Daly Focus Blog
Technology is wiring our children’s brains to believe five fundamental lies:
I’m the center of the universe.
I deserve to be happy all the time.
I must have choices.
I’m my own authority.
I don’t need other people.
What’s technology’s part? Eighty percent of a child’s ability to interact with the world around him develops after the child is born. Until about age 25, neurons in a child’s brain are connected through repetition, through the things the child does frequently.
Headlines about social media privacy concerns with Facebook are in the news as CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress on Tuesday.
But there’s another story that caught my eye – and this one involves your kids.
Earlier this week, consumer advocacy groups filed a complaint and asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate YouTube for collecting and profiting off of data collected from children under the age 13, which would be a violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
Every 24 hours, 205 billion emails are sent. Every second, 60,000 tweets are posted to the “Twitterverse.” That’s 3,600,000 tweets per minute.
Many of us have a lot to say.
That should be of some concern when you consider verses like James 3:8, which reminds us that the things we say can be “a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
That’s why it’s important for us to think before we speak … or text … or Snapchat.
I’ll never forget the day I got my driver’s license. It was all I could talk about for an entire year before. It was a time-honored tradition back then: do whatever necessary to get your license by the time you’re fifteen, no later than sixteen. That little plastic ID got me and my friends out of the house and enabled us to hang out with each other whenever and wherever we wanted. My driver’s license was key to my social world.
Sharing a blog post from a few years back… the sentiments are the same, and the content is timely given the start of school for many kids around the nation. -J.D.
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Summertime is drawing to a close, so I’ve been thinking about some of my favorite teachers from down through the years. I have many; here are memories of just a few.
In kindergarten there was Mrs. Smith. I went to school that first day with my heels in the pavement and then didn’t want to leave by the time the bell began to ring.
Do your children have smartphones?
My boys, ages 15 and 13, don’t. Jean and I have considered getting the boys simple flip phones for emergencies, but yet … we hesitate opening that door.
Beyond the dangers that come with smartphones, we recognize how easy it can be to become addicted to them. Americans now spend an average of 4.7 hours a day on their phones. We sleep with them on our nightstand and carry them in our pockets.
Rachel lost two years of her life.
Maybe the first thought that comes to mind when you read that sentence is that Rachel suffered some sort of tragic accident that threw her into a coma – or she bonked her head and lost two years to amnesia.
But neither of those are accurate, and what happened to her can happen to any of us.
Her life was filled with distractions.
If our to-do lists are never-ending, and we’re always thinking ahead to the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing, then we can easily miss out on the real life that’s happening right in front of us.
Have you ever had a listening, seeing person in your life?
Before you answer, let me describe what that really means.
Think of a movie that brings you to tears or a song that sweeps you back to your childhood. Ever wonder why that happens?
We often connect with art at an emotional level. A painting can’t be reduced to mere brush strokes or a book to text on a page. Works of creativity are not things we look at, but through.
It’s the type of story that makes parents shudder:
Students exchanging nude photos on their phones.
Members of the Cañon City High School football team here in Colorado allegedly exchanged and collected hundreds of nude photographs of more than 100 students. Some of the students photographed were in middle school. And it seems all of this was part of a competition where points were assigned per picture.
As a colleague remarked, if this type of scandal is occurring in a small town like Cañon City, you know it’s happening all over America.
If you love Jesus, people and social media, please consider volunteering as a Focus on the Family online mentor.
It’s a unique opportunity for anyone who has a heart for the hurting. Online mentors are digital missionaries, tending to real needs, sharing the Gospel, and going “through all the towns and villages,” just like Jesus did … except these modern-day missionaries “travel” through their Internet connection.
Focus will provide the technology and training. We’ll equip you to enter online communications and take part in conversations to breathe life, Bible-based hope, and encouragement to people in need.
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.
