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Pope Francis wants families to talk, not text, at the (dinner) table
June 04, 2025
Many have called Pope Francis a “Pope of the People” or “The People’s Pope”, due in no small part to hisway of doing things. and he recently took the opportunity during a November 11th sermon at St. Peter’s Square to share his thoughts on tech at the table:
He then added that,
The comments came during his preaching on the subject of togetherness, of which he stressed the dinner table is a critical part of the family structure:
The “new” television
While people are free to have their own opinions as to the comments raised above, at the very least there is a point that can be made about technology at the dinner table serving as a distraction. Television, once viewed as an “end” to families due toitsdistracting influence and the creation of a “TV dinner” society, has seemingly been supplanted by mobile technology.
The situation was also the underscore of a recentSouth Park episodethat sought to point out how kids in the 21st century are now spending copious amounts of time on their computers or mobiles as opposed to even the television.
On a personal level, tech-at-the-table can be seen every time I go to a family restaurant (diner) here in Tokyo. Inevitably there will be at least one instance of either a parent and child who aren’t talking – usually because the child is on a 3DS or mobile phone game, or else an entire tableofkids, none of whom are talking because they’re all playing Monster Hunter or another online game via Ad-Hoc.
Recently we have seen studies that indicatehow addicted people areto their mobiles, and some may have dealt with texting or “Facebook Breaks” during dates. That Pope Francis sees a problem with table texting adds another form of scrutiny on the modern behaviors of the digital denizen. Still, everyone has their own opinion, and thus we’d like to ask for yours! Please feel free to take the quick survey below and then leave your comments.
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