The Archbishop made his many thoughts on social media clear in a lengthy interview with The Telegraph. His comments come on the heels of the tragic news that 15 year old Megan Gillan overdosed on pain killers due to bullying on Bebo.
The Archbishop's Words
Here are the Archbishop's thoughts on emailing and texting:
"I think there's a worry that an excessive use or an almost exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we're losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that's necessary for living together and building a community."
"Facebook and MySpace might contribute towards communities, but I'm wary about it. It's not rounded communication so it won't build a rounded community ... If we mean by community a genuine growing together and a mutual sharing in an interest that is of some significance then it needs more than Facebook."
On communication increasingly occurring through digital channels:
"We're losing social skills, the human interaction skills, how to read a person's mood, to read their body language, how to be patient until the moment is right to make or press a point. Too much exclusive use of electronic information dehumanises what is a very, very important part of community life and living together."
On suicide:
"Among young people often a key factor in them committing suicide is the trauma of transient relationships. They throw themselves into a friendship or network of friendships, then it collapses and they're desolate."
He also claimed that Facebook and social networking are causing teenagers to value the number of friends they have, rather than the quality of their relationships:
"It's an all or nothing syndrome that you have to have in an attempt to shore up an identity; a collection of friends about whom you can talk and even boast. But friendship is not a commodity, friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it's right."
It's Really About Personal Responsibility
His points aren't without merit; overaddiction to almost anything, whether it's a narcotic, Twitter, or World of Warcraft, often leads to negative outcomes. Still, our experience has shown us that social media helps build communities rather than tears them down. It has brought people together rather than isolated them.
Social media's the straw man of this debate. It's easy to blame new technologies for breaking down the fabric of society. It doesn't go to the root of the problem, though. For example, it's misleading to point the finger squarely at social networking in the Megan Gillan Bebo bullying case. Bullying is not specific to the web - it happens on the playground just as much as it happens on the Internet. The issue isn't the medium in which the harassment occurred, but the harassment itself.