(Unsplash/Meghan Schiereck)
Ten years ago, when Pope Benedict XVI encouraged Christians in his World Communications Day address to engage social media "confidently" and with "creativity," he surely could not have imagined the sea of posts and tweets, likes and shares many of us now swim in daily. Facebook had only been around for five years at that point; Twitter for three. Instagram and TikTok did not yet exist.
A decade later — having witnessed the polarizing effects of the 2016 U.S. election, the rising tide of teen anxiety and depression, widespread misinformation campaigns, increasing evidence of addiction-like behavior — would he still be as positive?