The Church is plugging into the social network. No, don’t worry, Tom Hanks won’t be there to give us all an elaborate scheme resulting in the truth.

This past Monday, Pope Benedict gave a blessing to all those who adore the social networking age, but also a stern warning. There are roughly five-hundred million Roman Catholics, (Answers.Encyclopedia) and roughly five-hundred million Facebook (USA Today) users; one of many social networks available these days. It is my educated guess that there are quite a few of you that fit into both these categories. Have no fear though, you are not about to be ex-communicated.

Pope Benedict had said Monday,

“It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives.”

This isn’t anything new to the Nerds that we are, but to hear it from his holy father is making me think how far behind the Church is in its redirect.  Long before the social network hit the internet, games, chats, and forums were around to already induldge the all inclusive avatar, and escape the real world.

He went on to say,

“In the search for sharing, for ‘friends’, there is the challenge to be authentic and faithful, and not give in to the illusion of constructing an artificial public profile for oneself.”

I believe what the Pope is trying to say is don’t make a fake profile, even more so, not to inflate oneself artificially on the network world. You can make inflated meaningful comments, wish a happy birthday, and make yourself look the best in a perfect self image, but when you see that network friend at a gas station – don’t high tale it out of there because your hair is messed up, you really don’t want to see that person, or talk to them, ever.  We’ve all done it.

He went on to say you should ask yourself, “Who is my ‘neighbor’ in this new world?” and avoid being “less present to those whom we encounter in our everyday life.” In short, I’ve found a simple solution I’d like to suggest to the Vatican:

1) If you find yourself stuck on any social network for more time spent with your loved ones, check out Nerd Reactor more often.

2) If making yourself inflated, and preparing that perfect mobile head shot is in your daily activities, check out Nerd Reactor more often.

3) Lastly, if you find that “Like” and “Sharing” have become numb, and you can’t fill your time long enough with a social network, check out Nerd Reactor more often.

Source: The New York Times