Year 11 - Religious education
Face to face: the changing nature of connection
Personhood: what might be the people of the future?
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Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit focusses on developing technology and how it might impact people in the future. It takes a philosphical way of knowing to ask whether online relationships are the same as those in person. It questions whether devlelopments in AI and robotics may enhance or supplant personal relationships.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to reflect on some theological and philosophical positions regarding relationships online and in real life.
Key Notes
- The rapid growth in technology means that people now spend time in relationships with others online as well as in person
- In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis wrote that relationships require encounter and that digital relationships can be shallow
- The sociologist Sherry Turkle warns technology can offer the illusion of relationship and adds to loneliness.
- Philosophers and theologians question whether online relationships can be as meaningful as those in real life.
Vocabulary To Learn
- communication: the sharing of meaning between people through spoken, written or non‑verbal expression
- connection: a link between people created through communication or shared interaction.
- relationships: connections between people formed through communication
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Students may think online relationships are automatically just as deep and meaningful as face‑to‑face ones.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
The rapid growth in technology means that people now spend time in relationships with others online as well as in person. In Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis wrote that relationships require encounter and that digital relationships can be shallow.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'communication'
the sharing of meaning between people through spoken, written or non‑verbal expression.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Students may think online relationships are automatically just as deep and meaningful as face‑to‑face ones. Correction: Online connections can be meaningful, but thinkers like Pope Francis and Sherry Turkle argue they often lack real encounter, depth and presence. Digital contact can feel "made to measure" and risk becoming an illusion of friendship.
More Lessons In This Unit
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