In view of this, it is important to recall that communication “is not only the transmission of information, but it is also the creation of a culture.” 144Address to Representatives of the Media (12 May 2025): AAS 117 (2025), 681-682. The content that circulates within digital environments shapes how people perceive the world and introduces into the collective consciousness images and narratives that direct our desires and influence our daily choices. This is “not a parallel or purely virtual world,” 145Benedict XVI, Message for the 47th World Day of Social Communications (24 January 2013): AAS 105 (2013), 183. since what originates online now becomes a part of people’s lives, especially of the youngest.
For this reason, those who control digital platforms and means of communication have a considerable ability to affect the collective imagination and to present a particular vision of reality as desirable. Such power should be constantly guided by the pursuit of truth and respect for human dignity, so that the culture fostered on the internet does not become an instrument of excessive distraction, homogenization or dominance, but rather a setting in which inner freedom and critical thought can mature.