Article originally appeared @ wesleyankids.org on May 14, 2014 Hayward Wesleyan’s discipleship pastor, Heath Davis, and myself have been trying to engage our church (and the community) in conversations about technology. We have learned a lot. During one of our conversations, we were talking about kids are getting cell phones younger and younger. One father shared […]
I just deleted the Facebook app off of my phone. I’m just disgusted with it. Now, I’m not a Facebook hater in the least. I have had an account on the popular social media site since 2008 and I will continue to use it. It is an extremely useful and wide-reaching tool. I use it […]
This post is for parents who are new to the cell phone and internet connected world of teenagers and usage patterns. It should come as no surprise that teens text, on average, 2108 times per month. Actually this number is down from a few years ago when it was up around 4000. I imagine other […]
Recently, Pastor Jeremy and I have had a few provocative discussions in different settings regarding technology and its use among young people in particular. I’ve been in conversation with a professional in the technology field and I wanted to share with this individual a sort of summary of some of our recent conversations and experiences. […]
Parent’s Guide to Technology I found ParentTechGuide.com to be an incredible resource to share with parents @ Hayward Wesleyan. In fact, I printed a bunch off and they sit in a brochure holder for anyone to take. What we’re finding is that parents just don’t know about the technology that is in the hands of […]
From the UK, a former editor for Britian’s version of Maxim magazine, called “Loaded” discusses his conclusion that pornography is “the most pernicious threat facing children today.” I asked the teenagers: ‘On a scale of one to ten, how likely would you say it is that boys and girls your age are watching porn online?’ The […]
16 billion texts? 3.2 hours on social networks? Send 175 million tweets? Wow. The world has changed. It wasn’t that long ago that smartphones were mostly in the hands of business professionals with Bluetooth earpieces walking through an airport. Blackberry, Palm, and Windows Mobile OS ruled these devices. Now, it seems, almost every cellular device […]
This morning, Pastor Heath and I hosted an hour-long (turned into an hour and a half) conversation regarding wisdom and the use of technology and parenting. It was enlightening for all of us. Some things were brought up that I had not considered and some things were uncovered that some parents hadn’t considered. Here are […]
A while back my wife and I had an argument regarding my use of the Internet while at home. In an effort to make peace, I wrote up a list of rules for myself that governs how I use an Internet connected device at home. Working on my online master’s degree has changed this somewhat, […]
Where do we find identity? How is our identity shaped? In whom is our identity formed? These are pertinent questions for your middle school and high school student. And they are always asking the big identity question: Does anyone like me? The question for us as parents and small group leaders is: Do we have […]
I remember a time that it took work to find a dirty magazine. You either had to know a friend whose father had it, or you had to hope someone left an errant copy of a porn magazine on a shelf lower than where they were usually kept. Not anymore. It’s available anywhere, anytime, and […]
A Couple of Highlights from the “Digital Parenting” infographic below Make sure your student understands the difference between “virtual life” and “real life” Don’t “friend” someone online who you haven’t met in person Be open with your kids about your right to review search history, contacts, Facebook posts, uploaded pics, etc. source ChurchMag
HT ChurchMag source YouTube
HT iblogo
source Orange Leaders
This infographic shows the increased connectivity through the generations: Millennials, Gen X-ers, Young Boomers and Older Boomers It confirms what we all know: we are more and more “hyper connected” I wonder what would be said (in further research) for this current “digital” generation…? “It’s no secret that Millennials (loosely classified as people born between […]
ChurchMag had a great post a while back called “Can Christians Influence the Internet Culture.” The answer is: Yes. Absolutely. I appreciated how the post pointed out how few people there are actually creating content on the Internet, while there are many lurkers. The post showed how realistic it can be to be able to […]
Every summer, students who have completed grades 3-5 in our area are invited to Kids Camp. It is such a fun week of learning about Jesus and how he changes our lives. We purchased a website domain [wikidscamp.org] and parked a blog-based website there where we could easily update and add content. We also used […]
Common Sense Rules Guard your privacy Protect your reputation Nothing is private online Assume everyone is watching Apply the Golden Rule Watch the clock Choose wisely Don’t hide Think about what you see Be smart and safe HT Digital Kids Initiative via Common Sense Media source YouTube
This is fascinating: “The common usage of texting and Facebook has changed the dynamics of teenage dating. The biggest changes can be seen in the courting process where the goal is to ask the other person out on a date. However teenagers still meet potential romantic partners face-to-face. “Another obvious shift is the fact that […]