From 2019 to 2020, more than half of Indonesia’s population accessed the internet.[1] The average time an Indonesian spends on the internet is 7 hours and 59 minutes with 3 hours and 26 minutes especially on social media.[2] Unsurprisingly, majority of them are within the ages of 18 and 34 years old.
The reality of how people communicate and access information these days is an invitation for us in the Society to step back and ask what God wants us to do as His companions. The internet is an ever-changing landscape and we need to learn its language in order to reach out to those around us and beyond with the message of the Gospel.
The Vocation Promotions team of the Indonesian Province started using social media in 2017 to share information and stories on the life and vocation of the Jesuits. In 2018 we opened another account, Jesuit Insight, where scholastics can share more reflective insights on todays’ world from the Jesuit worldview. Both accounts are managed by young scholastics amidst their demanding studies. The province manages the official account, @jesuitindonesia, to share official information about the province and its apostolic works.
The engagement in social media and other digital ecosystems brings about challenges on how to behave, especially in communicating with people from various faiths and cultural backgrounds. Too often we see the destructive and divisive nature of conversations online. However, we also learn to uncover the facts, be more open when our point of view is challenged, and become enriched with the comments and questions users post online. Sometimes we are even led to collaborative efforts.
A podcast series called Every Friday Podcast (SJ Podcast) is an example of collaboration and commitment to accompany the youth. Using applications like Anchor.fm, Spotify, and Apple Podcast, scholastics from Hermanum College with Magis youth contribute their life reflections through the lens of the Spiritual Exercises. So far it has broadcast 12 episodes, which have been played more than 5,000 times. Its usual audience are young Indonesian Catholics who desire to reflect on their daily life. The SJ Podcast is currently in the process of evaluation on how it can maximise its presence and find more growth opportunities.
Some Jesuits have creatively used digital platforms to offer the Spiritual Exercises during the pandemic. Fr Sumarwan adapted Michael Hansen’s The First Spiritual Exercises (FSE) into Indonesian and organised three cohorts of FSE retreatants in 2020. There were about 300 participants from all over Indonesia and abroad who joined the FSE. They faithfully did their prayers daily, and the spiritual conversations on weekends using a digital platform.
Alongside the opportunities it offers in disseminating information and bringing us together, the internet also poses some problems. Certain vested interest groups use the digital world to spread misinformation, propaganda, ideologies, and for financial gains. The backbone of digital ecosystems is known as an algorithm, a process that defines and organises quantitative rules in complex sequences to filter information in the process of decision-making. Algorithms recognise, collect, and create a recognisable pattern in our interactions in digital ecosystems, and then predict our steps by offering certain things. Reflective and critical thinking is fundamental in order to maintain our freedom in making decisions. Something that contemporary people, especially the youth, find more as a luxury rather than a necessity.
Being reflective plays an important role in discerning the spirit of God. The pandemic helps us to be reflective and continue our engagement in the digital world. It may be a luxury to discern what Christ wants from us in todays’ world, and yet it is vital. While we happily engage as users, we are also invited to analyse and to reflect deeply on the influence of this algorithm on our relationship with others and with the Lord.
Jesuit engagement in digital ecosystems is a necessity; it is not merely joining the trend. It is an invitation to humbly learn a new language to be able to speak about God’s presence in our contemporary world. We can help to build critical dialogue, challenge the establishment, and bridge divisions. The digital world offers us a way of bringing people into actual, real, and sincere encounters that can move their hearts to find God.
Septian Marhenanto SJ
Indonesian Province Communications Officer
This article was first published in “The Jesuits in Asia Pacific 2021”. To download the report click here.
[1] APJII (Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association) and ICS (Indonesia Survey Center) reported in June 2020 that there were 196.71 million internet users out of a total of 266.91 million population in Indonesia in 2019-2020.
[2] DataReportal with Hootsuite and We are Social, January 2020