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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Angela Giuffrida in Rome

A binge and a prayer: Italian monks told to avoid Netflix and social media

Netflix logo on screens
The prior said streaming films online could lead to monks ‘becoming film experts rather than seekers of God’. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images

The prior of a hermitage in Tuscany has urged monks living in the secluded retreat to avoid the use of social media and streaming services, arguing that their rooms are sacred places for prayer and “not for Netflix or other platforms”.

Father Matteo Ferrari, the prior general of the Camaldolese congregation and of the Camaldoli monastery and hermitage in Arezzo, Tuscany, said such digital technologies were “specifically designed to create addiction” and “should absolutely be avoided”.

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