The Church of England has warned that social media could be making us “stupid”.
A new report from the denomination warns that our increased engagement with social media has made us “trigger happy” in posting hasty judgements of leaders online, without checking the accuracy of our information.
“The internet and social media give us the illusion of having access to reliable information,” the report on trust and trustworthiness within the Church of England reads.
“Whilst we are increasingly trigger happy in our amplification, pace and tone of judgement on our individual leaders, paradoxically we are becoming lax in our scrutiny of whether the very information or source we are accessing to underpin those judgements is accurate or reliable.”
The study - which seeks to repair and promote trust within the Church of England – claims people have been “deluded” into thinking they are more informed “because of the ease of access to volumes of information.”
The overuse of social media puts us “in danger of becoming stupid in our judgement of where to place our trust,” it warns.
The preliminary report researches the experience of trust and distrust in wider society, and within the Church of England through interviews and conversions, as well as providing considerations for change. It also raised concerns that some priests were excessively critical of church leaders and operated with too much "autonomy" or "separatism" from church leadership.
It will be discussed at the Church’s General Assembly in July.
