Daly Focus Blog
Most
Americans have been on virtual lockdown since March. Everything from sports to
restaurants have been shut down for weeks. The one thing we haven’t lost is our
screens. Which means a lot of us have filled our days with video games and
online shopping while we binge on Netflix.
I get it.
This is a stressful time, and a little distraction is good for us. But spending
nearly every waking moment in front of a screen isn’t.
Remember the days when your boys climbed jungle gyms and went up and down slides? That’s where they cultivated friendships and learned to navigate their world.
Now they’re teenagers, and the playground is social media. That’s where they connect, form relationships, and shape their identity, much of it around how well they feel they measure up – or not – with “influencers.”
Their online presence could also be summarized by “more accessibility, less accountability.” Back in the day, things like pornography and dangerous worldviews were “around,” but they weren’t finding their way into a child’s life through every Wi-Fi signal in the house.
In today’s world of smartphones and YouTube, it can feel impossible to keep pace with what our children are watching. Focus on the Family’s Plugged In website exists to help you and your children make informed media decisions.
If you have never visited the Plugged In website, I hope you will check it out.
If you are already familiar with Plugged In, you may have noticed that the website has a new look.
The new site is designed to make it easier to view the latest content and explore different categories.
Today’s Young People Are Clocking in More “Entertainment Media” Then Ever Before
By: Jonathan McKee
“I can’t get my kids to pry their eyes from their screens for more than a minute!”
It’s probably the biggest complaint I hear from moms and dads at my parent workshops each weekend. Kids are soaking in more entertainment media than ever before.
I’m sure you’re not surprised when I tell you a brand‐new report has revealed screen time is up.
By: Jonathan McKee
Decades ago the question was, “Do you know where your children are?” Today the question is, “Do you know who is following your children?”
Key word: following
Consider the app Instagram for a moment, the No. 1 social media platform used by teens today. Take a peek at anyone’s profile and you’ll see the word “followers” at the top of the screen with a little number above it. That number has become incredibly significant to today’s teenagers.
Do you find it difficult to sit through church without touching your phone?
Does technology tend to decrease your productivity?
Do you often check your phone for calls, emails, or texts?
If you answer yes to questions like these, you may be nomophobic – you have a fear of being without your mobile phone.
Researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Michigan studied families with children between the ages of 10 and 17.
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.
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.
