Pope Francis urged young people in Athens on Monday not to be “prisoners of the cell phone,” but to truly share their lives with others.
The Pope was speaking in a school sports hall in a suburb of the Greek capital on 6 December. The Pontiff said that helping others was “the way to bring about something truly new in history.”
“Many people today are constantly using social media, but are not themselves very social: they are caught up in themselves, prisoners of the cell phone in their hand,” he said, in his last address before departing for Rome at the end of a three-day visit to Greece.
“What appears on the screen is not the reality of other persons: their eyes, their breath, and their hands. The screen can easily become a mirror, where you think you are looking at the world, but in reality, you are all alone before a virtual world full of appearances, of photos dressed up to look always beautiful and acceptable.”
“Yet how beautiful it is simply to be together with other people, to discover the newness of others! Cultivate the mystique of togetherness, the joy of sharing, the enthusiasm of serving!”