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In 1939, a little girl named Dorothy would famously say to her dog, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Ever since that famous quote from The Wizard of Oz, this phrase has come to imply that the current situation or culture is world’s apart from what was. Though it usually happens over the slow progression of time, we have probably all felt as though the circumstances of our lives are so drastically foreign to what once was that it is completely unfamiliar, and perhaps uncomfortable.
In 1999 I purchased my very first cellular phone (some people believe that it is the one I still use!). It was roughly the size of a brick. At the time, it was rather cutting edge. For the first time, I could be reached from any location and I could make calls “on the go.” However, most conversations included the now famous phrase, “Can you hear me now?!” Since that time, technology and communication have drastically changed. The technology on a standard iphone is more advanced than the computers used by NASA to send astronauts to the moon during the Apollo 11 mission! We can literally contact people around the world with the simple touch of a button and the amount of information at our fingertips would have been literally inconceivable just twenty years ago.
To put perspective upon the immense influence that technology, and particularly social media has upon our culture, almost 90% of American teens (ages 14-17), 70% of preteens (ages 11-14), and more than 30% of children (ages 8-10) own their own phone. Like adults, not only do nearly all of these young people use social media, but the majority use several platforms of social media. The average teen spends over 9 hours a day using their phone! Two decades ago, a person would have to be age 16 and operate a vehicle to drive to the other side of town. Today, a child can literally go around the world and come into contact with anything without ever leaving their room!
While all of this technology is helpful in many ways, it has irreversibly influenced our culture. A few weeks ago, I came across a resource which can prove very informative and helpful for families attempting to navigate the new world in which we are living. Connect: Real Help for Parenting Kids in a Social Media World is a film that provides encouragement and specific tools to parents and families as they seek to honor God regardless of the culture. Featuring experts from various fields, the film specifically offers the unique perspective of author Dr. Kathy Koch. She shares the five lies which have been fostered by technology which she expounds upon in her book Screens and Teens: Connecting with our Kids in a Wireless World. Her research identified the following untruths that are often fostered by the advanced technology of our age.
I am the center of my own universe.
I deserve to be happy all the time.
I must have choices.
I am my own authority.
Information is all I need so I don’t need teachers.
Tonight’s showing of Connect will help to expose these deceptions and provide biblical principles to encourage the family. Please make plans to attend at 5:30pm in the sanctuary. This event will kickoff our Sunday Night Home Groups. Next week, we will be meeting in various homes throughout our community. You will find these homes listed in the bulletin and on our website.
Like Dorothy, I think we can all agree that the world in which we are living has changed at a rapid rate; there is no going back. However, this reality does not render us immovable in fear. Facing his own crippling fears three thousand years ago, David would write, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you” (Psalm 139:7-12). Whatever the circumstances of your life and the situation of our culture, God is already there, working to show you His love and bring you into fellowship with Him!
Jason