Internet and the Social Media

By: Sem. Barry P. Cutaran

Who would thought that we will hear, an unfamiliar field of study that the Rogationist
Seminary was not known for? For the past few years, seminarians would always hear about,
Augustine, Aquinas, Heidegger, Sartre, Camus, Kant, and other philosophers. Philosophies that
confused us with some metaphysical and cosmological problem, that indeed as a philosopher it is
already our nature to answer and embraced it. It seems ironic and surreal but it is true, that we
are already sailing into a big vast ocean with many unfamiliar ideas that could lead us to
understand our being human and as being technological in some sense. Part of its annual
philosophical symposium the Rogationist Seminary College-Cebu together with the Dean of
Studies Fr. Kristian Irvin Taok, RCJ organized a simple and yet profound seminar that talks
about the internet and the social media and its relation to the new evangelization. The speaker
was Fr. Fidel Ma. Orendain, SDB, the rector and president of Don Bosco Technology College,
who touches the issue with regards to social media. Fr Fidel delivered a very simple and yet
decisive way of tackling the issue starting from the evolution of language down to
communication and how social media affects our lives, and to our society. Fr Fidel catches the
attention of all the seminarians including the faculty members because of the way he uses his
analogical examples in a clever way that the listener would always laugh and feel comfortable on
it. Fr. Fidel, emphasizes that technology brings changes to our lives, to our language, to our
society and lastly how technology reinvents man instead of man invents technology, he added:
"that the single and biggest problem of communication is the illusion that it has taken place". The
seminarians would always relate to this because of its vivid manifestation that sometimes
seminarians would always try to interact through the internet, not on face-to-face conversation,
not just only seminarians but other persons including the clerics. Social media was created to
help people maintain connections, network, and obtain information. Recently, almost everybody
has at least one account on a social networking website. Even people that have little desire to see
the thoughts and opinions of hundreds of “friends” find themselves creating accounts. This is
because nobody wants to be left behind in our fast-paced, advancing world of technology
frequently, new relationships are sparked because of networking and mutual friends through
social media. Unfortunately, these relationships are often of low quality. Virtual communication
is much less sincere than face-to-face interaction. And lastly Fr. Fidel challenged the seminarians
to become a genuine communicators even in difficult times, seminarians must always be
remembered that in dealing with this problem one must not forget of how blessed we are by the
Lord, he gives us ears to listen to what others are saying and mouth to speak and stand for what
is truth. We are already on this age where technology is very lucrative, man’s capability is not
going backward not even sideward but going forward, indeed it is a challenge on our part as
seminarians on how to liberate ourselves from the bondage of being determined. At the end of
the day, it is I and the world are facing toward each other, we are already on the age where
technology is very rampant, instead of complaining, embrace and strive to seek for the truth,
truth is not relative. We must be the bearer of light and love through authentic dialogue and
openness of one's heart, mind, and soul. In conclusion, social media is, and will continue to be,
harmful, unless something is done about it. The power it has over people is dangerous and often
goes unnoticed. People need to change the destructive patterns of social media use before it
destroys society. The fast, easy access to information that is supposed to be beneficial to society
is detrimental to society. At exactly 4 p.m., the seminarians and faculty members went home with
new ideas and knowledge that they can share with their specific congregation and affiliation. The
said event finishes on a high note and optimism that together by going hand-in-hand we can
make a better place where we can live together and communicate with each other through our
ears and our mouth. Fr. Fidel's effort must be wasted we learned something new and we will
make it as our new weapon to understand our being man into this technological advancement.