Pope Francis made his remarks in an address to journalists at the Vatican
Pope Francis has warned Catholics of the risk of “brain rot” from excessive social media scrolling, calling on “courageous” journalists to tell “stories of hope” to the public instead.
The pontiff made his remarks in an address to journalists and other communications professionals at the Vatican on Saturday.
“Communication means stepping outside ourselves a bit to give something of myself to another,” he said, before calling on young people to exercise greater critical thinking skills and avoid giving themselves “brain rot” from excessive social media use.
“Brain rot” is a slang term commonly used by ‘Gen Z’ to describe a state of alienation stemming from the overconsumption of online content.
“We need courageous entrepreneurs, courageous information engineers, so that the beauty of communication is not corrupted,” he said to the assembled journalists, calling on them to “tell stories steeped in hope, be concerned about our common destiny, and strive to write together the history of our future.”
The pontiff also drew attention to the 120 journalists who lost their lives in 2024, many of them covering the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
This is “a difficult moment in the history of humanity, with the world still wounded by wars and violence, by the shedding of so much innocent blood,” he said, adding “when you report on evil, leave space for the possibility of mending what has been torn.”
Pope Francis is a regular critic of social media. Last summer, he cautioned that these platforms “alienate young people.”
“Today, how many hours does a person spend in front of the TV or on their little phones? How many hours?” he asked in an interview with CBS News at the time.
