489. The mass media generally do not replace personal relationships or local community life. However, the sites can reinforce and stimulate exchange of experience and information so as to intensify religious practice by being present and providing guidance. Likewise, in the family parents should alert their children to a conscious use of the contents available on the Internet, to complement their educational and moral formation.
One of the discernments about the internet is assessing the person-to-person contact at the core of the Lord’s means of connecting with people. Social media initiate that with difficulty. The better task is the communication of information. And because of the anonymity of that and the scarce opportunity for direct exchange, it may have its own problems in the realm of “fake news.”
What’s the best thing that can be said about the internet? It is a supporting player. Not the lead.
For deeper examination, an English translation of the 2007 document from the Aparecida Conference.
Catholic Sensibility 