At any gathering of young people or really just most people today it won't be long before one, two, or even everyone in the group has pulled out their phones. If you watch somebody as they walk by themselves down city streets, predictably they will reach into their pocket, purse, or phone specific belt clip and pull out their little friend with a blue screen. Cell phones, if we can even still call them phones, do so much, internet, GPS, tens of thousands of various apps, texting, phone calls, email etc., that one can accomplish many things as he is on the go that he never could have before. However, one is also hardly ever present in the present moment. Let's assume for a moment that all that is done on cell phones is productive. Even then, is it still a good thing that we feel naked leaving the house without our phones? Is it still ok that we need our phone-crutch to walk down a street or to stop in Starbucks alone. I'm not sure whether it's for an image of business or status to always have one's phone out or to always answer it when it rings or text back when a text is received, but it seems to me that this demand and power a phone has over us is not healthy.
However troubling these social aspects are it is really what these devices are used for that frightens me. For instance, what about the terrifying number of pornographic websites that are accessed through smart phones every day, or the absurd number of hours spent playing 'Angry Birds', Tetris, Minecraft Pocket or whatever game fits your fancy. (Also, the Fairfax County Police Task Force on Sex Trafficking reports that online gaming is one of the number one ways Traffickers find victims). Not to forget the amount of time young people especially spend browsing and posting pictures on Instagram where clothing seems optional and objectification is the whole purpose and object. Or then there's this phenomenon of 'Snap chat' where one can take a picture of oneself and send it to a friend who can only view the picture for a few seconds before it is deleted. The danger of this is so frightening to me for the majority of snap chat pictures are from girls to boys or vice-versa and there is no accountability for what is sent. In our hyper-sexualized culture what type of pictures do you think are being sent? There is an aura of invincibility that they can send whatever picture they want protected by distance and the depersonalization of technology. Then there is 'Whisper' where one shares secrets anonymously with their group of friends... and we think they are all innocent things that are shared? Privacy becomes less and less important and can even cease to exist. There is also the now outdated facebook which was founded as a sight to rate the attractiveness of females on a college campus. If that isn't objectifying women and degrading them I don't know what is! Twitter and all these hashtags that have become a part of the English language which only allows you to post your thoughts, feelings, etc in under 140 characters or pictures if you like. I can't see how this is helping to develop our minds when we get our news and information from 'headline' posts. Finally, there is 'Tinder'. This is an app where a user posts a picture of them and swipes right to like or left to pass on somebody else's picture. If they find a match, someone who finds them attractive as well, they can chat and even contact each other to hook up. (I'll be writing another post on this app alone.) I don't want to sound like a technophile, or someone who is anti technology for I'm truly not. In fact, I'm typing this blogpost on an updated MacBook that is lightning fast. However, I do believe that we need to have more caution in using and embracing these tools. We wouldn't give a child a loaded gun and tell him to go have fun but don't do anything bad, yet we give a child a smartphone that is in a sense a loaded gun that can very easily be aimed at his soul. It would be naive to think that spiritual forces are also not conspiring for the misuse of technology, we must protect ourselves first of all and also our youth!
This is the world of the internet and smartphones that most of America is using, that most of your children are using! Most of the teens in the youth program I work with are using... and we think they are all using them well; these apps and programs created for the purpose of exploitation and objectification all in the name of social interaction? I cannot believe how many young people have unrestricted access to these devices and the apps and internet that come along with them. The common line from parents is, "Well, not my child." My question is how do you know? It's not a knock on the character of your child its simply that there is a huge temptation placed in their hands literally, and the pressure of their peers on them as well. We're setting our youth up for failure. We're setting our youth up for exploitation, for being used, for placing their worth in how many 'likes' they receive or comments they get on their Instagram account. It is indeed a dangerous world we live in and most of us have invited perhaps the most dangerous aspects of the world into our teens' pockets!
From my years working with the youth I have found that it is a compulsion for them to pull their cell phone out every few minutes just to swipe their thumb across the screen. I am astounded at how many high school, middle school, and yes elementary school students have not only cell phones but smart phones and even iphones. After listing all of the above, I would like to ask a simple question. Why? Why does your child have a smartphone with access to the internet? With access to apps like Instagram, Snap Chat, Whisper, and Tinder? In fact, do you and I have the self-control to use these devices well and wisely with prudence and temperance? I'm sure that many do, but I think it is also very easy for us to gloss over that question without really examining ourselves. I encourage you and even beg you to take a good hard look at how first of all, you use your cell phone or tablet, and then if God has blessed you with children take a harder longer look at how they are using their devices and if they even should have them. If God has blessed you with children, bless them by protecting them! Don't put such danger in their hands and in their pockets. Being a teen is already a difficult enough time as they grow into men and women and we are stunting their growth and their experience of life by gluing their hands to the phones and their eyes to the screens and their imaginations and memories with images not pure and holy.
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