Pope Francis slams kids for being ‘drowsy and dull’

According to Pope Francis, kids these days spend too much time playing video games and navel gazing that they fail to engage with the world around them.

Speaking at an international Catholic youth festival in Poland, the 79-year-old urged children to swap their lounge chairs and video games for walking boots.

“For many people it is easier and better to have drowsy and dull kids who confuse happiness with a sofa,” the pope told the 1 million people gathered at a vigil near Krakow.

“Dear young people, we didn’t come into the world to ‘vegetate’… We came for another reason: to leave a mark.”

Pope Francis tells scores of young people to avoid 'sofa happiness' https://t.co/ElIFLgDRKx #Krakow2016

— Catholic News Agency (@cnalive) July 30, 2016

He said that constantly being glued to screens — where terrible events of the world become just another story on the evening news — ensured children today were numb to the suffering of those around the world and warned that the comforts of life gave an illusion that you were safe from pain, fear or worry.

Pope Francis told the crowd that those who sit for hours in front of the latest television shows or scrolling through their smartphones were losing themselves.

“The times we live in do not call for young ‘couch potatoes’ but for young people with shoes, or better, boots laced,” Francis said.

Does Pope Francis have a point? Do children today have a warped sense of the world because of television and technology?