Guilty as Charged

FoxNews is running a front page article on Benedict recommending abstinence from technology for Lent.

The Pontiff warned on his YouTube site in January that "obsessive" use of mobile phones or computers "may isolate individuals from real social interaction while also disrupting the patterns of rest, silence and reflection that are necessary for healthy human development."

And here I thought blogging more was going to help me with my Lenten mediations!

But this request does makes sense to me.

At this point in my life, the only real interaction I have with any other human beings during the week is with my students. I don't even have a noon Mass anymore where I can loiter around a kibbitz with stragglers. I'm lucky if I even get to hang out with friends or family once a month, although I'm fortunate that I still get to see Isabel once a week.

So, yes, I pretty much do spend more time interacting with Mario, Link, Cloud Strife, and little German kids playing Battlefront II than engaging actual human beings (not to imply that little German kids aren't human beings...although seeing how well they can snipe me from across the forests of Endor, I do have my doubts).

Heck, I'm actually worse off than the people in the article because at least they are being faulted for excessive texting. I don't even know how to text, but at least they are communicating with other people.