Pope Francis Tells Millennials: Put Down Your Phone and Listen Up
Pope Francis has a message to today's millennials: Put your phone down during dinnertime. The 80-year old pontiff chided the manners exhibited by today's generation during a dialogue on Feb. 17 with students of Roma Tre University, one of Rome's three state-run universities.
Answering a question on values formation at an open forum, the pope expressed concern on young people's preference to communicate via electronic media instead of talking face-to-face at the dinner table and warned that this could potentially result to "war."
"When we're at the table, when we are speaking to others on our telephones, it's the start of war because there is no dialogue," Pope Francis said. He batted for dialogue, describing it as "a medicine against violence" because it "brings hearts closer together."
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According to NY Post, he thinks that the culture of instant communication and constant connectedness perpetuated by today's technological advancement does not allow for thoughtful consideration of words to be expressed and could even hinder dialogue if sensitivity is not developed.
Pope Francis aired his irritation on the way the youth express their greetings by preferring to say "ciao, ciao" instead of a friendly "good morning." He also emphasized the "need to lower the tone a bit" during conversations, and to "speak less and listen more."
He further admonished the young to cultivate the virtue of hope. He said problems like "joblessness, the blandishments of a culture of hedonism and the warped sense of religion" can fill the void left by hope which will leave bitterness to some young person's heart that may lead to addiction or worse, even suicide.
"This lack of work leads to [some of them] to go elsewhere and enlist in a terrorist army," he said, adding that they may be thinking "at least that way I have something to do and [thus] I give meaning to my life." The pope described this as a "terrible" outcome, according to Vatican Radio.
