Reclaim your distracted attention span!

Recently during prayer it came to me that, while I can blame my own social media use for my shortened attention span - which also affects my ability to concentrate during prayer - prayer itself is the answer!

As in, if I spent more time in deep, focused, contemplative prayer that required my attention, then my ability to cultivate focus would grow in other areas of my life.

I spoke about prayer and concentration this morning on the Morning Air Show with John Morales. You can listen to the recap here, starting at minute 12:05.

What we discussed: the inevitability of shortened attention spans in today’s world where one is inundated with notifications, emails, updates, instant news and stock information, and endless scrolling opportunities. The way that technology gets between spouses, and parents and children. And that focused, contemplative prayer time is the antidote, both for lengthening your attention span, and cultivating an overall disposition of patience and interior peace.

John asked an interesting question, which was: how long does this take? My answer: I don’t believe in “hacks” in the spiritual life. It will take as long as it needs to get one back to focus. But, you can, and should, ask God for help here: let Him know what you are trying to do and that you need His help. We also talked about how all of this is a choice. Yes, social media is an addiction. But the first step to reclaiming your mind for yourself is to acknowledge how miserable it makes you, and begin to move.

Specific prayers we talked about: the rosary, lectio divina, and reading the Gospel or another holy text slowly and intentionally. Reclaim your attention span!

Here’s that playback again. I’ll next be back on Tuesday, September 5 around 7:10 am eastern. Talk to you then!

No, AI cannot replace human evangelization

I had a grand ol’ time earlier this week speaking with Morning Air’s John Morales about the question: can AI replace human evangelization? My answer: no! Though not without a few laughs on the way, contemplating the pros and cons of farming out Catholic communications to a robot. You can listen to the conversation here.

Interestingly, this week I then came across two instances where the Church is embracing, at least partially, AI. The first is that The Vatican announced Tuesday that Pope Francis’ annual peace message for 2024 will focus on AI:

The Vatican office noted that artificial intelligence technologies are having “a rapidly increasing impact on human activity, personal and social life, politics and the economy” and called for vigilance to ensure that technological development contributes to “the promotion of justice and peace in the world.”

Indeed.

Pope Francis has repeatedly called for making “the intrinsic dignity of every man and every woman the key criterion in evaluating emerging technologies.”

And that’s just it, isn’t it? “The intrinsic dignity of every man and every woman” is the central basis for any decision if you are a Catholic (and it should be that way for everyone, but then of course men are not angels).

Then later I saw the Catholic Media Association, of which I am a member, is hosting an AI training for PR and communications professionals. It seems geared less toward creative writing, though I see learning how to use AI for “content creation.” Overall it seems focused on helping communications professionals streamline processes. Makes sense. But it all feels like a slippery slope, doesn’t it?

My bottom line is: I don’t like it because it’s artificial. As we talked about in the interview, I don’t see AI really bringing out anyone’s virtues, especially if you are actively using it to create for you, as opposed to using it to enhance your search engine or something administrative. And there’s so much artificial about our world already! Do we need more in our own apostolates, when so much of our world is anti-human? And I can’t see AI as anything other than fundamentally anti-human. I’m sure that’s a hot take.

As I say in the interview, it is feels far nicer - more human - to hold hands with a fellow human, than a robot - at least for now. And because what the human heart desires will never change, we run the risk of forcing human behavior to choose AI for the sake of convenience, and not because it is what is good for us. Shortcuts, artificial reality, fake relationships, no real love, lack of hardship that makes us grow, change, or learn. I wouldn’t dream of setting up an AI system to write my blog posts for me. Why bother writing, at all? Why lie to the public? Why separate yourself from the Holy Spirit, by whom all communication is inspired, anyway? Why shortchange yourself a chance to be real?

And on an incredibly relevant note, as I wrote this post, I came across this quote from the English writer and artist John Ruskin:

"The highest reward for a person's toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it."

Can AI replace human evangelization?

Friends, I have a very interesting discussion coming up this Tuesday at 7:10 am eastern on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air program: can AI replace human evangelization? Whether it’s through the creation of the written or spoken work, visual or graphic arts, or even just explaining the Catechism, the time approaches when Catholics are going to wonder and test out how AI can help them spread the good news.

A few things we’ll be discussing:

• Will using AI bring out our virtues, or vices? Will it make us lazy perfectionists?

• Can the Holy Spirit work through AI-generated religious content?

• How can you tell if what you’ve created is accurate, or especially that it doesn’t accidentally contain something evil?

• Is using AI totally safe, or is it like summoning something through a Ouija board?!

• Will using AI separate us from the fruits of traditional evangelization, like relationships made with those served, and humility gained in humbling or tough situations?

• And much more!

You can find your radio station here, via the Relevant Radio app (I do recommend, because then you get access to all their shows whenever you feel like it), or listen online via the streaming service here.