YouTube, a new Magisterium?

The internet is very ambiguous. On the one hand, the internet can be used for a great deal of good. The internet gives us useful information. We can use it for important work. It can even be used to lead people to the truth. On another hand, the internet connects us with a veritable deluge of lies and impurity which can endanger our souls. It is a place where the wicked can spread any kind of evil to corrupt the mind and morals of the innocent. These two facts place us in a dilemma: either we avoid the internet, guard our souls, but miss out on the good that can come from it. Or we use it for good but risk getting caught up in a whirlwind of false information that will cloud our judgement and affect our morality.

How can we make sense of this situation?  

Let us start by resolving the first part of the dilemma. It would be unwise to claim that it is a moral duty for every Catholic to avoid internet. The more traditional monks, secluded in the silence of their monastery, use internet or ask their faithful to use it for their religious work. However, it may happen that for this or that person, it is morally required not to use the internet. For instance, children must be prevented from surfing the web, save under very strict restrictions, by reason of their young age and the great moral dangers they can encounter on the web. One would not hand a gun to a child, because of the carelessness of his young age. Lax parents and educators will have to give an account to God for the appalling and perhaps permanent damages the internet has done to their children. 

As far as the second part of the dilemma is concerned, it is not a foregone conclusion that the internet will destroy us. The main danger we face while on the internet is curiosity, a sin opposed to studiousness. It is an inordinate search for what is true. St. Thomas of Aquinas presents four ways in which our studiousness could become a sin of curiosity: 

“First, a man sins through curiosity when he is withdrawn by a less profitable study from a study that is an obligation incumbent on him.” What kind of study could be obligatory for us? To take our spiritual life for an example, our faith needs to be nurtured by daily studies: Holy Scripture, spiritual reading, the lives of the saints, explanations of the Faith, the history of the Church, study of the Crisis in the Church (not all at once, of course!). We can, therefore, compare the time we spend on the study of these topics to the time we spend on the internet and ask the question: Have I been “withdrawn by a less profitable study from a study that is an obligation incumbent” to me? … To put it in simply, reading about a crime somewhere in the world is very attractive for our appetite for novelty, but of little use to the soul and the fulfillment of our duty of state. On the contrary, reading a chapter from the Gospels is more austere but how much more profitable to the growth of our spiritual life! 

“Second, he sins when he learns from one, by whom it is unlawful to be taught, as in the case of those who seek to know the future through the demons.” It is unlawful to be taught by the demon because he is not in a state to teach us properly (although he is the cleverest among creatures). People on the internet are not the Devil. However, does this mean they are all qualified to teach us? This one prophesies the end of the world. That one tries to convince us he has had a vision from Heaven. Another one expounds his knowledge of this or that situation, producing, with great seriousness, a plethora of details he has received from another loquacious person (when not merely from his imagination.) Is the Internet a new “Magisterium” so that everyone who expresses himself on it deserves to be listened to? Far from it! 

“Third, a man sins through curiosity when he desires to know the truth about creatures, without referring his knowledge to its due end, namely, the knowledge of God.” Every knowledge must be sought for the glory of God. Is it our intention when we surf on the web? A subjective but very serious clue of that is our state of mind. Have these searches brought to us inner peace, better knowledge of God, spiritual joy, increase of our Faith, Hope and Charity? If so, then it is a good sign. On the contrary, have they brought agitation of mind, anger, bitterness, despair, hatred, and impatience? Do they lead to distractions during our prayers or our daily duties? It is a strong sign that we have been taught by a perverse magisterium! 

“Fourth, one sins by curiosity when he studies to know the truth above the capacity of his own intelligence, since by so doing men easily fall into error.” It is good to remember that we cannot know or judge everything, and that we can “easily fall into error.” The new, modern tribunal, called “the Media,” judges everything being all at once investigating magistrates, public prosecutors, lawyers, attorneys, judges of all instances, and specialists in all matters. Widely spread on the web, they compete with a multitude of “youtubers” who speak about everything with a magisterial tone. However, many of them study (if we can call this “study” …) topics “above the capacity” of their own intelligence. YouTube cannot be our Magisterium. 

Therefore, should we search on the internet? Yes, but let us check the above criteria, without lying to ourselves. When we are on the internet, it is like we are in a huge library where good books sit side by side with perverse or simply uninteresting ones. One can use it properly, or they can waste their time, if not their soul. Our efforts towards holiness, therefore, must involve a thorough examination of our activity on the internet to see if it is helping or hindering our salvation.