In the past few weeks we have been looking at various passages of Dignitas Infinita. Among the more novel moral concerns the document draws attention to are the new and emerging dangers presented by digital technologies. Under the banner of “digital violence” the Church is acknowledging that while new digital technologies have in many ways opened up possibilities for progress in communication, entertainment, trade, etc. it has simultaneously created new and almost unlimited opportunities for criminality, exploitation and manipulation of the public. Before considering the grave, moral dangers presented by the digital realm, it is worth considering in the first place the effect that smartphones, tablets and computers are having on real human relationships. The internet offers the promise of improving communication by enabling people to stay better connected. Whilst digital communication has indeed all but eliminated the tyranny of distance, it has also had a profound effect upon how we relate to one another in person. The ease of communicating digitally via digital avatars has (especially for young people) made this mode of communication in many cases even preferable to the vulnerability, time and effort involved in forming real human relationships. Many parents report having difficulties building a relationship with their children as they become increasingly absorbed in their own virtual world. Another growing concern especially for young people is the phenomenon of online bullying via social media. More generally it may be said that the pervasive and intrusive ubiquity of online news, entertainment and social media are having a profound and corrosive effect on mental health and family life. An even darker underside of the internet is the proliferation of sexually explicit and exploitative content. This is harmful to both those who are drawn into the online sex industry (including the outright criminal exploitation of children on the dark web), and the individuals and families who are affected by its corrupting influence. The exposure of children to pornography is a major indictment on our culture’s failure to implement guard-rails on this technology. There is a growing body of evidence that shows that children are being exposed to pornography (either intentionally or accidentally) at ever younger ages. Given how much our culture pretends to care about the welfare of children this ought to be major topic of conversation in our culture, yet it is being almost completely ignored. Also being ignored is the wider social cost of pornography, its effect on mental health, relationships and the family. In addition to the plague of online pornography, our culture is also being severely impacted by addictions to online gambling, which because it’s available 24/7 is an inescapable source of temptation.
The digital world has also opened up whole new possibilities for fraud and identity theft. The schemes of online scammers have become incredibly complex and hard to identify. As some of the more prominent data breaches from the corporate world show, this is a seriously big problem. Experts in the industry estimate cybercrime to cost Australians over $40 billion annually; the global cost of cybercrime is in the region of $10 trillion annually!!! The potential range of cybercrimes is also about to exponentially increase with the development of AI (Artificial Intelligence), which enables people to replicate a person’s voice from voice recordings or even fabricate video footage. For these and many other reasons, the Church needs to be vigilant and clear-throated in her role as ‘mater et magister’ (mother and teacher) of the faithful, and alert them to the dangers posed by new technologies to ensure that they are used for good and not for evil. (Fr Francis Denton)
Declaration of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith “Dignitas Infinita” on Human Dignity (08.04.2024) Digital Violence 61. Although the advancement of digital technologies may offer many possibilities for promoting human dignity, it also increasingly tends toward the creation of a world in which exploitation, exclusion, and violence grow, extending even to the point of harming the dignity of the human person. Consider, for example, how easy it is through these means to endanger a person’s good name with fake news and slander. On this point, Pope Francis stresses that “it is not healthy to confuse communication with mere virtual contact. Indeed, ‘the digital environment is also one of loneliness, manipulation, exploitation, and violence, even to the extreme case of the ‘dark web.’ Digital media can expose people to the risk of addiction, isolation, and gradual loss of contact with concrete reality, blocking the development of authentic interpersonal relationships. New forms of violence are spreading through social media, for example, cyberbullying. The internet is also a channel for spreading pornography and the exploitation of persons for sexual purposes or through gambling.’”[110] In this way, paradoxically, the more that opportunities for making connections grow in this realm, the more people find themselves isolated and impoverished in interpersonal relationships: “Digital communication wants to bring everything out into the open; people’s lives are combed over, laid bare and bandied about, often anonymously. Respect for others disintegrates, and even as we dismiss, ignore, or keep others distant, we can shamelessly peer into every detail of their lives.”[111] Such tendencies represent a dark side of digital progress. 62. In this perspective, if technology is to serve human dignity and not harm it, and if it is to promote peace rather than violence, then the human community must be proactive in addressing these trends with respect to human dignity and the promotion of the good: “In today’s globalized world, ‘the media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of the unity of the human family which in turn can inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all. […] The media can help us greatly in this, especially nowadays, when the networks of human communication have made unprecedented advances. The internet, in particular, offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity. This is something truly good, a gift from God.’ We need constantly to ensure that present-day forms of communication are in fact guiding us to generous encounter with others, to honest pursuit of the whole truth, to service, to closeness to the underprivileged and to the promotion of the common good.”[112]