Giving up Texting for Lent?

How could you not love this story out of Rome?

Apparently, Italians have taken up a papal call (released on YouTube, ironically) not to replace “virtual friendships with real human interaction” and have decided to give up texting for Lent. Traditionally, Catholics have given up something like sweets or alcohol for the 40 days preceding Easter, but this is definitely bringing the church into (or out of) the 21st century.

I can’t say that I’m unsympathetic to such a movement, given that my father still thinks computers are a fad. Also, I don’t think that this development is unrelated to the fact that in the past week I’ve heard both Karl Rove and Charlie Rose talk about using Twitter.

Anyone else feel like they entered the Twilight Zone? What happened to politicians and old media types being slow to adapt to new technologies? It’s nice to hear that Joe Klein is still a Twitter holdout, but I wouldn’t be shocked if George Will announces that he types all his columns on an iPhone.

President Obama might not be able to change the tone in Washington, but he certainly seems to have changed the attitude toward new technologies.

The views expressed in this blog do not represent the views or opinions of Generations United.