South Korean Communicator Calls for High-Tech, High-Touch Evangelization

South Korea’s highly connected digital society presents Catholic evangelization with both new opportunities and new challenges, including the need to balance advanced technology with human contact, according to a veteran journalist and communication scholar.

Dr. Anna Jihyun You, a South Korean media journalist and communication scholar, emphasized the need for balance during the “Understanding Asia Realities” panel on September 11 at the First Asian Catholic Digital Missionary Assembly in Quezon City.

The September 11–13 assembly, held at the Pope John Paul II Auditorium in Quezon City, brings Catholic digital missionaries, communicators and content creators from across Asia together to examine how the Church can communicate the faith in an increasingly digital environment.

Dr. Anna pointed to South Korea as a particularly important case because of the country’s advanced technological infrastructure and widespread use of digital media.

She said about 94 percent of Koreans are exposed to the internet, while around half of the population uses artificial intelligence.

Yet high levels of digital connectivity do not automatically translate into deeper human or religious engagement.

Dr. Anna noted that only a relatively small proportion of Korean Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass, creating a significant gap between the Church’s membership and participation in its sacramental life.

For her, the figures point to the need for balance, not simply between digital and traditional media, but between technological connectivity and human relationships.

South Korea’s experience also shows the difference between using digital technology and living in a digital environment.

People increasingly use smartphones not only for communication but also for shopping, discussion and many other aspects of everyday life.

At the same time, Dr. Anna warned that digital environments can contribute to isolation, particularly among younger people.

She therefore stressed the importance of maintaining human communication even while embracing new technologies.

Dr. Anna herself brought handwritten notes to the panel, describing the practice as a reminder of an older, more analog form of communication and of the importance of human touch.

The challenge for Catholic communicators, she said, is to find the right balance as the Church engages people who live much of their daily lives through digital platforms.

Digital technology offers significant opportunities for evangelization. People can now access information and produce content in ways that were once limited to professional media organizations.

But greater digital access does not remove the need for direct human encounter.

The discussion led to a distinction between “high tech” and “high touch,” the need for Catholic communication to use advanced tools without losing the personal dimension of evangelization.

For Asian digital missionaries, South Korea’s experience offers a warning against equating technological sophistication with effective evangelization.

The Church can use artificial intelligence, social media and other digital tools to reach people, but the ultimate purpose remains human encounter and accompaniment.

Dr. Anna’s message reflects a central challenge facing Catholic digital ministry across Asia: as societies become more technologically connected, the Church must ensure that its digital presence strengthens rather than weakens the human relationships at the heart of Christian community.

In an increasingly digital Asia, she suggested, effective evangelization will require not choosing between technology and human contact, but learning how to hold both together.