% at world-level between 2000 and 2008. The expectation is that in 2011, 22% of the world's population will be using the internet regularly. China and Brazil will have the highest rates of growth in the incorporation of new users. Children and adolescents form the largest group of users, calculating according to age-groups.
As well as the popular e-mail, all kinds of information is to be found on the net, notices, friendship-groups…. it is even possible to enter into a virtual world, with a fictitious identity, to live a second life, where one can buy land, get to know people, take part in events, and so on - all of them virtual. Unfortunately, the promotion of the sex-industry takes up hundreds of thousands of pages of the internet.
We Christians, aware as we are of the dangers, also recognise great opportunities for doing good in the new digital technologies. The Pope invites us to use them to create a culture of respect, of dialogue and of friendship.
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