CiD

More Catholics embrace online social networking

In this Our Sunday Visitor article, CiD member Dr. Sebstian Mahfood offers netiquette tips for Catholics involved in social networking:

• Remember the human. That sounds basic, but is often forgotten. “All technologies are extensions of the persons who use them,” Mahfood told OSV. “Behind every communication is a real human person who is not only an individual substance of a rational nature, but is also a being created in the image and likeness of Christ.”
• Keep Christ at the center of any social network that is developed. Mahfood explained: “The temptation exists in our social interactions to bracket Christ when we perceive a good or a value that we would like to pursue in the satisfaction of our own desires. The advice is traditional, but meaningful for online interactions — never do anything or say anything online that you cannot share with the Eucharist.”
• Begin all real-time chats with prayer “for the good of the community gathered and the participation of the Holy Spirit,” he continued.
• Apply established “netiquette” rules to the social networks that are created. “People who find themselves the hosts of very large social networking sites will not only want to follow established standards but promote them actively as a form of evangelization and prayer,” Mahfood said.

For those in the St. Louis area, Dr. Mahfood will address CYBERETHICS:
Our Relationships in Cyberspace on Thursday, February 19, 2009.

Tags: cyberethics, evangelization, events, internet, technology

Cyberethics for Seminarians

In this series of videos Dr. Sebastian Mahfood addresses the subject of cyberethics for seminarians.

Tags: cyberethics, internet, technology

Media Impact on Children

Media can be a positive influence in the lives of children and adolescents, but care is needed to avoid the negative side effects. This is the conclusion of a series of 10 short papers just released by the journal Children and Electronic Media. — Zenit.org

Zenit summarizes the research contained in these papers and concludes that “parents have to take responsibility for helping their children develop healthy media habits.”

Tags: advertising, Brookings Institution, children, Children and Electronic Media, cyberbullying, gaming, marketing, media, online chat, Princeton University, sex, technology, television, The Future of Children, video games, violence, Woodrow Wilson School